Republic of Ireland V Faroe Islands - Friday, 7th June 2013 - World Cup 14 Qualifier

[DeLorean]

Why does he not play McClean on the wing?
Walters and Cox are both strikers

I'm sure he said something about needing more protection to compensate for the luxury that is Hoolahan!

[Dermotron]

Why does he not play McClean on the wing?
Walters and Cox are both strikers


Needs defensive protecting against the Faroese Cafu-esque left back . . .

[DannyInvincible]

I wonder would Hoolahan still have started had McCarthy not been suspended.

[PatJR]

Walters will probably play on the wing, a role he plays a lot for Stoke and Ipswich in the past. He is also a much, much better option there than McClean who has taken several steps backwards in the last 12 months. You may have noticed that even Dunphy no longer uses him as an example of "an outstanding young talent" ignored by Trapp. That's when you know you have work to do!!

[SwanVsDalton]

Hopefully, whether it's Cox or Walters nominally wide, they shift inside and let Coleman play up and down. Basically play three up front with McGeady and Coleman on the wings.

Have no problem with Cox in the team ahead of McClean given he does score the odd goal. Hoolahan and McGeady should have enough creativity to supply the bullets. 3-0 to us.

[ArdeeBhoy]

This shows up Trapp for the lunatic he is, especially at home.

No doubt he and his supporters will say a 1-goal win is a 'great victory'.
Personally I'd take that, given the potential for embarrassment in this fixture.

[BonnieShels]

In fairness we said that the Toshavn fixture could have been embarrasing and it wasn't.

[Charlie Darwin]

cox up front with robbie and walters on the wing as most recent selections id say
Supposedly they've been training with Cox on the wing and Walters up top: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/hoolahan-and-walters-look-set-to-start-against-faroes-1.1417702

[tetsujin1979]

Walters up front makes some sense with Coleman and McGeady in the side, without Long he's more of a natural target man than any other player in the squad

[p2011]

Cox on the wing again? Trap really takes the biscuit. How many more times does this need to be tried?

And why does Trap never use friendlies to really prepare the team for upcoming competitive games and try things out? Why give Long and McCarthy so much game time against Georgia knowing they will be suspended for the Faroes? And why not try Hoolahan as a No 10, in his proper role? (His ball retention and incisive forward passing is what the team has been crying out for for about 3 years now.)

One of the advantages of Trap at the beginning was that he would ignore the Irish press, but in fact he pays too much attention to it and tries to do the exact opposite of what they say!

The first half v Georgia and indeed many of our games are so disjointed that I wonder just what on earth they do in training. The hallowed "seestem" seems to be to give the ball away within 5-10 seconds and then hope for the best.

And we can't play with one striker cos that would appear defensive... this is obvious and stinking BS, as the two teams in the CL final play with one man up, as indeed does almost every modern team, and the two in the CLF are hardly defensive, are they?

The man is holding us back so much at this stage. We have the makings of a team that should be well capable of second in this grup, instead we probably blew it by persisting with a tired lop-sided 4-4-2 while trying to hang on against Austria.

[tricky_colour]

I wonder would Hoolahan still have started had McCarthy not been suspended.

That is an interesting question, Trap has been talking up Hoolahan a bit but of course he would do as he is pretty much forced to play him.

Will be interesting to see what happens when Whelan Hoolahan and McCarthy are all available.

[SkStu]

I don't think it will be interesting at all unfortunately, TC. Whelan is clearly Traps number one. Or at least Trap is 90% certain Whelan is his favourite...

[geysir]

I don't think it will be interesting at all unfortunately, TC. Whelan is clearly Traps number one. Or at least Trap is 90% certain Whelan is his favourite...
Agreed, the greater the choice for Trap to pick from, the more depressing appears his selection.
You got to hand it to the guy, he's steadfast to the core.

[Crosby87]

Trap: We can change the system, maybe we can play on the right with Walters and Cox central with Robbie....
http://www.independent.ie/sport/trapattoni-never-lost-faith-29326367.html

[Charlie Darwin]

He seems to be suggesting that McClean can't cut in on his left foot the way Cox or Walters would on the left. I'd say that's a valid criticism, although I saw him do it plenty in the League of Ireland. Perhaps he has lost some confidence in his ability to do that since moving to England. I'd still have him in the first team over Cox though.

[Stuttgart88]

Much as I've been critical of Whelan, I honestly didn't expect anything other than Whelan and Hoolahan in midfield given McCarthy's suspension, Andrews' injury and Gibson's exile. Did anyone seriously think Meyler or Quinn would be picked over Whelan?

[Charlie Darwin]

Meyler's lack of gametime over the past few friendlies has been criminal. He is Trap's kind of player and I fully expect that once he gets a proper run Trap won't stop raving about him, so it's very odd that he hasn't been given a start yet.

[Stuttgart88]

Meyler was given a start vs Oman and did well enough, usually looking to do the right thing, but over-played it a few times (Trap notices these things!) and made one lunge tackle almost worthy of a red card in any game. He did little in that one start against modest oppositionh to show he's a threat to Whelan, and Hendrick has done at least as well when given the chance. "Criminal" is not a word I'd use in this context.

[Charlie Darwin]

I thought he was a sub for the Oman game, my mistake.

[OwlsFan]

Quote Originally Posted by DannyInvincible View Post

I wonder would Hoolahan still have started had McCarthy not been suspended
That is an interesting question, Trap has been talking up Hoolahan a bit but of course he would do as he is pretty much forced to play him.

Will be interesting to see what happens when Whelan Hoolahan and McCarthy are all available.

Irrelevant question. He has picked him for this game with those who can't stand Trap disappointed that he did because thye now they have to speculate perhaps he might not have picked him if others were available. So let's move on to Cox as the next object of attack. Mind you, I thought the latter had a stinker against Georgia.

The 4-4-2 system has brought us 2.5 campaigns unbeaten away from home (how many games is that?). We lost in Euro 2012 to 3 of the top 6 teams in the world and at home to probably the best team at the moment. I see no reason to drop it.

The match the third item on the Today FM sports new this morning behind Cian Healy not biting someone in Australia and some boxing. Ah well, on to the Aviva and........

[BonnieShels]

And the singular failure of the Austrian game which is worse than the Euros and the 6-1.

[paul_oshea]

There is a far more important game tonight, that ye have all lost sight of.

Sweden are equal with us on points, with a game in hand. Forget about all this going to kazakhstan etc, by the end of the qualifying they will have faded away and little interest. Is 2 draws a better result for us, or a win for Austria and a draw away from home? I think it is, if we go there at a win at all costs in september.

[shakermaker1982]

Austria win tonight makes things very interesting. If Sweden get the 3 points then it's curtains for us IMO.

[paul_oshea]

That's pretty much how I read it.

I don't see a draw as a great result, as I see Sweden beating them at home. And ibra is sure to have a good game soon.

[drummerboy]

Heard Brian Kerr on the radio this morning. He was saying that the Faroe's are missing two of their regular back four and their 2 central midfielders. He said the right full tonight is making his debut. Hopefully McGeady should make the debutant remember his first cap for the wrong reasons.

[ifk101]

They're missing 2 from the team that started against Austria from what I can see. Their missing RB plays in the third division of Danish football so maybe no great loss. :-)

[Crosby87]

Keane not considering retirement.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22805938

[EAFC_rdfl]

anyone else think there's a chance of us picking up 11 from the remaining 5 games, including tonight's?
Faroes home win, Sweden home win (surely have to get a result at home that counts soon?), Austria away draw, Germany away draw, Kazakhstan home win.
Even if the Germans beat us its still 10 points. It might be enough to get second, but it might not be enough to make the play-offs.

[DeLorean]

There is a far more important game tonight, that ye have all lost sight of.

Sweden are equal with us on points, with a game in hand. Forget about all this going to kazakhstan etc, by the end of the qualifying they will have faded away and little interest. Is 2 draws a better result for us, or a win for Austria and a draw away from home? I think it is, if we go there at a win at all costs in september.

I would take Austria not losing tonight if I was offered it now. It's impossible to know what the absolute best result would be but Sweden winning would be curtains. Once they don't win it will set up a belter at Lansdowne in September with everything to play for.

[BonnieShels]

I would take Austria not losing tonight if I was offered it now. It's impossible to know what the absolute best result would be but Sweden winning would be curtains. Once they don't win it will set up a belter at Lansdowne in September with everything to play for.

AS Sweden have that game in hand I would take an Austria win. 1-0 will do nicely.

[paul_oshea]

Ya that's what I am still worried about, coupled with sweden having germany at home. Germany will be content with a draw and who knows Sweden could even grab a win. I still see Austria losing points before I see Sweden losing them, even if they have to go to kazakhstan straight after playing us in Dublin.

Our goal difference is truly awful, we have -10 in the difference to Austria and -4 to Sweden. On the off chance that we do get 2nd it could well be on goal difference, we badly need a 4 or 5-0 win tonight. I hope there is no let up.

To think Kazakhstan kept Austria scoreless at home and we conceded 2.Argh!

[BonnieShels]

I agree.

I want us to mill these tonight. No excuses. 6, 7, 8-0.

It won't be. But come on!!!

[IsMiseSean]

Just about to jump in the van for Dublin. Prediction 3-0, Keane(2) & Cox!!

[OwlsFan]

I agree.

I want us to mill these tonight. No excuses. 6, 7, 8-0.

It won't be. But come on!!!

http://foot.ie/threads/18446-Ireland-2-0-Faroe-Islands-What-you-think/page2

Judging by our last home game against them, you are being extremely optimistic. I don't think they concede those amount of goals very often either. I'll take a win and then whatever comes in the way of bonus goals.

[jbyrne]

Our goal difference is truly awful, we have -10 in the difference to Austria and -4 to Sweden. On the off chance that we do get 2nd it could well be on goal difference, we badly need a 4 or 5-0 win tonight. I hope there is no let up.


assuming Faroe Islands finish bottom of the group will goals scored against tham actually count for anything goal difference wise?

[paul_oshea]

See - > http://foot.ie/threads/180163-Ireland-Vs-Faroe-Islands-7-6-13-W-C-Q-Match-Thread?p=1690215&viewfull=1#post1690215

You are getting a step ahead of yourself JB.

[DeLorean]

I don't see Sweden as having a game in hand. They will beat Faroes at home on Tuesday so I just see them as having them same games played and three points clear of ourselves and Austria.

Austria getting a point tonight would open up the opportunity of us leapfrogging both sides by beating the Swedes in Dublin. An Austria victory could well be the desired result, but it also leaves it open to Austria taking control, should they get something in Sweden. For those reasons we don't really know what the best result is at this point.

I think we have a better chance of winning at home to Sweden than away to Austria by a sizable enough difference for some reason.

Forget about goal difference. Not a chance on earth are we going to turn that around.

[BonnieShels]

http://foot.ie/threads/18446-Ireland-2-0-Faroe-Islands-What-you-think/page2

Judging by our last home game against them, you are being extremely optimistic. I don't think they concede those amount of goals very often either. I'll take a win and then whatever comes in the way of bonus goals.

That's why I added "It won't be"

[paul_oshea]

We have a chance of turning it around against Sweden who are 4 goals better than us and who are more likely to finish ahead of Austria.

Ya you are probably right, bar a Sweden win tonight we wont know much more will we? How it could have all looked so different with a win against Austria, this evening. We would be at least 2 ahead of the rest by Tuesday evening, and we could have been 3 ahead of sweden, if its a draw tonight.

[paul_oshea]

I think what this group is going to come down to, and the difference between this and the last group, which has so far shown the case, is our inability to beat times of the calibre of Sweden and even Austria when we need to. We haven't so far when we needed to and one we should definitely have. Last time around against Macedonia(who are no Austria) and Slovakia we drew and won, but what we really counted for us was the Kazakh comparison, the Armenians took points off Slovakia, we don't really have a team capable of doing that this time round. What I'm saying is we aren't good enough to beat these teams and we rely on others to do us favours, had the euro qualifiers contained the same teams I don't think we would have qualified, with that team, as I believe we are actually a better balanced team now than then.

I suppose that's the Achilles heel of average/mediocre teams, but we don't generally lose either, like a lot of other average/mediocre teams when they can't afford to, but we also can't win when we need to.

[Bungle]

Lads, I think the bottom line is that we need 12 points from the last 5 games. We need to beat both Sweden and Austria in September and I don't think anything less is good enough for us - 11 points might just do it depending on other groups to get into a playoff but that's a very big might.

We haven't won a competitive away game against a "decent team" since 1987 (excluding tournaments and the 2009 game in Paris which we would have won over 90 minutes). We haven't won a competitive game at hom against a "decent team" since 2001 with the Dutch. The odds are that we will put that right soon, because on a typical night of qualification there can be some crazy results.

The bottom line is that we deserved to beat the Swedes in Stockholm and a draw was probably a fair result against the Austrians. Unfortunately, we ended up with 2 points with two vintage Irish results - accepting a "heroic" point in Sweden in a game we should have won and losing a late goal to the Austrians which has happened all too often down the years.

I do believe that we can and should qualify. Man for man, for the most part, we have better players than either Austria or Sweden, even if they have the better individual talents such as Alaba or Ibra. The only thing that I would worry about is Trap's conservatism. I can't see him going for it against the Swedes for example. Maybe, a bit of that conservatism might stand to us in Vienna, but we need to go for it against the Swedes and really rattle them.

[DeLorean]

Ya you are probably right, bar a Sweden win tonight we wont know much more will we?

Yeah, no point trying play out the remaining matches really, win tonight and hope for an Austria result. Move on to Sweden at home then if it still matters.

[Bungle]

I think two draws between Austria and Sweden would be the best results for us. If we can beat the Swedes, it certainly would. There is always the faint hope the Germans might take their foot off the gas by the time we play them which would cancel out the points that Sweden got there..

[Closed Account 2]

... but what we really counted for us was the Kazakh comparison, the Armenians took points off Slovakia, we don't really have a team capable of doing that this time round. What I'm saying is we aren't good enough to beat these teams and we rely on others to do us favours, had the euro qualifiers contained the same teams I don't think we would have qualified, with that team, as I believe we are actually a better balanced team now than then.


To be fair the Kazaks drew 0-0 at home to Austria, the same night we got tanked by Germany, so in that sense they have already taken points off our competitors. Sweden edged past the Kazaks in Malmöe in the second set of matches. The night we are in Vienna the Swedes will be in Almaty/Astana and there is a chance they might drop points there.

[paul_oshea]

Ya Slovakia got tanked 4-1 against the Armenians. The kazakhs are no Armenia. Kazakhstan wont beat sweden nevermind 4-1, because sweden are a better team than that and kazakhstan aren't as good as that.

[shakermaker1982]

Malta just beat Armenia away! Great result for them.

Come on Austria. Hopefully a comfortable win against the Faroes for us and the group is then wide open.

[texidub]

Expecting a win tonight of course... but not of the 8:0 variety.. maybe 4/5:0 tops. Would be glad to be wrong!

Does anybody have a good link to a stream? Or know where I might find one closer to matchtime?

[SkStu]

In Canada, on GolTV, we have Austria v Sweden live with delayed coverage of Ireland v Faroes straight away after. Never sure if I should avoid the match threads in these situations...hmmm, any advice?

[eelmonster]

Anyone have linkage for this match?

[Closed Account]

Anyone have linkage for this match?

Try here
www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=206774&part=sports