Ireland v Germany & Poland

[Eminence Grise]

Newsflash! Me and MON are gettin back together! Woohoooooooooooooooooo!!!
http://rlv.zcache.com/its_complicated_keychain-r513e281dcad24ee4aca6e3e30f2f11ee_x7j3z_8byvr_324. jpg
From the new SkStu Euro 2016 range...

[Charlie Darwin]

O'Neill Out.

[tricky_colour]

Sun reporting Stephen Ward will start.

You say that like you are reporting someone has died!!

[EAFC_rdfl]

Worst team I've seen in a long time. Madness starting ward who has hardly kicked a ball all season, Murphy is rubbish, Given fat and not up to it anymore. Centre half's are both too slow. Please god I'm wrong but can see at least 3-0 Germany.


That's it. I'm done with O'Neill. Absolute disaster of a team.

Nice one lads...

[swinfordfc]

Worst team I've seen in a long time. Madness starting ward who has hardly kicked a ball all season, Murphy is rubbish, Given fat and not up to it anymore. Centre half's are both too slow. Please god I'm wrong but can see at least 3-0 Germany.

What you think now? :)

[SkStu]

Nice one lads...

The make up sex was amazing.

[Park_Lane]

What you think now? :)

Sure WTF do I know? 😃

Seriously still can't believe how well we played. Best performance in years. OShea, yes, Brady, Walters, McCarthy all immense.

[Charlie Darwin]

You say that like you are reporting someone has died!!
I'm the only one who ever sticks up for him! Does some great work sweeping behind the other defenders, as he did within about 20 seconds today.

[geysir]

I'm the only one who ever sticks up for him! Does some great work sweeping behind the other defenders, as he did within about 20 seconds today.
The truth might hurt but you are not the only one who ever sticks up for him.

[boysingreen]

We took the title.

We're the WORLD CHAMPS :shock:

[KK77]

Gutless.

What a night!

[zero]

rob eliott called up to the squad to replace given. definitely something going on with westwood and while it doesn't seem like a big deal right now is a bit of a shame as he's far better than elliot/forde in my opinion.

[Stuttgart88]

We took the title.

We're the WORLD CHAMPS :shock:strictly speaking, aren't Poland?

[Stuttgart88]

rob eliott called up to the squad to replace given. definitely something going on with westwood and while it doesn't seem like a big deal right now is a bit of a shame as he's far better than elliot/forde in my opinion.

Yep, seems strange but Randolph looked like a pig in muck last night.

[SkStu]

strictly speaking, aren't Poland?

I believe it's actually Chile...read last night that Argies beat Germans to take the title, then Chile beat Argies so they're current holders of the alternate World Cup!

It's a thing.

[SkStu]

Haha found this... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unofficial_Football_World_Championships

[DeLorean]

Is there anything to be said for really freshening up the team for Sunday? There must be some tired limbs after last night and it's a seriously quick turnaround. I'm not sure about the depth of Poland's squad but if they're largely unchanged maybe we could give ourselves a bit of an advantage without jeopardising the quality too much. Coleman, Wilson, McClean and Whelan are four obvious guys to come in (if available in the case of the former two). Dare I say start Robbie instead of Murphy but play him off Walters who seems immune to fatigue anyway. Looking at all the guys not involved last night we really have a decent squad of players.

[Stuttgart88]

Yep, and midfield is looking quite decent too.

[SkStu]

Haha found this... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unofficial_Football_World_Championships

Sorry if I'm taking this off topic but ireland have played for the UFWC 9 times and held it 3 times (last time in May 2004).

[bennocelt]

Sorry if I'm taking this off topic but ireland have played for the UFWC 9 times and held it 3 times (last time in May 2004).

Am I sad to admit i tracked this myself back in the day, took me a long long time to track all the results............:o

[Charlie Darwin]

rob eliott called up to the squad to replace given. definitely something going on with westwood and while it doesn't seem like a big deal right now is a bit of a shame as he's far better than elliot/forde in my opinion.
Well he's injured is what's going on.

[Olé Olé]

Is there anything to be said for really freshening up the team for Sunday? There must be some tired limbs after last night and it's a seriously quick turnaround. I'm not sure about the depth of Poland's squad but if they're largely unchanged maybe we could give ourselves a bit of an advantage without jeopardising the quality too much. Coleman, Wilson, McClean and Whelan are four obvious guys to come in (if available in the case of the former two). Dare I say start Robbie instead of Murphy but play him off Walters who seems immune to fatigue anyway. Looking at all the guys not involved last night we really have a decent squad of players.

Eoin McDevitt made a comment on the Second Captains podcast that half our team against Germany comprised of Championship players and a lot of them don't get their games at their clubs.

5 were Championship players but Given and Ward are the only two that don't start for their clubs quite regularly.

Anyway, it's great to think that we could beat the German's without our best player and a total group of 4 players who have played almost every PL game for their clubs when fit this season (Clark, Coleman, McClean and Whelan). Wilson has been in and out of the side but was a regular last season.

That 4 that you've picked could all be expected to contribute in an away game- Coleman plays wherever and whenever, Wilson is slightly quicker than Keogh, Whelan as a defensive shield and McClean's tireless workrate and willingness to track back. That's 4 that were unavailable and what of super-sub Shane Long? Deserves a start but should he get one, with strategic purposes in mind?

Question is, who's dispensable after Thursday? The three that I think are under most threat are Keogh, Murphy and Ward. Are we as likely to be under such incessant pressure that we need a blocker against Poland? Or would someone like Wilson be better? Murphy was least impressive Thursday but serves a clear purpose. Ward was decent but could probably be deemed dispensable and/or injured.

Then of the others, Christie grew into the game in the second half which, we must all bear in mind, is understandable as that was the sternest test of a career that has, so far, been based in League One and Championship. And it's tough to justify a positional shift for the midfielders because Hoolahan seemed to revel in a number 8 (as opposed to number 10) role. Brady and Hendrick were great in midfield too so do we drop Brady left back, regardless?

There are so many selection choices to make. I can think of a range of different teams but I'm most certain that Whelan and Coleman will come in. Wilson coming in for Keogh is possible too but definitely not certain. McClean and Long could be saved for impact substitutes. Long is more likely to start than McClean though because I can't think of who could conceivably make way for McClean.

Possibilities that I can see:

Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Christie
Whelan McCarthy
Hendrick Hoolahan Brady
Walters

Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Brady
Whelan McCarthy
Walters Hoolahan Hendrick
Long/Murphy

Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Brady
Hendrick Whelan McCarthy Hoolahan
Long/Murphy Walters

[DeLorean]

In the unlikely event that we don't stuff Poland, what's the situation with yellow cards going into the playoffs? If McCarthy and Walters pick up bookings in Warsaw do they miss the first leg?

[zero]

Well he's injured is what's going on.

ah - apologies. i wasn't aware he was injured as he played the full 90 for wednesday last saturday.

[centre mid]

Randolph
Coleman Wilson O'Shea Brady
Whelan McCarthy
Walters Hoolahan Hendrick
Long

would do nicely

[centre mid]

In the unlikely event that we don't stuff Poland, what's the situation with yellow cards going into the playoffs? If McCarthy and Walters pick up bookings in Warsaw do they miss the first leg?

I think they are carried, they are wiped upon completion of the qualifying competition - presume the play offs count as part of the qualifying competition?

[1fortheTeam]

Randolph
Coleman Wilson O'Shea Brady
Whelan McCarthy
Walters Hoolahan Hendrick
Long

would do nicelywhealan is shocking some of our best football is played when hes out big mistake to include him .

[paul_oshea]

Lads, I think we need to take stock a bit, this is pretty much the same 11 that played for the last few years, between trap and oneill. We were never world beaters back then, supposedly, but we definitely had a better sum of our parts as O'Neill has shown in this game. However we can't play every game like that, it works when the worlds best have an off day and we play to our optimum ability.

We have a decent group of players, and in my opinion always have had, we just didnt have the belief, and going on thursday the nous to go about holding out or achieving that. But we can't expect to always play like this, or always have things go our way.

For Poland, we need to have the same level of concentration but we have to score. I would look to make us more attack minded, but we will actually need to create chances, we had 33% or so the last day(ive seen two different percentages) of possession, and we created nothing bar that chance Long took, that will not be good enough again, as we have seen Long more often than not does not finish these type of chances. So with that in mind we need a different lineup, a more attack minded formation and a more positive approach going forward, but we also need to handle Lewandowski, 21 goals so far, Germany don't have an out and out striker like that. And if we play higher up the line and more positive then it will be difficult to keep him quite, its ok when you play the way we played against Germany, but we cant play like that against Poland as we have to score.

I hope we don't come back down to reality with a bang on Sunday.

[centre mid]

In theory playing Whelan/McCarthy should allow both full backs to bomb forward. As we saw in the reverse fixture Poland are not great shakes. We need to be lucky and hope Lewandowski either has an off day or is well shackled.

[geysir]

In theory playing Whelan/McCarthy should allow both full backs to bomb forward. As we saw in the reverse fixture Poland are not great shakes. We need to be lucky and hope Lewandowski either has an off day or is well shackled.

An off day and is well shackled.

[tricky_colour]

So you have just beaten the world champions, what changes do you make?

[Stuttgart88]

Lads, I think we need to take stock a bit, this is pretty much the same 11 that played for the last few years, between trap and oneill.
We were never world beaters back then, supposedly, but we definitely had a better sum of our parts as O'Neill has shown in this game. However we can't play every game like that, it works when the worlds best have an off day and we play to our optimum ability.

We have a decent group of players, and in my opinion always have had, we just didnt have the belief, and going on thursday the nous to go about holding out or achieving that. But we can't expect to always play like this, or always have things go our way.

For Poland, we need to have the same level of concentration but we have to score. I would look to make us more attack minded, but we will actually need to create chances, we had 33% or so the last day(ive seen two different percentages) of possession, and we created nothing bar that chance Long took, that will not be good enough again, as we have seen Long more often than not does not finish these type of chances. So with that in mind we need a different lineup, a more attack minded formation and a more positive approach going forward, but we also need to handle Lewandowski, 21 goals so far, Germany don't have an out and out striker like that. And if we play higher up the line and more positive then it will be difficult to keep him quite, its ok when you play the way we played against Germany, but we cant play like that against Poland as we have to score.

I hope we don't come back down to reality with a bang on Sunday.on another night we'd have lost that game 3-0 and had no complaints. Good results breed confidence though and there is less downside than usual if we lose so I'd expect a confident performance.

My worry is that O'Neill will see edging out a nail biting 1-0 is the best approach whereas I think we should go out to score. We should look at this game as "just get two goals, it doesn't matter so much if we concede two".

Apart from a win against Germany that was every bit as smash and grab as ours was and a comprehensive win in Georgia, they haven't done much to warrant undue fear. Scotland nearly beat them twice by getting at them, and we gifted them a goal start in Dublin. Lewandowski can score if he wants but we need to be adventurous.

I hope Thursday gives them the self belief that has been lacking for the best part of a decade. The players are not as bad as many have been making out.

[geysir]

O'Neill does not have a score one and defend the lead approach.

[Stuttgart88]

No, but he does often have a defend 0-0 and hope to nick one approach

[geysir]

Stutts, under pressure you are dallying with a glass half full :) Maybe against Scotland away he was overly apprehensive where he would have taken a draw. We might not have the team to carry it off but O'Neill's tactics will be aimed to qualify in 2nd place and if we keep it at 0-0 going in at ht - that's a good position. This isn't a group game any more, it's a one off game.