Italy V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 1st April 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[Duggie]

I wouldnt mind seeing keogh come on in the last 15 - 20 mins upfront for maybe doyle if we needed a goal or were looking to win 1-0. has a good eye for goal and trap likes him.

[paul_oshea]

2:55 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm84YD0NH30&NR=1

i hope they go to bed watching that over and over.

[rambler14]

I'm writing this from the airport waiting for my flight to Italy.....3-0 Italy:(

[Duggie]

I'm writing this from the airport waiting for my flight to Italy.....3-0 Italy:(

come on the green army :ball:

[paul_oshea]

lads have an awful feeling we are going to get a great result tomorrow, cos i cant fcuken get there now :angry: I think we could win this 1 - 0. my mind and everything else says we would be lucky to scrape a draw but i just have an awful feeling, that those of us here are going to miss a great great night.

[Stuttgart88]

What's happening Paul?

[OwlsFan]

Jack had the Indian sign over England. Dare we hope for Trapp and Italy?

[Morbo]

Originally Posted by The Fly


I thought I'd bring some much needed levity to forum...........

............whatever some poster's opinions are on Hunt's merits as player in general or relative to Duff, they pale into insignificance next to a fella who posts under the name 'Javier' on the eleven a side forum/messageboard.

Javier, bless him, thinks we should deploy Hunt in central midfield - where, and brace yourself, he believes he could or would be the Irish Pirlo.

Always provides a little comic relief that Javier!
To be fair to Javier I think Hunt would do a better job than Whelan in central midfield

[DotTV]

Italy have a load of injuries and they do actually fear Trap's influence. We could get a draw here.

[Mr Maroon]

when you look at the italian squad there no real goal scorer in it, maybe rossi. toni and gilardinho are out,so toni's arial threat is gone and gilardinho was having a really good season for fiorentina. pirlo has a good shot dangerous from free kicks. there not all that at the moment the italians.

They have Pazzini. He's on fire for Sampdoria and he scored on his Italy debut vs Montenegro.

I'd say it'll be

----------Buffon
Zambrotta-Cannavaro-Chiellini-Grosso
------Palombo - De Rossi
---Pepe/Quagliarella - Pirlo - Rossi
----------Pazzini

[richieos]

lads have an awful feeling we are going to get a great result tomorrow, cos i cant fcuken get there now :angry: I think we could win this 1 - 0. my mind and everything else says we would be lucky to scrape a draw but i just have an awful feeling, that those of us here are going to miss a great great night.

i have a feeling we could get a great result too. a lot of people seem to have this feeling despite the dissapointment of saturday. i tell ya one thing, if we beat italy, theres gonna be a great night everywhere in ireland aswell

[ifk101]

Tony O'D said on the RTE news that it's not looking good for McGeady. Sounds like he won't play and if does he won't be 100%.

[DeNiro]

McGeady confirmed as out according to Newstalk

[eirebhoy]

Definitely out according to this:
http://www.setanta.com/uk/Articles/Football/2009/03/31/Intl-McGeady-ruled-out-of-Bari/gnid-46677/

Pretty much our whole midfield out now.

[richieos]

this reminds me of when we had all those injuries against the czech republic in the euro 2008 qualifiers.. and we gave a great performance in that match. who knows maybe the lads will pull together, i also think keogh has a real touch of class, he just doesnt show it enough at all

[Stuttgart88]

I think Keogh has something about him too, just not out wide.

I think the ball is going to be hoofed long quite a bit.

[richieos]

I think Keogh has something about him too, just not out wide.

I think the ball is going to be hoofed long quite a bit.

well were never gonna beat them playing it along the ground so i guess its worth a try

[shakermaker1982]

Hunt-Whelan-Andrews-Keogh

will need to play out of there skins tomorrow night and hope Pirlo and co have their eye off the ball. It looks like our Ireland B midfield line up. Let's drop one of the strikers and play 5 in midfield and not cross the half way line....!!!

[Torn-Ado]

[QUOTE=shakermaker1982;1134272]Hunt-Whelan-Andrews-Keogh

QUOTE]

Oh sweet suffering Jesus! :eek:

[Razors left peg]

After all my talk for ages on this forum that we should have nothing to fear from this Italian team, now that it has come around and with our performance at the weekend and with the injuries I have never had so little confidence in us getting any sort of result. Felt like I was kicked in the stomach when I just checked the RTE website and seeing that McGeady is definately out and Keogh is most likely to replace him.
Usually Im overly optimistic about our chances but this time I cant see any hope at all with Duffer and McGeady gone and Glenn Whelan in the midfield.
The only slight glimmer Im keeping(its hardly a spark) is that I remember in particular the abandoned game against England and the friendly away to Holland when in both games we had lots of withdrawals but the players responded brilliantly. And similarly on the back of the 5-2 hammering against Cyprus they produced a performance against the Czechs.
Anyway heres hoping!!!:ball:

[irishultra]

wow wow how ****ed are we? that team would be at best a top of the table first division side in england ... i cant believe it...our hopes are in ruins

[Jicked]

So three of our four first choice midfield is out and we go to the World Champions. Shay'd better be taking his time with kick outs from the first minute!

[paul_oshea]

not being funny but they seem to be balanced well on the right side of defence and on the left side of midfield. Thats key against kilbane when he starts doing his one touch football and pirlo and rossi are breathing down his neck. Our only actual influence to cause anything (hunt on the left) is definitely going to be tougher if its def zambrotta.

[paul_oshea]

i have a feeling we could get a great result too. a lot of people seem to have this feeling despite the dissapointment of saturday. i tell ya one thing, if we beat italy, theres gonna be a great night everywhere in ireland aswell

that feeling after the news of mcgeady out, is still there but definitely not as strong, even though i didnt necessarily rate ma-geddy.

[Maroon 7]

Hunt-Whelan-Andrews-Keogh


Gotta be a contender for the worst midfield we've even put on the pitch for a competitive international.

Fair enough injuries, etc but it's still quite scary when you see it in black and white.

[Qwerty]

Gotta be a contender for the worst midfield we've even put on the pitch for a competitive international.



Perhaps most unheralded rather than worst?

Ireland 2 - 0 Italy *





* provided we can organize to hi-jack the Italian team bus and prevent them from taking the field.

[rebelmusic]

Perhaps most unheralded rather than worst?

Ireland 2 - 0 Italy *





* provided we can organize to hi-jack the Italian team bus and prevent them from taking the field.

hahaha we're doomed! This is either gonna be a walkover or one of the bravest irish performances in quite a while.

[The Legend]

0-0 would be an awesome result now

[billybunter]

we're not managers, we're not pundits, we're supporters lads. Remember that. We'll support whoever is on the field tomorrow night. If its not our best midfield, fair enough, but lets get behind them - whoever is wearing our countries colours deserve to be there. Chips are down. We'll win 1-0 (small bit of the stuttgart and Giant stadiums spirit required)

[Mise Le Mas]

Well said:cool:

[Straightstory]

Just to remind everybody, Ireland have NEVER won a competitive game away in either the European Championships or World Cup against any of the major European teams - Italy, Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, France. That's NEVER. Czechoslovakia are probably the biggest team they've managed to defeat - and that was in 1967. It's an extraordinarily poor record. To win tonight would be the greatest ever away achievement. Not much grounds for optimism. 2-0 to Italy is most likely.

[Straightstory]

I forgot to add Holland to that list... and Belgium.

[Fitzy]

We are going to get mullered. I don't care how many players Italy have got out tonight, they could put out Serie B players and they'd still run riot against McShane and Keogh down our right side. I would rather have Kevin Foley or Joey O'Brien (if he's fit) playing right back, and Andy Reid has more ability than anyone playing in that midfield, at least he might create something. Chris McCann and Owen Garvan should also be in the squad. Keogh isn't a bad player but he cannot play right midfield.

I wasn't confident before we had all these injuries, now I think we'll be lucky to get away with a 2-0 defeat tonight. I cannot believe anyone seriously thought we would win in Italy. As Straightstory has correctly stated, the last time we won away against a major nation in a qualifier was in 1967. Not beating Bulgaria at home will be the defining moment in this group. We had a chance to knock them out and secure second place on Saturday night and we blew it. If we had won on Saturday, tonight's defeat wouldn't have mattered as much.

[drummerboy]

I think a draw would be a fantastic result for us. It would be a marvelous achievement given the players at Traps disposal. I agree Keogh is a good player but will not do himself justice playing out on the right.

I think Bulgaria will struggle to beat Cyprus tonight. Reckon it will be a draw. We will know the result before our game as it kicks off at 5.

[geysir]

It's bad when we're looking for Indian signs and superstitions.
It's going to be a turkey shoot.

[Closed Account]

Andy Reid has been called up finally.... (http://tinyurl.com/cszzf6)

[geysir]

Connacht GAA :)

[shakermaker1982]

Andy Reid has been called up finally.... (http://tinyurl.com/cszzf6)

I really thought that was an April's fool!!!

[Shilts]

We have to shore up that midfield. Robbie must drop back and help them more.
Italy are no world beaters... err, yes they are :D
But they won't win all their games in the group.
This might be 1 where things don't go their way. Let's live in hope that we can frustrate them and limit them to crosses from a long way out where Dunne and O'Shea will dominate. Trap's plan might help us to counter attack more than usual. Set pieces will also be important for us.

C'mon Given - show us you are better than Buffon!
We're not the greatest but win, lose or draw they're still my team. C'mon Ireland!!!

[Carrigaline]

I really thought that was an April's fool!!!We're saved! :p

If we had S. Reid, Duff and McGeady; I would actually fancy our chances against that Italian team, which is one of the weakest I've seen for years.

As it stands, I expect us to play up for the occasion, but still lose 1-0.

[Irish_Praha]

Eleven-a-side have a good April fools joke related to the game:

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/worldcup2010/news.asp?n=36272

Pity it's not true

:D

[Tis-smeee]

Eleven-a-side have a good April fools joke related to the game:

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/worldcup2010/news.asp?n=36272

Pity it's not true

:D

*******s got me

[OwlsFan]

Andy Reid has been called up finally.... (http://tinyurl.com/cszzf6)

No mention as yet on RTE website. Mind you if you look at the web address, then it's an obvious hoax. Got me!!

[Tis-smeee]

Hopefully he is called up coz Andy Reid is the answer to the recession and the meaning of life , to anyone who actually watches the game he is an average footballer who can pick a pass , Id say Italy are ****ting themselves

[Scram]

Andy Reid has been called up finally.... (http://tinyurl.com/cszzf6)

Well done ! ;-)

[Stuttgart88]

Dunphy on RTE this morning:

Italy aren't great - missing better players; they didn't impress on Saturday
Grosso a threat
Pirlo biggest threat

McShane a weakness; Keogh not the right guy to replace McGeady
Keane & Doyle will provide a chance of scoring
We have "great players who love playing for their country"

He & many in the game are disillusioned with Trap, despite his initial excitement at the appointment. Feeling is he's not working hard enough and is becoming eccentric. Says Thursday morning is the time to comment further though.

Dunphy concedes that many of the selections are marginal, including Reid & Carsley, but that if they played we'd have a better chance.

Hopeful we can get a draw.

[Scram]

No mention as yet on RTE website. Mind you if you look at the web address, then it's an obvious hoax. Got me!!

YES, NICE EDIT !!!!!!!!!!!! "Obvious HOAX" TO MOST OF US.

[smasher]

Dunphy on RTE this morning:

Italy aren't great - missing better players; they didn't impress on Saturday
Grosso a threat
Pirlo biggest threat

McShane a weakness; Keogh not the right guy to replace McGeady
Keane & Doyle will provide a chance of scoring
We have "great players who love playing for their country"

He & many in the game are disillusioned with Trap, despite his initial excitement at the appointment. Feeling is he's not working hard enough and is becoming eccentric. Says Thursday morning is the time to comment further though.

Dunphy concedes that many of the selections are marginal, including Reid & Carsley, but that if they played we'd have a better chance.

Hopeful we can get a draw.

I dont put any store in what Dunphy says. He recently said that we had 5 or 6 players that would get in to any side and then failed to name 3. He is a rabble rouser and has consitently criticized Irish managers,except John Giles.
What a dipstick!

[Tis-smeee]

Well done ! ;-)

Caught on two now today , well done , my point still stands tho

[Wolfie]

Very surprised if this game is won by more than one goal. I have a feeling Doyle will be upfront on his own with Keane dropping back into midfield playing the role he played for Spurs against Chelsea last week. The Italian's will be happy to defend a 1-0 from the 1st to 90+ min so we have to stop them scoring. Imagine. A win will see us top the group. Highly, highly unlikely. But if we frustate them long enough on Wednesday then who knows.

On the evidence of Saturday's performance - nobody can be confident we'll secure anything from the game. Yet stranger things have happened..............

I think there will be a conscious effort by the team to show a bit more composure on the ball and try and retain possession.

Hunts performance will be crucial tonight as he has the ability to alleviate pressure on the back four by carrying the ball deep into the oppositions half.

I'm hoping Andrews can weigh in with a big performance tonight also.

McShane's inability to use posession to an even limited degree could disrupt our attempts to keep the ball but it appears we have to live with it until Finnan is back to the fold.

Lets just see how things unfold. Very few appear to give us an earthly of a chance but the rewards are there if we can emerge with even a point tonight.