Republic of Ireland Squad V Armenia 3/9, Andorra 7/9

[shakermaker1982]

Things I want to see tomorrow (besides a comfortable away victory):

McGeady to announce himself on the international stage. A goal or a couple of nice crosses for Keane/Doyle would do nicely.

Kilbane to have a solid 7 out of 10 performance.

If we go 1 up PLEASE keep playing. Pretend your 1 nil down if you have to. Nothing drives me more insane than when we go 1 goal up after 10 minutes and then play negative football until the opposition get an equalizer in the dying seconds.....



Ireland 2-1. Similiar type of performance when we played Cyprus away last time out.

[SwanVsDalton]

It'll be a typical Irish performance - storming start, goal, comfortable into the late stages before hare-brained defending and plenty of misplaced passes lead to a bum-clenchingly tight finish. But a 1-0 win. Would take that all day.

[geysir]

No at all, I'd be feeling very disgraced with those 3 points :rolleyes:

[boovidge]

i'd take 1-0 in a heartbeat. very nervous about tomorrow-it has banana skin written all over it.

[Noelys Guitar]

Any type of a win will do tomorrow. Don't care how we play. Not in these type of games away from home. McGeady will be the key player tomorrow. We need him running at their defense and getting decent balls into the box. Better still McGeady scoring. Keep Armenia defending with their full backs staying in their own half.

[irishfan86]

Could be McGeady's coming out party, I have a good feeling about this.

[Fergie's Son]

I'd take any sort of win. Lawrence and McGeady both have something to prove and I think Green will boss the midfield or at least let them know he is there. Kilbane is professional enough to be able to handle most of what will come at it. My worry is that some unknown but skillful Armenian will pull the strings all night and tear us apart.

[irishultra]

while i feel this ireland team is very very weak and that trap is underperforming with squad selection we still are better on paper than armenia. obviously like football isnt played on paper and it will be tough but we should have enough to get 3 points, but we aren't that much better than them that its like a formality.

we have weak players thru the team who could get exposed(green, kilbane)

[danonion]

Armenia is a team of footballing never-will-bes. 4-0 Ireland, Kilbane to get on the scoresheet.

[Razors left peg]

Lads how did Armenia do in World Cup qualifying.Did they have any notable wins that might worry us or are we just nervous about this game because its a trip into the unknown?

[boovidge]

they beat belgium quite recently i think

[boovidge]

just checked: in their last competitive home fixture they lost to spain 2:1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia_national_football_team#Notable_matches

[Razors left peg]

they beat belgium quite recently i think

Beautiful!!!! and heres me thinking that realistically it should be an easy 3 points.Nerves are gonna kill me tomorrow now

[Sullivinho]

If we go 1 up PLEASE keep playing. Pretend your 1 nil down if you have to. Nothing drives me more insane than when we go 1 goal up after 10 minutes and then play negative football until the opposition get an equalizer in the dying seconds.....

Hear bloody hear.

Of course our alternate party trick is to let the opposition score immediately after we have. None of those shenanigans either, please.


Could be McGeady's coming out party

Gotta happen one of these days. Surely..

[Closed Account]

I can picture in my mind what the Irish performance will be like, typically cautious. Good shape, 45-50%. Good for a goal if we take our chances.

What I'm worried about is their formation. 4-2-3-1.
The last time 4-2-3-1 played 4-4-2 was Germany V England in the world cup.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/27/germany-4-1-england-tactics/
It leaves a lot of players, on both sides, in space. For us, the space will be afforded to McGeady and Lawrence. Do they have the intelligence to exploit it?
The most restricted is Robbie and Doyler. Especially if Robbie starts dropping deep, which he inevitably will. When Robbie is suffering club wise, he tries extra hard, some would say too hard, for Ireland. Wants to be involved in everything.

[Wolfie]

If we default to our more cautious approach we are going to have to be ruthless in converting the few chances that fall our way in the game.

Obviously, a solid performance right across the back four is imperative.

McGeady's big chance against Montenegro away at the same stage of the last campaign springs to mind. This time we'll need him to put the chance away, if it arises.

[Kingdom]

Good call there Wolfie, that chance does come to mind, had that effort gone in, and the game won, the group would have taken a much different direction. Hopefully little things like that change for the better this time.

[Hibs4Ever]

they beat belgium quite recently i think


Beautiful!!!! and heres me thinking that realistically it should be an easy 3 points.Nerves are gonna kill me tomorrow now


Beating Belgium was there only win in the group, add to that a draw at home to Estonia (they also lost away to Estonia), and they lost their other 8 games, finishing bottom of the group

[Lionel Ritchie]

This will be my only post of the day as i'm now going to put in the shift of all shifts before scattering.

I'm starting to think this match and it's highlights would be best viewed in black and white, slightly sped up and with audio replaced with an old theatre-style vaudevillian honky tonk upright piano -and maybe one of those Pathe Newsreel Oxford English speaking chaps giving incidental commentary.

"Here's a tricky customer -he calls this move the arse-over-elbow".

Roll on anyway. C'MON IRELAND!!!

[Kingdom]

LOL LR.

I'm starting to feel more comfortable the more I think about the game. I think we've actually got a good chance of being comfortable, and I reckon if we were to score early we could get a couple more. I think we are in reasonably good shape in offering a threat from all areas of the pitch. McGeadski can score (albeit not for Ireland yet), the pressure is off him to an extent with duff's injury and maybe that will ease the nerves a bit. Doyle and Keane are always a threat, as is Lawrence to a degree, while Glenn Whelan likes a shot. Add to the two centre halves who have shown themselves to be useful in the opposition box.

Hell I'm looking forward to this.

[Straightstory]

Irish squad is poorest it has been in a long time. Can't see us getting much from this. Typically tricky away tie. A boring 0-0 or 1-1 draw, or a 1-0 to them.

[Supreme feet]

Irish squad is poorest it has been in a long time. Can't see us getting much from this. Typically tricky away tie. A boring 0-0 or 1-1 draw, or a 1-0 to them.

I seem to hear this every year.

Pretty sure we were worse under Staunton, and at various stages under Kerr.

[irishfan86]

It comes down to the team, not necessarily the squad. Duff out McGeady in is the only key change in my view, and I'm expecting McGeady to deliver today for some reason, despite throwing hefty criticism his way in recent times.

Gotta come good. Come on Ireland.

[Noelys Guitar]

Other than Duff and Hunt this is our first team. Nervous but expect us to play the Trap way and keep them away from our goal while we take one or two of our chances. C'MON IRELAND!

[twoenz]

This is basically the same squad that comfortably beat two WC teams who didn't embarrass themselves at the big show when they came to the RDS, so it's hardly the poorest we've been.

[Murfinator]

Irish squad is poorest it has been in a long time. Can't see us getting much from this. Typically tricky away tie. A boring 0-0 or 1-1 draw, or a 1-0 to them.

Why do people say stuff like this? We're coming off the back of a campaign where we went through undefeated in a group that could certainly be described as tricky, outplayed France in Paris and hammered two world cup teams in build up friendlies.

The team is settled, the lads know their role and the system, we've lost nobody through retirement either.
On paper perhaps a weak squad but the team is one of the strongest we've had in the past decade.

It speaks volume of where the team is now and where they were when at the start of the last Euro campaign Stan spoke about "being a banana skin for the opposition" and "building for the future" and other nonsense, this campaign Killer has come out and said anything less than 6 points from these two fixtures is a failure, Keane has said the past failure will spur them on to qualification, they have belief now, they're far mentally tougher than they used to be.

[bholg]

Does the honey-monster definitely start?

[Stuttgart88]

He's been named in the team so I guess so.

They lost 3-1 at home to Iran last month and got 4 points only in last campaign - 3 decent home points against Belgium though and a good show against Spain.

However, Belgium are a shambles at times these days.

In the last Euro campaign they beat Poland and drew with Portugal. Their team has changed and they have changed coach since then, reverting back to a cautious style I believe.

We should take them, but the heat and our players' rustiness and arguable fitness make me a little nervous. There's a lot of pressure on Paul Green but I suspect he'll do OK. He seems a confident type. Time for McGeady to start scoring. I can't believe it was 2004 when he first played for us.

[Stuttgart88]

Why do people say stuff like this? We're coming off the back of a campaign where we went through undefeated in a group that could certainly be described as tricky, outplayed France in Paris and hammered two world cup teams in build up friendlies.

The team is settled, the lads know their role and the system, we've lost nobody through retirement either.
On paper perhaps a weak squad but the team is one of the strongest we've had in the past decade.

It speaks volume of where the team is now and where they were when at the start of the last Euro campaign Stan spoke about "being a banana skin for the opposition" and "building for the future" and other nonsense, this campaign Killer has come out and said anything less than 6 points from these two fixtures is a failure, Keane has said the past failure will spur them on to qualification, they have belief now, they're far mentally tougher than they used to be.I think in previous campaigns in the back of their minds there was always at least one more to follow. Now a few of them realise that this will be their last Euros and 2014 WC will be a real stretch for some of them.

[Kingdom]

He's been named in the team so I guess so.

They lost 3-1 at home to Iran last month and got 4 points only in last campaign - 3 decent home points against Belgium though and a good show against Spain.

However, Belgium are a shambles at times these days.

In the last Euro campaign they beat Poland and drew with Portugal. Their team has changed and they have changed coach since then, reverting back to a cautious style I believe.

We should take them, but the heat and our players' rustiness and arguable fitness make me a little nervous. There's a lot of pressure on Paul Green but I suspect he'll do OK. He seems a confident type. Time for McGeady to start scoring. I can't believe it was 2004 when he first played for us.


Stuttgart,
One of the players made the point that bar McGeady and perhaps Dunne (injuries) the players shouldnt be weary or rusty given the proximity of the game to pre-season where most of the players went through or featured in. We'll be fine on that score. Agreed re: Green, he does seem the confident sort, a trait Trap seems to adore. It's that reason he persists with say McShane over perhaps Darren O'Dea, ability wise O'Dea is far ahead imo, but appears to me to suffer from asserting himself, a confidence issue, whereas McShane is quite limited but is very confident in himself.

[Kingdom]

By the time the quals for WC2014 start we'll have :

Given @ 36
Duff @ 33+
Kilbane @ 35+
Dunne @ 33
Josh @ 32+
Keano @ 32

so for the majority of them this represents the last chance for the bulk of our first choice XI to play in a major finals tournament. I'd imagine that will add greater emphasis to the task at hand

[Stuttgart88]

Yep, and anyway the season is so long these days the few weeks off in June hardly takes the edge off their fitness and a decent pre-season is all that it takes to get them back in peak condition again. I'd say these guys are rarely too far off peak condition.

I reckon we'll win this. Montenegro were better (OK, we drew!), Cyprus were better.

[Straightstory]

Why do people say stuff like this? We're coming off the back of a campaign where we went through undefeated in a group that could certainly be described as tricky, outplayed France in Paris and hammered two world cup teams in build up friendlies.

The team is settled, the lads know their role and the system, we've lost nobody through retirement either.
On paper perhaps a weak squad but the team is one of the strongest we've had in the past decade.

It speaks volume of where the team is now and where they were when at the start of the last Euro campaign Stan spoke about "being a banana skin for the opposition" and "building for the future" and other nonsense, this campaign Killer has come out and said anything less than 6 points from these two fixtures is a failure, Keane has said the past failure will spur them on to qualification, they have belief now, they're far mentally tougher than they used to be.

We couldn't overcome the worst French and Italian teams in living memory. Our away form has always been poor. Can't see us getting much out of tonight.

[boovidge]

France didn't even make the 1990 or 1994 world cup. Those are in living memory, right?

[SwanVsDalton]

We couldn't overcome the worst French and Italian teams in living memory. Our away form has always been poor. Can't see us getting much out of tonight.

France and Italy were both better against us than in the WC. And even at their worst, possessed far more quality than us. It's not really a reason for half-empty pessimism.

[IsMiseSean]

just checked: in their last competitive home fixture they lost to spain 2:1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia_national_football_team#Notable_matches

I was looking at that too, some good results for so called minnows....

[TheBoss]

1 Shay Given
2 Sean St Ledger
3 Kevin Kilbane
4 John O'Shea
5 Richard Dunne
6 Glenn Whelan
7 Liam Lawrence
8 Paul Green
9 Kevin Doyle
10 Robbie Keane (C)
11 Aiden McGeady

Subs:
16 Keiren Westwood
12 Keith Fahey
13 Stephen Kelly
14 Darron Gibson
15 Greg Cunningham
17 Andrew Keogh
18 Cillian Sheridan

[Murfinator]

By the time the quals for WC2014 start we'll have :

Given @ 36
Duff @ 33+
Kilbane @ 35+
Dunne @ 33
Josh @ 32+
Keano @ 32

so for the majority of them this represents the last chance for the bulk of our first choice XI to play in a major finals tournament. I'd imagine that will add greater emphasis to the task at hand

Oh get real, Keane, Duff, JOS, Dunne at 32/33 and Given for a goalkeeper at 36 does not represent being too old. Thats the kind of silly thing the english media and public do in believing everyone should be retired once they turn 30 regardless of any sort of form or fitness they might be on. Dunne, Given and Duff had one of the finest seasons of their career last year and JOS has had one major injury in his entire career, if you think they'll be retiring out of inability, fitness or lack of desire get a reality check, they'll all be there for that campaign.

[paul_oshea]

is the boss saying st ledger is in teh full back position?!

[paul_oshea]

very short on cover for the centre half position.

[EAFC_rdfl]

is the boss saying st ledger is in teh full back position?!
sledge always wears number 2

[elroy]

Here we go lads, we've been waiting for this since the night in Paris. The rollercoaster starts all over again. We dont win many away but please god we win tonight. Lets be confident, clean sheet anyways and i think we'll get two. 2-0 to Ireland. Lets hope we continue our good record of scoring early.

[Murfinator]

Would love to know what the value is having two captains read out some inaudible scribble from a scrawl of paper.

[Crosby87]

So what is the starting lineup for Tuesday lads? Paul Green has to be on the bench right?
Does McG get the start or has Trap tired of his lack of production?

[Sullivinho]

Everyone seems to be fit. I reckon we might be unchanged.

[Charlie Darwin]

O'Dea and McShane passed fit but Duff ruled out.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soccer/2010/0905/1224278269111.html

[zinedineontour]

So what is the starting lineup for Tuesday lads? Paul Green has to be on the bench right?
Does McG get the start or has Trap tired of his lack of production?

Would start Green again thought he came into the game in the second half and did alright after poor first half. Deserves another chance and andorra should be the kind of game where he will get his confidence and develop into the side.

[Charlie Darwin]

In the short-term, Green probably needs another game to get used to international football, but if the Andorrans park the bus, as I expect they will, the match seems ideally suited for Gibson.

[Charlie Darwin]

Whelan might not play to ensure he isn't banned for the Russia match:



Midfielder Glenn Whelan – who was booked in the 1-0 win in Armenia – could be replaced by Darron Gibson.
Another booking would rule him out of next month’s home clash with group *favourites Russia.


Ireland No.2 Marco Tardelli said: “For us it could be dangerous because Whelan is on a yellow card.”


http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Giovanni-Trapattoni-insists-there-can-be-no-room-for-complacency-when-Ireland-take-on-minnows-Andorra-article572171.html

[Sullivinho]

We should be able to handle Andorra with Green and Gibson.

Anchor Darron just outside their box with a shoot on sight policy ;)