Bulgaria Sack Markov (their manager)

[NeilMcD]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=598418&&cc=5739

[Hibs4Ever]

Venables for that job I reckon

[gspain]

Venables for that job I reckon

We'd never be that lucky. No doubt his mates will link him with it though.

This is really bad news for us. A new coach will give them a boost and get them playing again.

[centre mid]

This is really bad news for us. A new coach will give them a boost and get them playing again.

I wouldnt neccesarily agree with that, there is obvioulsy serious player power with the Bulgarian team, after all this sacking comes only a couple of weeks after Bulgaria's most talented player publicly stated he would not play for his country while the present manager remained in charge.

Bulgaria are talking about possibly going outside the country to get a manager so who knows how that will sit with this crowd of players.

To my mind Bulgaria is not THE most attractive international job.

Its quite possible that they have already blown their chance of qualifying, admitedly its still very early in the competition.

I supposed it depends on how they react to this new manager.

[eirebhoy]

This is really bad news for us. A new coach will give them a boost and get them playing again.
I don't know. If he wasn't rated by the players he probably wouldn't have been re-signed by Bulgaria anyway. They just don't have many very good players to choose from, particularly now with Petrov injured.

[Sligo Hornet]

This is really bad news for us. A new coach will give them a boost and get them playing again.


Not really...they are at a low ebb, and there won't to be too many big names queing up for that job..........can you hear the barrell being scraped Mr.Venables?;)

[rambler14]

What happened to Hristo Stoichkov???:confused:

[Claret Murph]

I would say that was on the cards really .

[Lenny82]

Sh*te!! I was hoping they wouldn't sack him 'til after we gave them a thrashing!!! Their next competitive game is against us so this will give them a huge boost. Hopefully Steve Staunton does us a favour and puts his name forward!!! :D

[tetsujin1979]

Two months to sign a manager, have him assess the playing squad, convince Berbatov that international football is not a waste of his time, pray to whatever God he believes in to give Martin Petrov a set of hamstrings not made of straw, and prepare them for a game in Croke Park.
Can't see Venables doing that to be honest.

[lopez]

This is really bad news for us. A new coach will give them a boost and get them playing again.Have to agree with you there. New managers always give a team a boost. I was hoping they'd stick with this bloke until after the summer.

[Hibernian]

I am pleased that so many of you think we will beat Bulgaria. Even thrash them as one person pointed out

I hope yer right

[elroy]

Lads Bulgaria are not out of it by any means, they didnt have a great start but it could be alot worse. For example, I would take a draw at home to Italy to be honest at the moment. They have some very handy players that if are managed properly can prove to be very effective.

The keys games will be home and away against Bulgaria, so the group is very much in Bulgaria's hands. And considering our past record at beating the "big" teams in the group, I wouldnt be overly confident of us getting what we need from both games against them.

Generally when a new manager comes in, the team has a temporary improvement in performances so the same is likely to happen here. Remember the same Terry V that we are ridiculing here was v close to getting our job.

[Junior]

The keys games will be home and away against Bulgaria, so the group is very much in Bulgaria's hands. And considering our past record at beating the "big" teams in the group, I wouldnt be overly confident of us getting what we need from both games against them.


I disagree, if your statement is correct, then the group is very much in Irelands hands. Both games still to come, its up to us to deliver the necessary results.

[elroy]

I disagree, if your statement is correct, then the group is very much in Irelands hands. Both games still to come, its up to us to deliver the necessary results.

I agree the group is without doubt very much in our hands.
My point was that some posts above are indicating that Bulgaria have blown qualifying already which is far from the case. For example, four points from six against us would put them ahead of us for qualification.

[gspain]

The table is deceptive at the moment.

We've gained 2 points on Bulgaria by beating Georgia. We had a bit of luck that it was played in Mainz. Their draw at home to Italy is probably a point back. I'd take a draw at home to Italy now.

They have good players. They came close to qualifying for Euro2008. This is a very attractive job for a manager. He has nothing to lose. Venables would jump at the job. They can and probably will do better.

We would have been far better off if an under pressure Markov came to Dublin with a de-motivated side.

[geysir]

Difficult to get all the luck all the time.
There comes a time in every group when you have to earn your top 2 place.
Beating Bulgaria at home is the key to finishing 2nd.
A home draw is only decent if we can do the same in the away game.

Regardless of the circumstances the +2 points gained "away" to Georgia gives us some vital leverage.
Probably we could lose h&a to Italy and still be a point ahead of Bulgaria.

[paul_oshea]

probably right ciaran, on the last two sentences. stuts you must also be right.

Bulgaria getting a new manager cant make much difference given he will only have them for about 5 days before they play ireland on the saturday, unless they get a friendly in february. Still we are 10 points by then as well if we beat georgia so we should be top of our game and full of confidence to win by a goal against bulgaria then. If we win that then we are 13 with an extra game played and they are still only 3 points, we will have to worry about montenegro then. This could be a 2nd place finish by the easiest of margins given how poor the opposition actually turn out to be, and then prematurely we could be singing Trap as IL Savior

[CJTheGull]

Lads - I'd say they will go for Venebales. They know that it's pretty much between themselves and us for the 2nd place finish. They'll be thinking that a Manager with experience of the 'British-style' game would be ideal as the games against us are a potential make or brake games for both sides. I don't rate Venebales much but he could have that experience to shut us down and in fairness it's not as if we've been amazing in our last few games.

Still see us finishing second in the group though (just about).

[geysir]

We only have to equal Bulgaria in our games against them to be favourites to finish ahead of them.

[paul_oshea]

Thats again assuming too much in relation to other games, and you know what to assume does....

[geysir]

We would be favourites based on the most likely outcomes in the later games.
That's what odds are based on.
I'm not saying it will happen should we beat Bulgaria at home.

Assuming that we can beat Georgia again

[elroy]

This could be a 2nd place finish by the easiest of margins given how poor the opposition actually turn out to be, and then prematurely we could be singing Trap as IL Savior

Remember the lowest second place will not even get a play off slot so even if we are comfortable in second it will be important to amass as many points as possible.

[NeilMcD]

I think that will be Scotland or Macedonia or Norway in my opinion.

[Brendan 82]

If we beat Georgia (2/11/09) and Bulgaria (28/3/09) it will be looking a bit bleak for Bulgaria.

We still would have our three hardest games yet to play, Italy away (1/4/09) Bulgaria away (6/6/09) and Cyprus away (5/9/09), but at least we would be heading to those places with some points earned.

Bulgaria, potentially still on three points, will then play Cyprus at home, who will have most likely just beaten Georgia at home (28/3/09), they will be tough to beat. Then we play Bulgaria in Sofia. They still have to play Italy and Cyprus away after that. I think they might just run out of games to make up the difference.

I really think that if we win our next two games and avoid complete disaster after that, we will come second.

Trapp will engineer a playoff victory, but it won't be pretty!

[paul_oshea]

Remember the lowest second place will not even get a play off slot so even if we are comfortable in second it will be important to amass as many points as possible.

I know and more importantly if georgia finish last, with us beating them twice which we hope they could well finish last and leave us in a worse position than bulgaria if they were to finish second, assuming they also beat them at home. I meant to add that earlier.

[Lenny82]

Jesus Brendan, I hope you are right.
If we don't win our next 2 games then we don't deserve to go to the World Cup. I think we will lose in Italy so it is vital to avoid defeat in Bulgaria and Cyprus after that but nothing is gauranteed and there is every chance we could come away from those 3 games with zero points if luck is against us. Italy and Montenegro at home is not a gauranteed 6 points either.

4 wins and a draw from our opening 5 games is a must and will put us in a great position for the last 5 games. Assuming worst case scenario and we lose home and away to Italy, a home win against Montenegro and 2 away draws in Bulgaria and Cyprus would definitely put us in 2nd place and definitely in line for a play-off spot, unless, by some miracle, Bulgaria win in Italy and Cyprus!!

[John83]

...4 wins and a draw from our opening 5 games is a must...
This is what I don't get about football fans. Thirteen points from the first five games would put us no worse than joint first. That's not 'a must'. It's damn near ideal, it's unlikely and it's almost certainly unnecessary to finish second.

[Lenny82]

This is what I don't get about football fans. Thirteen points from the first five games would put us no worse than joint first. That's not 'a must'. It's damn near ideal, it's unlikely and it's almost certainly unnecessary to finish second.

4 wins and a draw from the opening 5 games IS a must when you consider the fact that we have to go to Italy, Bulgaria and Cyprus and then play the World Champions again at home in our last 5 games.
The fixtures for our 1st 5 games are the easiest of the group. 3 home games, 1 away game to Montenegro, and 1 game at a nuetral venue and seen as our away record is far from fantastic, we really need to make the most of the 1st half of this campaign.

[Kingdom]

I know I'll get killed for this, but Lawrie Sanchez was on soccer am today and they're alluding that he's thrown his hat into the ring for the Bulgaria job. Please let it be. He wasn't denying it either.
He's a smug bast*rd.

[Irish_Praha]

I know I'll get killed for this, but they're alluding that he's thrown his hat into the ring for the Bulgaria job. Please let it be.
He's a smug bast*rd.

Who? Roy Keane? :cool:

[Kingdom]

Who? Roy Keane? :cool:

Young Mr Sanchez ! :ball: