Play Off Predictions?

[Emmet7]

My pants would well and truly be spoiled if that happened. Henry would probably just go up a minute later and score though!

yeh spot on...this Ireland team is now famous for conceding soft goals soon after they have scored themselves.

I honestly think if we could solve that problem of conceding soft goals we'd have beaten Italy twice and do well at the world cup, maybe even semi-finals.

It's our Achilles heal really.

In fact our 3 goals conceded against Italy were very soft.

Just occurred to me, does anyone know any medium or person good at predicting the future? Might be worth seeing what they say.

[geysir]

Despite the presence of Dunne, I don't think we are very good at the back, defending set pieces.
Over the balance of play from set pieces, is there more panic caused in our box defending them than we can create at the other end through our own set pieces?

Hard for me to tell, for obvious reasons.

[Scram]

Id say you are wrong about Stade De France straight off

No, it will definitely be in a French Stadium! ;)

[culloty82]

If it's like '06, we'll have nearly half the support in Paris, and not score many, but this time we'll stay unbeaten.

0-0 Paris
1-1 Croke Park

[Razors left peg]

Surprised no one has come out yet with a prediction of us getting beaten 4-0 in Croke Park like in the build up to the Italy game.

Personally Im changing my view on the playoff every 5 minutes. I fully believe we can win it. At times in the last 24 hours I was 100% certain we will win it.

But Im also getting times where I can see a scenario where France get an early goal in Croker leaving us with a massive uphill struggle where we will fight to the last minute of the 2nd leg and just not do enough and we will be looking back on another what if.... with 3 weeks or so to the games I'll prob only change my mind another few thousand times!

[Scram]

Surprised no one has come out yet with a prediction of us getting beaten 4-0 in Croke Park like in the build up to the Italy game.

Personally Im changing my view on the playoff every 5 minutes. I fully believe we can win it. At times in the last 24 hours I was 100% certain we will win it.

But Im also getting times where I can see a scenario where France get an early goal in Croker leaving us with a massive uphill struggle where we will fight to the last minute of the 2nd leg and just not do enough and we will be looking back on another what if.... with 3 weeks or so to the games I'll prob only change my mind another few thousand times!

Well that’s better than us getting an early goal in Croker!

[Polster]

2-1 to Ireland in Dublin
2-1 to France in Paris

Robbie extra time winner

[Scram]

What if:

0-0 Croke Park.

We are wining 1-0 with 2 minutes to go in Paree, Malouda is released midfield and we are outnumbered, McGeady says “och, fceking away wit ye” dives in from behind two-footed, wrecks Malouda’s heel, McGeady is sent off, we win 1-0 and qualify………………….Would McGeady miss any of the World Cup games ?!!

[tetsujin1979]

What if:

0-0 Croke Park.

We are wining 1-0 with 2 minutes to go in Paree, Malouda is released midfield and we are outnumbered, McGeady says “och, fceking away wit ye” dives in from behind two-footed, wrecks Malouda’s heel, McGeady is sent off, we win 1-0 and qualify………………….Would McGeady miss any of the World Cup games ?!!think all yellow cards are wiped out before the start of the competition?

[Metrostars]

think all yellow cards are wiped out before the start of the competition?

I think a red card ban is carried over to the finals though.

[Cymro]

ROI 1-0 France
France 2-1 ROI

Easy.

[Scram]

ROI 1-0 France
France 2-1 ROI

Easy.

I think that’s the most credible positive prediction I’ve seen so far, other than…it means us keeping a clean sheet in Croker…Ribery out, who knows.

[Cymro]

Honestly, I don't think the French are anything to fear. On rare occasions they are devastating but often they are lethargic and disjointed. I'd bank on the latter happening in both legs of the play-off, but nerves on both sides will ensure it's a close one.

[macdermesser]

Honestly, I don't think the French are anything to fear. On rare occasions they are devastating but often they are lethargic and disjointed. I'd bank on the latter happening in both legs of the play-off, but nerves on both sides will ensure it's a close one.

We need to beat the bejaysus out of them in terms of tackling, hassling, and pressuring. A bit like the way Roy Keane set the tone for the dutch game with his welcome to lansdowne road tackle on Overmars.

And of course .. a wall of noise at Croker and in Paris from the Irish fans. It will no doubt be close though as you said .. with the capacity for one moment of genius on the French part .. and of course the commercial pressures of having Ribery, Henry, Benzema and co at the World Cup which hopefully won't manifest itself in a dodgy decision.

ROI 1-0 France
France 1-1 ROI

[Noelys Guitar]

Head tells me 1-1. Heart 2-1. I can't see us holding out for a 1-0 or even 0-0. But unlike the last time we played them in Dublin I feel we can score against them both at home and away. Even if we lose 1-2 at home I feel we can go to Paris and retrieve the game. We have proved against Italy and Bulgaria that we can hang in there in a big game. And maybe 40% of the time the team that hangs in there gets the result in the end. I don't feel they will be in the least bit bothered about playing in Croke park. And nor do I feel we will be bothered about playing away in Paris.

[Crosby87]

2-1 French Fries on a late, heart breaking goal from Henry as he waves his magic wand one last time.
I then drown my sorrows and wake up in an alleyway with no pants on sometime Sunday afternoon.

[Razors left peg]

every chance it could be 1 all in both games and then penalties

[Noelys Guitar]

These scorelines again would go down a treat. World Cup 74 qualifying 2-1 in Dalymount 1972 (Treacy scored winner late in game. Terrible, scary crowd crush leaving ground as a kid). Then drew 1-1 in Paris (Mick Martin?).

[paul_oshea]

2-1 French Fries on a late, heart breaking goal from Henry as he waves his magic wand one last time.
I then drown my sorrows and wake up in an alleyway with no pants on sometime Sunday afternoon.

you forgot the bit at the end "with a sore ass".

I can see them scoring in croker. I can actually see us going ahead in croker and they then scoring and it finishing 1-1.

[Murfinator]

If Henry doesn't start it'll be two draws.

If he does he'll grab something for them.

Other than him the rest of their attacking talent is either injured (Ribery), off form (Benzema) or nothing worth fearing.

[noddy102]

If Henry doesn't start it'll be two draws.

If he does he'll grab something for them.

Other than him the rest of their attacking talent is either injured (Ribery), off form (Benzema) or nothing worth fearing.

Henry is hardly on form either... and I doubt he's back to his best as he is still recovering from injury.

Benzema scored midweek... so let's wait and see how he does this weekend before we go and say he's off-form.

Also, you cannot rule out their third attacker, whether it be Govou or Malouda, or someone else.

[Razors left peg]

Nearly crashed the car a half hour ago when I heard Mark Lawrenson say that he thinks we will go through. Dunno if I was more surprised by the prediction or that he didnt say that we dont have enough good players like he usually does

[SUB of the day]

Great time to be a football fan at the moment, the anticipation of the game is reminiscent of the glory days.I genuinely feel we will go through, despite not winning either game.1 1 in Dublin, 2 2 in Paris.

[Emmet7]

I think Trap's experience and tactics, although staid at times, will make up for any difference in quality, just as there was a difference in quality between us and the Italian players, the vast majority of whom are regular Champions League players.

If we keep it tight we have a chance and may well sneak a winning goal somewhere. I worry though about our defence which tends to leak soft goals. It's going to be tight I would say and the winning team will probably win by the odd goal. I hope it's Ireland.

My other prediction is that the RTE pundits, if Ireland do well, will say, this is the worst French team ever. You can put your money on that and also that they won't give the manager an ounce of credit for turning a team of underachievers into a team who are hard to defeat and have a lot of fight in them.

[Emmet7]

Nearly crashed the car a half hour ago when I heard Mark Lawrenson say that he thinks we will go through. Dunno if I was more surprised by the prediction or that he didnt say that we dont have enough good players like he usually does

A lot of the pundits who were criticising Ireland during the campaign are now trying their best to jump on Trapattoni's bandwagon.

It makes you wonder if these pundits know any more than the rest of us.

Qualification is really all that matters, given the frustration suffered by the fans in the last 7 or so years. The style of play doesn't matter, the entertainment value doesn't matter, what matters is we make progress up the FIFA rankings.

[SkStu]

what if we dont qualify Emmet? How does his achievement rank then? 4 wins and 6 draws plus whatever happens against France. Add in the performances to date to non-qualification and suddenly it doesnt look so good. But by then its too late for questions cos its just another case of us not qualifying...

[Scram]

We need to beat the bejaysus out of them in terms of tackling, hassling, and pressuring. A bit like the way Roy Keane set the tone for the dutch game with his welcome to lansdowne road tackle on Overmars.

And of course .. a wall of noise at Croker and in Paris from the Irish fans. It will no doubt be close though as you said .. with the capacity for one moment of genius on the French part .. and of course the commercial pressures of having Ribery, Henry, Benzema and co at the World Cup which hopefully won't manifest itself in a dodgy decision.

ROI 1-0 France
France 1-1 ROI

The most optimistic I can be is 0-0 home 1-1 away. Sweet way to qualify.

But honestly, I see France 2-1 at Croker and 1-0 in Paris.

[SUB of the day]

what if we dont qualify Emmet? How does his achievement rank then? 4 wins and 6 draws plus whatever happens against France. Add in the performances to date to non-qualification and suddenly it doesnt look so good. But by then its too late for questions cos its just another case of us not qualifying...
Remember the poisonous atmosphere at Croker at fulltime in the Cyprus game under Stan?....since then we have become competitive, hard to beat, brought the world champions within minutes of defeat.There have been numerous highs, Robbies late goal in Bari, Whelans screamer in Croker, Dunnes bullet header in Sofia.Think of the individual highs under Stan and Kerr.......exactly , not a lot.France are coming to town on the 14th, enjoy it, we're far from perfect, but have travelled quite a distance in a short space of time.Scotland Wales Norn Iron would love to be in our position.

[SkStu]

so the difference is we will have memories of nearly winning but nothing to show for it other than that.

Oh okay then.

[Emmet7]

what if we dont qualify Emmet? How does his achievement rank then? 4 wins and 6 draws plus whatever happens against France. Add in the performances to date to non-qualification and suddenly it doesnt look so good. But by then its too late for questions cos its just another case of us not qualifying...

You are right...we'd be much better under Stan and Kerr...maybe it was a mistake for us to get rid of Stan...if we kept him on, we'd be playing lovely free flowing football now, we'd have cruised through the group, hammered the Italians, got revenge on the Cypriots by thrashing them home and away.

We'd have won 10, lost none and drawn none, goals for 50, against 0. Bring back Stan.

[SkStu]

You are right...we'd be much better under Stan and Kerr...maybe it was a mistake for us to get rid of Stan...if we kept him on, we'd be playing lovely free flowing football now, we'd have cruised through the group, hammered the Italians, got revenge on the Cypriots by thrashing them home and away.

We'd have won 10, lost none and drawn none, goals for 50, against 0. Bring back Stan.

yes, because thats exactly what i said. :rolleyes:

What age are you? Do you have problem with comprehending a point? Or answering a question?

[Emmet7]

Grand so.

Our 4 wins were well deserved.

We should have beaten the Italians at home and possible away too. We should have beaten the Bulgarians home and away if it wasn't for elemental defensive mistakes.

Had we taken the Montenegro game more seriously, we could easily have won that.

That would have made it 8 or 9 wins if it wasn't for a couple of mistakes.

However, this is only Trap's first campaign and he is only with the players 3 or 4 days for each match. That's the context you have to take it in. To go undefeated through a difficult group is a good if not spectacular achievement given it's his first term.

We don't have the strength in depth or quality the English team have for example so we were never going to win most of our games.

[SkStu]

should have (X2)
could have
would have

now, im not disputing that we have done well - we have. I just think that if we dont qualify, we dont qualify and what have we got to show for the last campaign? 4 wins, 6 draws maybe two defeats and memories of moral victories. Not alot else.

[Razors left peg]

should have (X2)
could have
would have

now, im not disputing that we have done well - we have. I just think that if we dont qualify, we dont qualify and what have we got to show for the last campaign? 4 wins, 6 draws maybe two defeats and memories of moral victories. Not alot else.

What we have done is made a hell of alot of progress

[shaneker]

Calm down lads, I'm here, with my phenomenal (!) 3-game streak of the correct results...so for the first leg, here it is.

Ireland 1 France 0

You heard it here first.

...okay, maybe you didn't, but I get points for optimism, right?

[Colbert Report]

First Leg: Ireland 0 France 4
Second Leg: Ireland 0 France 0

Sorry lads but I just don't see it happening for us. I hope I'm wrong. France are excellent odds to qualify at -270 (just a bit cheaper than 3/1 on for ye who are not familiar with American odds)

[Supreme feet]

I'll say 1-0 Ireland. Based on no footballing logic or precedent whatsoever. Just a feeling.

As for Trap's achievement thus far, qualification would be an absolute vindication of his methods, given the enormity of the task. However, if we don't qualify, should everything he's achieved be denigrated? No. If we were to go into next year managerless, we would be back exactly where we were post-Staunton, and probably sink into a Belgium/Romania/Hungary-type of decline. Trapattoni has given us a base and structure from which to build. The fact that we've remained competitive in this campaign despite missing our best full-back (Finnan), our best central midfielder (Steven Reid) and our best winger (Duff) for most of the campaign (not to mention the Stephen Ireland farce) is a commendable achievement.

Even in our better days under Charlton and McCarthy, we went through the pain of failing to hang on to leads, failing to keep possession in midfield, conceding last-minute goals, drawing our big home games and dropping points against inferior teams. It's not exactly a new phenomenon. The challenge for any Irish manager is to stamp out the silly results, i.e. Poland '91, Liechtenstein and Austria '95, Macedonia '99, and Israel '05, which cost us so dear. Expecting us to beat Italy and France and declaring anything less as outright failure is, in my opinion, snobbish and deluded.

[galwayjames]

Ireland 1-0 France
France 0-0 Ireland

[Razors left peg]

First Leg: Ireland 0 France 4
Second Leg: Ireland 0 France 0

Sorry lads but I just don't see it happening for us. I hope I'm wrong. France are excellent odds to qualify at -270 (just a bit cheaper than 3/1 on for ye who are not familiar with American odds)

did u not learn from your prediction of 4 nil in the Italy game.

[Colbert Report]

did u not learn from your prediction of 4 nil in the Italy game.

If I keep predicting it eventually it will come true.

Honestly though I fear we're in for a right hiding, especially if Henry plays. The level of talent the French have is downright frightening. I think they are better than us at every position, including goalkeeper.

[tetsujin1979]

If I keep predicting it eventually it will come true.
And a broken clock is right twice a day. Fact is we've only conceded more than one goal in a competitive game once, and that was Italy.
Even in the worst games, we've only conceded three (Australia and Poland), and we've only conceded more than 3 goals under any manager a handful of times.

[Emmet7]

If I keep predicting it eventually it will come true.

Honestly though I fear we're in for a right hiding, especially if Henry plays. The level of talent the French have is downright frightening. I think they are better than us at every position, including goalkeeper.

Nice to see a bit of confidence in the Irish team.

[SuperDave]

I'll say 1-0 Ireland. Based on no footballing logic or precedent whatsoever. Just a feeling.

As for Trap's achievement thus far, qualification would be an absolute vindication of his methods, given the enormity of the task. However, if we don't qualify, should everything he's achieved be denigrated? No. If we were to go into next year managerless, we would be back exactly where we were post-Staunton, and probably sink into a Belgium/Romania/Hungary-type of decline. Trapattoni has given us a base and structure from which to build. The fact that we've remained competitive in this campaign despite missing our best full-back (Finnan), our best central midfielder (Steven Reid) and our best winger (Duff) for most of the campaign (not to mention the Stephen Ireland farce) is a commendable achievement.

Even in our better days under Charlton and McCarthy, we went through the pain of failing to hang on to leads, failing to keep possession in midfield, conceding last-minute goals, drawing our big home games and dropping points against inferior teams. It's not exactly a new phenomenon. The challenge for any Irish manager is to stamp out the silly results, i.e. Poland '91, Liechtenstein and Austria '95, Macedonia '99, and Israel '05, which cost us so dear. Expecting us to beat Italy and France and declaring anything less as outright failure is, in my opinion, snobbish and deluded.

Absolutely! I think it is ridiculous that if we qualify, Trap will be nigh on unquestionable but if we fail, there will be likely be some calling for his head. Neither position is anywhere near tenable. He has done a good job with limited resources and a seeding status that did us no favours. If we were second seeds (which hopefully we will be by the time of the 2014 qualifiers) we would have stood a magnificent chance at automatic qualification by drawing home and away with the first seeds. That we weren't and won't be for 2012 is largely a result of the Staunton era results..

[irishfan86]

I think they are better than us at every position, including goalkeeper.

You and Pat Dolan should hang out.

[richieos]

I saw this post over on ybig.ie, if this doesnt pump you up for the match i dont know what will, excellent stuff.



Can't wait for this. Time seems to be taking an etenerity to pass. All I want is to be back home in Ireland with my family and friends along with 80,000 others roaring the lads on in Croker and then again in Paris!! Ive never been so excited about 2 games of Soccer in my life. Trapaoni has given us hope again. We must believe in him and the 11 players he chooses next Saturday night. The energy, the passion, the determination and the will to succeed is evdent in this team its supporters, and the manaer. No matter how technically superior a team may be on paper, that Irish trait makes anything a possibility!!! I lost my father 2 months and know that he like Eirebhoy and a lot of other Irish Supporters no longer with us will be looking down on Croker and the Stade de France. Knowing this makes me believe we are going to do this!!.

[Murfinator]

He's right Lloris, Mandanda and Frey (if Domenech and him ever made up) are all world class keepers and probably as good if not better than Given, and they outclass us everywhere else too.

But the one place they don't outclass us is the man standing on the touchlines and that's probably the most important position of all. They also have poor supporters who won't get behind them if things aren't going their way.

[elroy]

Watching Sky Sports advertising their upcoming football today made me so proud, similar sized nations, Scotland, Wales and NI all have meaningless friendless next sat then its ROI V France in a WC playoff.

Just think about that for a second, and in particular compare it to this time last campaign. How far we have come and who knows how far more we will go. As Ireland football fans, enjoy the next 10 days or so, cherish them, these are days we long for. We've had Malta, NI, Holland, Belgium, Turkey and Iran in recent times, some great days in there, we can now add France to the list and hopefully another qualification.

Im a nervous wreck after reading today papers previews, but am starting to believe. Its not going to be pretty, but I think we can get a good result at home to go to paris with. Not sure we will win, but think it may well be scoreless at home, setting up an intriguing winner takes all in paris. COME ON YOU BOYS IN GREEN!!!

[wallis]

We will knock out France for the simple reason that those corrupt , draw fixing cheats at UEFA / FIFA will get their comeuppance and I for one will be chanting " ARE YOU WATCHING PLATINI ??" at the top of my voice when we put the French out in Paris.

Ireland 1-0 France
France 1-1 Ireland

Au revoir Monsieur Platini - get it right up ya.

[FarBeag]

What’s worrying me about our chances against the French is the amount of playing time some of our players are getting. We have two areas where we are most vulnerable left back and the central midfield. These are the positions where most of our goals conceded have come from over this campaign so far and this was when the players in these positions were getting regular first team places. Kevin Kilbane who is not a natural left back cannot get into a poor Hull team. Keith Andrews has spent a lot of time on the bench in recent matches, Darron Gibson is just returning from injury. Surely none of them can be match sharp for such an important match.

On another note Liam Lawrence did not make it off the bench for Stoke to-day, Steven Hunt was rubbish in the same game and Aiden McGeady looked bad against lowly Falkirk also missing a penalty.

I know that Given, Dunne, O’Shea, Duff, Keane have all excelled lately and also Whelan and Doyle to a lesser extent.

Will we have enough to beat the French over two legs? I hope to God I am wrong but I really don’t think so. Looking at our present first 11 the French appear way too strong for us and their strength in dept is frightening.

1-1 and 2-1 I am afraid.

[donalmcdonagh]

[QUOTE=Murfinator;1268161]He's right Lloris, Mandanda and Frey (if Domenech and him ever made up) are all world class keepers and probably as good if not better than Given, and they outclass us everywhere else too.



This is pure rubbish.....are you French?? Yourself and COlbert are talking cr@p

I think it will be really tight, we will not be beaten 4-0. I think Ireland find it easier against teams who are stronger up front as opposed to midfield. Thats why Im confident. If we compare France to Italy, the Italians had a much stroner midfield than attack and this was very diificult for us. Whereas the French have a stronger attack than midfield and I believe we can cope with this easier. The french midfield is strong but I believe its not as good as the italian one we faced.
Collectively we are very strong, I think its 50-50 to be honest. Georcuff I believe is pulling the strings these days so hopefully we can keep him quiet.
Cant wait for the game....