World Cup Qualifying 2018, UEFA Group D - Opponent Watch

[Fergie's Son]

Yet you still lost....

Toni played with a pony-tail that day in Dublin. He looked like something left over from Tamango's circa 1986.

[BonnieShels]

At least us Monaghan lads knew how to deal with Kieran when he got above himself.


http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/w540/Library/SF425/314471.jpg

Was that the qualifier in 2008 that Kerry robbed from ye?

Double header that day between my ancestral seat Fermanagh and Kildare?

First time I ever got to see Fermanagh play live. And I was dying with an almighty hangover that could cut concrete. And Kerry won. So an awful day.

[geysir]

That's right, that was 2008 but the smash and grab was the year before. We smashed them but they grabbed the winner.

[BonnieShels]

That's right, that was 2008 but the smash and grab was the year before. We smashed them but they grabbed the winner.

I meant mostly because of the ref and umpires having a 'mare. I was in the lower Hogan down by the Hill when Donaghy scored and he was sleeping in the square. Meltyfaces all 'round.

[Littlest Hobo]

Remember those games very well. Long live Polster and Stoger...!

Anyway fast forward to today... I'd say Austria will go with this 4-2-3-1 line-up and aim to take 3 points;

Almer (Austria Vienna)

Klein (Stuttgart)
Dragovic (Bayer Leverkusen)
Hinteregger (Augsburg)
Wimmer (Tottenham)

Baumartlinger (Bayer Leverkusen)
Alaba (Bayern Munich)

Sabitzer (Leipzig)
Junuzovic (Weder Bremen)
Arnautovic (Stoke City)

Janko (Basel)

Keeping an eye on these lads over the next few weeks.

[BonnieShels]

remember those games very well. long live polster and stoger...!

anyway fast forward to today... I'd say austria will go with this 4-2-3-1 line-up and aim to take 3 points;

almer (austria vienna)

klein (stuttgart)
dragovic (bayer leverkusen)
hinteregger (augsburg)
wimmer (tottenham)

baumartlinger (bayer leverkusen)
alaba (bayern munich)

sabitzer (leipzig)
junuzovic (weder bremen)
arnautovic (stoke city)

janko (basel)

keeping an eye on these lads over the next few weeks.

get! Out!

[DeLorean]

It's definitely a bigger catastrophe to drop points against Georgia (home) /Moldova (anywhere) than to draw in Serbia.


Lets see Sunday night, where Serbia stand, and come back to that one Delores!


:D




#


P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
PTS


1

Serbia
3
2
1
0
8
4
4
7


2

Republic of Ireland
3
2
1
0
6
3
3
7


3

Wales
3
1
2
0
7
3
4
5


4

Austria
3
1
1
1
6
6
0
4


5

Georgia
3
0
1
2
2
4
-2
1


6

Moldova
3
0
0
3
1
10
-9
0

[Stuttgart88]

I read on twitter that Tadic has either scored or assisted all of Serbia's last 10 goals.

[tetsujin1979]

That's true, starting with Serbia's last goal in the 3-1 win over Israel in a friendly in May, he's been involved in the ten goals they've scored

[paul_oshea]

:D




#


P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
PTS


1

Serbia
3
2
1
0
8
4
4
7


2

Republic of Ireland
3
2
1
0
6
3
3
7


3

Wales
3
1
2
0
7
3
4
5


4

Austria
3
1
1
1
6
6
0
4


5

Georgia
3
0
1
2
2
4
-2
1


6

Moldova
3
0
0
3
1
10
-9
0




Very Surprised I was, especially after seeing the highlights. It actually reinforces my point though, both teams are muck at the back, and if serbia are proving that our game was an off day, then we really did let it slip by not imposing ourselves and going for the 2nd when 1 up. When I made this less than bold prediction, I over-estimated Austria defensively, they are as cack as Serbia defensively. Time for O'Neill to be brave now and actually go for an away win for once.

Even against Wales they(austra) seemed to be dodge. I am a lot more confident about the Austria game now, granted oneill will be more than happy if we go ahead and then concede from not holding onto possession and come out with a draw. Serbia could be well ahead by the time we finish up the austria-wales-austria games, and we will probably be sitting where Austria are.

I watched the second half of Wales, and the highlights from Austra/Serbia, and Wales are exceedingly average without Allen and Ramsey, they couldn't get near Georgia, had georgia more composure they would have won, they played some lovely stuff and dominated midfield for about 20 mins in the second half. If we could sort out our defence we could be in such a strong position, our defense for once does not seem to be the weakest out there. Serbia and Austria seem to like gifting goals at the minute. We seem generally ok defensively, bar 1 or 2 silly mistakes per game, sort them out and the lack of firepower wont matter as much against these teams.

On a side note, we have set some record for the quickest goals scored in 2016 of any other UFEA member, which is pretty impressive. It's unforunate the next 80+ mins we can't do anything :)

[DeLorean]

Very Surprised I was, especially after seeing the highlights. It actually reinforces my point though, both teams are muck at the back, and if serbia are proving that our game was an off day, then we really did let it slip by not imposing ourselves and going for the 2nd when 1 up.

So basically the complete opposite to what you predicted occurred and it just reinforces your point. How can you ever lose, eh? ;)

If Serbia had an off day against us, a game they dominated almost totally, then maybe we also had an off day... which makes a draw an even better result.


Serbia could be well ahead by the time we finish up the austria-wales-austria games, and we will probably be sitting where Austria are.

That's a hell of a turnaround from Serbia not even being capable of challenging for second, and not even being of the same level as Bulgaria or Slovakia in previous groups!

[tetsujin1979]

Very Surprised I was, especially after seeing the highlights. It actually reinforces my point though, both teams are muck at the back, and if serbia are proving that our game was an off day, then we really did let it slip by not imposing ourselves and going for the 2nd when 1 up. When I made this less than bold prediction, I over-estimated Austria defensively, they are as cack as Serbia defensively. Time for O'Neill to be brave now and actually go for an away win for once.

Even against Wales they(austra) seemed to be dodge. I am a lot more confident about the Austria game now, granted oneill will be more than happy if we go ahead and then concede from not holding onto possession and come out with a draw. Serbia could be well ahead by the time we finish up the austria-wales-austria games, and we will probably be sitting where Austria are.


Why bother? What could you learn? Didn't you say that the way the teams were lining up at corners wouldn't have been picked up on tv?

[geysir]

Paul has a very wide widescreen tv.

[DeLorean]

Austria's number one goalkeeper Robert Almer has done his cruciate (http://www.thesportscampus.com/2016102258305/news-bytes/robert-almer-tears-cruciate-ligament). He made this pretty unbelievable save against Wales.

http://www.skysports.com/iframe/widget/video/hkNjRiNjE6IO6TihfVCZT4722Yo5XAfK#ooid=hkNjRiNjE6IO 6TihfVCZT4722Yo5XAfK

He went off injured in that game against Wales also and was replaced by this fella. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramazan_%C3%96zcan) Doesn't seem to be playing at Leverkusen and has only a handful of Austrian caps.

[Stuttgart88]

Arnautovic is looking classier and classier every time I see him.

[jbyrne]

1 all wales serbia. serbia have looked dangerous going forward in 2nd half

[The Fly]

Wales & Serbia draw 1-1. That was the best result for us.

[liamoo11]

Hopefully Georgia can hold Serbia at home in March

[geysir]

James's goal was not even the best of the night in group D, but probably the most important

Georgia's Kazaishvili scored a delicious 'curler' from just inside the corner of the box, later (maybe) outdone by a volley on the turn from outside the box for the equaliser.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FidKXjubI

[paul_oshea]

Georgia remind me of Northern Ireland a few years ago, can put in some big performances and get some big results, but then can't beat their main rivals. Perhaps a good manager can change all that. They should be beating Moldova.

[geysir]

Georgia remind me of Northern Ireland a few years ago, can put in some big performances and get some big results, but then can't beat their main rivals. Perhaps a good manager can change all that. They should be beating Moldova.
They should be beating Moldova but perhaps this fixture is a fiercely fought encounter, a Black Sea derby of sorts
(now that I know where Moldova is).

[paul_oshea]

Looking at the fans reaction it could well be, but Moldova doesn't actually touch the sea and there are a few countries seperating them as well as Ukranian land from the sea.

I have been reading lots of misquotes around Tets Lithuania comment. Fifa rankings were only introduced in 1992, so where are all these pieces getting their information from and what rankings are they talking about? We were seeded first I think for that 98 campaign, and finished the year level with Lithuania at 48.

The42 ran with a piece about rankings and seedings that "Dodge" had written saying czech in 67, Alan smith at the guardian seemed to use a similar one, not one has mentioned Tets one. I did interrupt a few guys talking yesterday about scotland 87 etc and pointed out it was lithuania. I got the impression they were thinking mind your own fcuken business :D

If John Dodge, is the Dodge here, then he appears to be wrong also, as his tweet specifically uses the word "rankings" again.

[geysir]

Looking at the fans reaction it could well be, but Moldova doesn't actually touch the sea and there are a few countries seperating them as well as Ukranian land from the sea.
Stuff your erroneous pedantry :) Who said anything about Moldova touching the Dead Sea. Geographically Moldova belongs to the Black Sea region, is a long spit from the banks of the Dead Sea and has a 4km bank with the Danube which then flows in the Dead Sea (just around the corner). I have learned much since I discovered where Moldova exists.
Georgia v Moldova , the deadly Dead Sea derby.

[backstothewall]

Stuff your erroneous pedantry :) Who said anything about Moldova touching the Dead Sea. Geographically Moldova belongs to the Black Sea region, is a long spit from the banks of the Dead Sea and has a 4km bank with the Danube which then flows in the Dead Sea (just around the corner). I have learned much since I discovered where Moldova exists.
Georgia v Moldova , the deadly Dead Sea derby.

It's banks actually being in Israel and Palestine, the Dead Sea derby is one hell of a derby match :p

[pineapple stu]

We were seeded first I think for that 98 campaign, and finished the year level with Lithuania at 48.
We weren't top seeds for 98; we've only been top seeds for 96 and 02 I think.

Romania were top seeds in 1998 (and justified it quite convincingly)

[Kingdom]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/15/brendan-rodgers-3-4-2-1-chelsea-manchester-city-basel-liverpool

A reference to a possible reason in the change in Serbia's fortunes. As it happens I've been espousing the positives of that formation with consideration to the players at our disposal for a good 18 months now.

[jbyrne]

We weren't top seeds for 98; we've only been top seeds for 96 and 02 I think.

Romania were top seeds in 1998 (and justified it quite convincingly)

we were seeded 3 behind portugal and holland for 2002. it was the qualifiers for euro 2004 that we were first seeds from memory

[pineapple stu]

Yep, sorry - meant 2004 alright.

[DeLorean]

Austria have just drawn 0-0 at home to Slovakia (http://www.livescore.com/soccer/intl/friendly/austria-vs-slovakia/1-2384071/) in a friendly so that won't lift their spirits too much. I was actually staying in the same hotel as them at the weekend, was wondering on Sunday night why they were still floating around the place as I didn't realise they had another game tonight. Serbia have been beaten 2-0 in the Ukraine (http://www.livescore.com/soccer/intl/friendly/ukraine-vs-serbia/1-2398873/).

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Austria have just drawn 0-0 at home to Slovakia (http://www.livescore.com/soccer/intl/friendly/austria-vs-slovakia/1-2384071/) in a friendly so that won't lift their spirits too much. I was actually staying in the same hotel as them at the weekend, was wondering on Sunday night why they were still floating around the place as I didn't realise they had another game tonight. Serbia have been beaten 2-0 in the Ukraine (http://www.livescore.com/soccer/intl/friendly/ukraine-vs-serbia/1-2398873/).

They didn't try and change their booking?

[DeLorean]

They didn't try and change their booking?

No idea, they did clear off soon after I arrived back on the Saturday so you might be on to something. I was hoping to go clubbing with Marco Arnautovic but he disappeared quicker than Keyser Soze.

[geysir]

Bale out 'til spring. (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38084142)

"He will be operated on in London and is at risk of missing Wales' 2018 World Cup qualifier against Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 24 March"

I'm gutted for the lad.

[paul_oshea]

Had a good chat to a lad last night at our Christmas party(yes :rolleyes:) who's heading over to the game. He said Bale is obviously massive, but its actually Ramsey that holds it all together and without him they look very poor. They dont hold possession well or play a good passing game. He said he'd be more worried with Ramsey missing than bale missing.

[geysir]

Had a good chat to a lad last night at our Christmas party(yes :rolleyes:) who's heading over to the game. He said Bale is obviously massive, but its actually Ramsey that holds it all together and without him they look very poor. They dont hold possession well or play a good passing game. He said he'd be more worried with Ramsey missing than bale missing.
Yes I get that Welsh logic all right, it makes total sense:rolleyes:
Bad that Bale is out, but god help us all it could have been worse if it was Ramsey instead, so us welsh folk should feel better that it wasn't Ramsey.
That's about it isn't it?

Paul if you weren't such a nutcase yourself you might have recognised a welsh nutcase at 10 paces and avoided being collared for most of the party. Were there no ladies there?
Anyway, 4 months is plenty of time for Ramsey to do in his acl or something.

[DeLorean]

Yeah that's mind-boggling to say the least. I wonder is it based solely on the Welsh semi final performance against Portugal (with Ramsey suspended) where they fell short of some their previous levels at the tournament. Well they were poor against England and Northern Ireland in that tournament as well with Ramsey present. They wouldn't have even threatened to qualify for that tournament without Bale whereas I think they would have coped without Ramsey comfortably enough. Having seen most of their qualifiers I thought quite a number of their players performed to a higher level than Ramsey, but he did up it several notches in France to be fair to him.

[Cymro]

Had a good chat to a lad last night at our Christmas party(yes :rolleyes:) who's heading over to the game. He said Bale is obviously massive, but its actually Ramsey that holds it all together and without him they look very poor. They dont hold possession well or play a good passing game. He said he'd be more worried with Ramsey missing than bale missing.

50-50.

Ramsey has games where he is unbelieveable, and games where he is unbelievably bad. Bale is often very quiet, but usually produces at least one moment of quality in a game. Ramsey has games where he looks really, really poor. It's more a lottery as to what you're going to get. For every four games you get three brilliant performances and a stinker.

There is something to that view though. A couple of campaigns ago, we beat Scotland 2-1 at Hampden Park with Bale missing. It was if anything our best performance of that campaign, and Ramsey was instrumental in our passing, as well as bringing down their striker in the closing moments with a rugby tackle that would have made George North proud, earning himself a red card for his troubles.

For me, Joe Allen's absence against Georgia has probably been the biggest loss. I'm confident that had he been available, and particularly if Ramsey had also been fit, we'd have won that game. Allen is the most consistent player in the squad. Ashley Williams and Hennessey are also critical players.

If Bale doesn't make it, we would probably still have a chance, but if we suffered any more injuries to any of those named players, I wouldn't fancy it much.

[DeLorean]

BBC: Gareth Bale is recovering well from ankle surgery, says Wales boss Coleman (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38591481)

[geysir]

Obviously Coleman is overly focused on the availability of Bale and his importance for the wcq v Ireland. According to news in this thread, Coleman should chill out as apparently Bale's not all that vital to Wales' chances of pulling off a shock result. If Bale doesn't manage to recover in times, Wales will hardly notice his absence from the line up. This best player in the world tag must be just a bit of agent hype as it appears he's way down the line of importance in the Wales team :rolleyes:

[paul_oshea]

I'll go with a couple of informed supporters anyday, in this case a couple of welsh ones.

[Charlie Darwin]

I'll go with a couple of informed supporters anyday, in this case a couple of welsh ones.
But do they actually go to away games?

[DeLorean]

Wales' most important player seems to be going through a rough patch - F365 (http://www.football365.com/news/football365s-early-loser-aaron-ramsey)

Bale might be back for the 2nd Leg of Real Madrid's Champions League tie with Napoli on the 7th March (two and a half weeks before the Ireland - Wales match). - ESPN (http://www.espnfc.com/real-madrid/story/3049589/real-madrids-zinedine-zidane-being-cautious-with-gareth-bale-return)

[geysir]

Wales' most important player seems to be going through a rough patch - F365 (http://www.football365.com/news/football365s-early-loser-aaron-ramsey)
Yes indeed, but are they the opinions of 'informed' fans?


Bale might be back for the 2nd Leg of Real Madrid's Champions League tie with Napoli on the 7th March (two and a half weeks before the Ireland - Wales match). - ESPN (http://www.espnfc.com/real-madrid/story/3049589/real-madrids-zinedine-zidane-being-cautious-with-gareth-bale-return)

I look to the positives in that article, the headline is Zidane is cautious about Bale, no timeframe for his return and the recovery is taking a little longer.
One can detect an blatant use of the understatement when he uses the determiner 'little'.

[DeLorean]

Ramsey out for three weeks (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38854531)

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think it's been mentioned but a Serbia XI exclusively made up of domestic players played out a 0-0 draw in the USA last week

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/01/29/usa-serbia-friendly-bruce-arena-altidore-bradley-morris-usmnt-goals-video

[DeLorean]

I didn't know Bruce Arena was back with the U.S. either. Good for him.

[OwlsFan]

Keep praying for a setback. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0210/851676-bale-on-course-to-be-fit-for/

[DeLorean]

Chris Coleman talking us through the various formations used by Wales in their Euro 2016 qualification campaign.

http://www.welshfootballtrust.org.uk/news/WFT103837.ink

[DeLorean]

A petulant Bale got a red card for Real Madrid last night. I've read varying reports, ones where it was two yellows but I also read that he's going to have to serve a three match ban, which would indicate that the second yellow was in fact a straight red (assuming you don't get a three match ban for two yellows in La Liga). Farcical really that he could get a straight red for a shove! The video below would suggest the latter is correct though which means that he'll only be available for the Napoli CL game next week before the Ireland match.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JFM-3jlH4w

Confirmed two match ban (pending a possible appeal) so he will be available for Real's trip to Bilbao the weekend before the Ireland match.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39157373

[Charlie Darwin]

Disgraceful. He should be banned for months from all football.

[DannyInvincible]

The Georgia-Serbia game kicks off at 5PM tonight, so a few hours before our fixture. Might be worth keeping an eye on.