Republic of Ireland v Austria - Sunday 11th June 2017 - World Cup 2018 Qualifier

[nigel-harps1954]

McGoldrick now ruled out of the game. Leaves the squad having just two strikers now. Surely there's a case to call up Sean Maguire just to sit on the bench as a precaution a this stage now?

[paul_oshea]

Arters interview was interesting today basically saying he felt they came more into it when Meyler came on for Whelan

[geysir]

Arters interview was interesting today basically saying he felt they came more into it when Meyler came on for Whelan

Post Uruguay game, Harry was asked in general about the game.
“You always try to improve and hopefully when I do look back over the game I’ll be impressed. I try and learn off Glenn, he has played a lot at this level and for a lot longer than me so he has great experience international-wise and Premier League-wise; I really enjoy playing alongside him. I feel we really complement each other very well.”

if Whelan is fully fit, there's a very good chance he'll start.

[DannyInvincible]

An Austrian perspective on Sunday's game, courtesy of Georg Sander, editor of 90minuten.at: http://pogmogoal.com/republic-of-ireland/austrian-view-chaos-or-last-chance-for-visitors/24923/

[Stuttgart88]

I said above I had no idea which XI I think MON is thinking of. I'd say at this stage MON himself seems to have no idea! His comments have all been equivocal.

Daniel McD seems to be hedging his bets too.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/glenn-whelan-facing-axe-as-martin-oneill-ponders-options-for-austria-35792295.html


GK - some degree of doubt
Full-backs: certain I'd say
CBs: any 2 of at least 3 good shouts, if not 4 or 5 including Long & Pearse
Midfield: 3 out of 4 or 5? (GW, HA, JH, Wes, RB)
Wide: 2 out of 3 (RB, JMcC, JW as a wide right option and maybe JH)
Upfront: 1 out of 2, or 2 out of 2

[DeLorean]

btw, I said above I had no idea which XI I think MON is thinking of. I'd say at this stage MON himself seems to have no idea. His comments have all been equivocal.

At most there's three places not quite certain I think but I'd imagine O'Neill knows at least two of them by now...

Randolph or Westwood?
O'Shea or Keogh?
Whelan or Hoolahan? (the big one really)

[tetsujin1979]

If Alaba (as expected) plays in their central midfield, would it be worth having Whelan man mark him in a five man midfield? I don't think any of Hendrick/Arter/Hoolahan have the discipline to do that job, and it would mean sacrificing an attacking threat by asking them to do it anyway

[Diggs246]

Randolph or Westwood? ( very close but Randy to win out)
I would say its Wes or Jeff ( Jeff to win out) Arter and Whelo will start
O'Shea or Keogh or Long as well?

[Wangball]

Anyone go to the open training session this morning? A family member went out with her son and she came back full of praise for the players after seeing how patient and friendly they were taking pictures and signing stuff for kids. Unfortunately, she didn't pick up any hints on who'd be starting in goal

[BonnieShels]

If Alaba (as expected) plays in their central midfield, would it be worth having Whelan man mark him in a five man midfield? I don't think any of Hendrick/Arter/Hoolahan have the discipline to do that job, and it would mean sacrificing an attacking threat by asking them to do it anyway

I always think a job like this if required needs to be done and we shouldn't sacrifice a creative player to do it.

Defo Whelan in that case. Make his life a 'mare.

[DannyInvincible]

Walters sat out training earlier: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0607/880961-ireland-training/


Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill is keeping his fingers crossed after Jonathan Walters sat out training just four days before the World Cup qualifier against Austria. The 33-year-old Stoke striker was not involved in an open training session at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday morning because of a knee problem picked up earlier in the week.

O'Neill will hope there is no lasting damage with Ipswich frontman David McGoldrick having already left the camp - also with a knee injury - to join Shane Long on the casualty list. That has left him with only Walters, who scored in Sunday's 3-1 friendly victory over Uruguay, and Newcastle's Daryl Murphy as options to lead the line, although in-form winger James McClean has been used in that role in the recent past.

If Walters goes, we'll be left with Murphy as our only striker. Surely another striker should be called in at this point.

RTÉ also mention that there's possible "unrest" in the Austrian camp due to Andreas Ulmer missing the game to get married - naturally, their manager isn't happy with that and expressed his disapproval - and Arnautović being suspended (although I think RTÉ are overplaying it a bit).

[OwlsFan]

God, I hate stories about "unrest" in the opposition camp. They usually turn out to be drivel and we end up with egg on our face.

Don't forget we have another striker in James McLean :)

[zero]

Walters sat out training earlier: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0607/880961-ireland-training/



If Walters goes, we'll be left with Murphy as our only striker. Surely another striker should be called in at this point.

RTÉ also mention that there's possible "unrest" in the Austrian camp due to Andreas Ulmer missing the game to get married - naturally, their manager isn't happy with that and expressed his disapproval - and Arnautović being suspended (although I think RTÉ are overplaying it a bit).

doesn't he often sit out training? seems a bit more serious though.

i'm not sure i can face TOWK's reaction if a half-fit walters starts...

[tetsujin1979]

Ullmer hasn't played for the national side since 2014! Is his absence really going to be that badly felt?

[Closed Account]

Ullmer hasn't played for the national side since 2014! Is his absence really going to be that badly felt?Yes the Ulmer story seems much ado about nothing. I didn't realise however how many injuries/suspensions they were suffering.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/austria-lose-another-player-as-list-of-absentees-grows-ahead-of-ireland-qualifier-35799501.html

Janko, who is tied for fouth among Austria's all-time leading goalscorers with 28 goals in 61 games, is the seventh player to drop out of Marcel Koller's squad with midfielders Marko Arnautovic and Stefan Ilsanker unavailable through suspension, while goalkeepers Robert Almer (cruciate) and Andreas Lukse (calf strain), and Schalke midfielder Alessandro Schoepf (knee) have all been sidelined through injury

[Razors left peg]

Probably not the right thread for this, but just since we are running low on strikers for this game and some people are suggesting Maguire gets a call up.

Would Paddy Madden not be ahead of Maguire in the order of strikers we have? I would suggest that League 1 is overall more competitive than the League of Ireland. The Cork team would probably be at that standard but the opposition they play every week would be below it. Horgan got his call up based on the standard of opposition Dundalk were playing against in Europe, not so much on the week to week opposition.

Im far from saying Maguire isn't good enough, but I can understand O'Neill being hesitant at the moment.

[DannyInvincible]

Yes the Ulmer story seems much ado about nothing. I didn't realise however how many injuries/suspensions they were suffering.

I hadn't realised Janko will miss out. That's good news. He'll be a big loss for them up front. He's their currently-active top scorer (fifth in their overall history) with 28 goals from 63 caps.

I always remember Janko from the time RB Salzburg played Bohs (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/0722/252332-bohemians_salzburg/) in the second qualifying round for the Champions League back in 2009. Bohs were all set to go through to the next round on the away-goals rule (as they'd managed a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Salzburg) until RB Salzburg scored a cruel 86th-minute winner in the return leg at Dalymount Park.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-5L_OsSeuI

For some reason, I have Janko down in my head as a really annoying play-actor since. Pretty sure he dived to win a first-leg penalty that he then went on to have saved by Brian Murphy.

Austria's other two recognised strikers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria_national_football_team#Current_squad) - Guido Burgstaller and Michael Gregoritsch - have never scored an international goal and have only 12 caps between them. Their main remaining goal-threats will be from Martin Harnik (who has 15 goals from 65 caps) and David Alaba (who has 11 goals from 56 caps).


Probably not the right thread for this, but just since we are running low on strikers for this game and some people are suggesting Maguire gets a call up.

Would Paddy Madden not be ahead of Maguire in the order of strikers we have? I would suggest that League 1 is overall more competitive than the League of Ireland. The Cork team would probably be at that standard but the opposition they play every week would be below it. Horgan got his call up based on the standard of opposition Dundalk were playing against in Europe, not so much on the week to week opposition.

Im far from saying Maguire isn't good enough, but I can understand O'Neill being hesitant at the moment.

If the level at which the striker is playing is the barometer, Cillian Sheridan has proved himself at a much higher level than both Maguire and Madden. He's played in the Champions League group stages in recent years.

Also, for what it's worth, Paddy Madden's League of Ireland record wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Maguire's record at present.

[Razors left peg]

[QUOTE=

Also, for what it's worth, Paddy Madden's League of Ireland record wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Maguire's record at present.[/QUOTE]

That's a fair point. I am playing a little bit of Devils Advocate. From the very limited bits Ive seen of Maguire he has looked good and I really hope he does it in Championship.

Sheridan is an interesting one. When he was making the Irish squad I thought he was awful. He is worth having a look at now though considering what he was done with his career.

[SwanVsDalton]

If the level at which the striker is playing is the barometer, Cillian Sheridan has proved himself at a much higher level than both Maguire and Madden. He's played in the Champions League group stages in recent years.

As much as there are arguments for and against Sheridan, participarting in the Champs League shouldn't be all that relevant - some truly dreadful players have played at that level.

And did he prove himself? He didn't hang around that level, as much of an achievement was for an Irish player to get that far.

[DannyInvincible]

As much as there are arguments for and against Sheridan, participarting in the Champs League shouldn't be all that relevant - some truly dreadful players have played at that level.

And did he prove himself? He didn't hang around that level, as much of an achievement was for an Irish player to get that far.

Fair point, although he has certainly proved himself in the Polish top division, which I would say is considerably stronger than both the League of Ireland and League One in England.

According to Sheridan's stats on the UEFA site, he scored three goals from ten appearances for APOEL in the Champions League and scored four goals in nine games for Omonia in the Europa League: http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/players/player=102624/profile/index.html

That's a decent enough record on the face if it.

In saying that, he also played in three games for Celtic in the Champions League years ago without scoring a goal and also played five games in the Europa League for APOEL in more recent years without scoring.

Also, I'm not sure which of those goals mentioned above would have been scored in the qualifying rounds and which might have been scored in the group stages or competition proper. At one point last year, sure didn't Dundalk's Dave McMillan lead the Champions League goal-scoring chart? Heh.

[samhaydenjr]

Probably not the right thread for this, but just since we are running low on strikers for this game and some people are suggesting Maguire gets a call up.

Would Paddy Madden not be ahead of Maguire in the order of strikers we have? I would suggest that League 1 is overall more competitive than the League of Ireland. The Cork team would probably be at that standard but the opposition they play every week would be below it. Horgan got his call up based on the standard of opposition Dundalk were playing against in Europe, not so much on the week to week opposition.

Im far from saying Maguire isn't good enough, but I can understand O'Neill being hesitant at the moment.

I agree that O'Neill's hesitancy is justified until Maguire proves himself at Preston - after all, as I've said before, there's been four prolific Cork City strikers who have tried their hands in England in the last dozen years (Kevin Doyle, Dave Mooney, Roy O'Donovan and John O'Flynn) and only Doyle went on to become a full international. And the more recent League of Ireland stars who've gone there have had mixed success - Horgan has done well at Preston, with Boyle having a lesser impact; Forrester is still in League One (albeit doing well there); and Richie Towell hasn't broken into the Brighton side in a year and a half, something which will become even harder to do now that they're in the Premier League. I would say the most likely call-up at this point should be Adam Rooney, based on three-and-a-half seasons of regular goal scoring in the SPL. After all, if his Aberdeen team-mate Jonny Hayes is good enough to play in a position where we have options, surely Rooney is good enough to provide back-up in an area where we're having a mini-crisis

[Siberian]

There was a pub on Haddington Rd called the 51. Does anyone know what it's called now? I plan on meeting people there Sunday. Thanks.

[DeLorean]

If Alaba (as expected) plays in their central midfield, would it be worth having Whelan man mark him in a five man midfield? I don't think any of Hendrick/Arter/Hoolahan have the discipline to do that job, and it would mean sacrificing an attacking threat by asking them to do it anyway

I'm not sure Whelan would have the legs for that particular man marking job. It's rare enough you'd see it these days. I know Ander Herrera was praised for following Eden Hazard around Old Trafford recently but he's a box-to-box, ground covering type in general anyway. Whelan's main strength is his positional awareness, I'm not sure it would come naturally to him.

As good as Alaba is, I don't think he's the type of player that really needs to be man marked anyway, keep a close eye for sure but I think I'd prefer to try to crowd him out with energetic players covering the space in front of him. We did that fairly well against Bale, bar a couple of scares, and obviously Alaba himself in Vienna.

[OwlsFan]

There was a pub on Haddington Rd called the 51. Does anyone know what it's called now? I plan on meeting people there Sunday. Thanks.

Is this not it ? Changed its name to The51Bar ;)

http://www.the51bar.ie/

[Stuttgart88]

Dan McD edging towards Westwood

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/analysis-oneill-needs-his-goalkeeper-to-be-confident-against-austria-and-that-gives-westwood-the-edge-35796989.html

[DeLorean]

I've found myself agreeing with everything McDonnell has said this week, in relation to Westwood/Randolph, Arter/Whelan/Hoolahan and the way he's interpreted O'Neill's comments. He was on Off The Ball the other night also - http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off_The_Ball/The_Football_Show_on_Off_The_Ball/195098/Prestons_secret_agent_and_Irelands_prep_for_Austri a

[Siberian]

Cheers, they must have reverted back to the 51 as I know they had changed name at one stage.

[OwlsFan]

So a question for the eggheads: Have we ever done the double over a higher rated team in the group? Before the blitzkrieg in Austria last year, our last major win away from home against a higher rated group rival was Scotland in 1987. I think we drew with Scotland in that group at home. So have we ever ? DeLorean ? tetsujin1979 ? Time to make history?

[jbyrne]

So a question for the eggheads: Have we ever done the double over a higher rated team in the group? Before the blitzkrieg in Austria last year, our last major win away from home against a higher rated group rival was Scotland in 1987. I think we drew with Scotland in that group at home.

yes, was nil-nil on a dreadful Lansdowne pitch

[DeLorean]

So a question for the eggheads: Have we ever done the double over a higher rated team in the group? Before the blitzkrieg in Austria last year, our last major win away from home against a higher rated group rival was Scotland in 1987. I think we drew with Scotland in that group at home. So have we ever ? DeLorean ? tetsujin1979 ? Time to make history?

I've only checked the World Cup Qualification campaigns but we did the double over Denmark in the qualifiers for the 1958 tournament. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA_%E2%80%93_ Group_1)

Whether we were ranked higher than them, or whether there were rankings at the time at all, I don't know!

Edit- nothing of relevance in the Euro qualifiers.

[tetsujin1979]

So a question for the eggheads: Have we ever done the double over a higher rated team in the group? Before the blitzkrieg in Austria last year, our last major win away from home against a higher rated group rival was Scotland in 1987. I think we drew with Scotland in that group at home. So have we ever ? DeLorean ? tetsujin1979 ? Time to make history?
We beat Lithuania 2-1 away in 1997 when they were ranked 42nd and we were 55th. The home leg was a 0-0 draw a month earlier
A year later we beat Croatia 2-0, but lost the away leg 1-0
We beat Yugoslavia 2-1 in September 1999, but had already lost the away leg 1-0
In September 2001 (lots of September wins!) we beat the Netherlands 1-0 but had drawn the away game 2-2
Finally, in March 2007 we beat Slovakia 1-0, but drew the away game 2-2
so, based on FIFA rankings , we've never done the double over a higher ranked side in qualification

FWIW, Austria are currently ranked 35th, we're 26th - http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html

[Closed Account]

From the 23-man squad of the European Championships, only ten (!) Players are present in Dublin for Austria.

[Olé Olé]

The keeper situation is bad by Austria alright. That keeper that is actually capped has 2 club games for Eintracht Frankfurt in last 2 seasons.

Thought the striker situation was bad by them too with the most caps by the striker Burgstaller being 10, with no goals.

Turns out the man shot the lights out in first half of season in second division in Germany. Went up to first division with Schalke and got 9 in second half. Will surely be raring to go.

4 defenders and 4 midfielders with double digit caps. Would have to assume they might start unless one of with the lads with less is a bolter.

If Randolph starts you have to imagine a factor is that Austria might not put him under enough pressure to force a mistake and baring with him through a tough time might be positive long term too.

[Charlie Darwin]

I've only checked the World Cup Qualification campaigns but we did the double over Denmark in the qualifiers for the 1958 tournament. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA_%E2%80%93_ Group_1)

Whether we were ranked higher than them, or whether there were rankings at the time at all, I don't know!

Edit- nothing of relevance in the Euro qualifiers.
Rankings started in 1994 as far as I know.

[OwlsFan]

yes, was nil-nil on a dreadful Lansdowne pitch

At the back of my mind I had a boring draw ok but I can remember nothing about it to be honest.

So time to make history on Sunday ? A double over a group rival: dare we dream ? Probably not but as usual much is about tempo and getting stuck in to them early on and have them dreaming about the beaches and getting up early and putting the towels on the sun beds rather than enduring being roughed up by late tackles by McClean.

[tetsujin1979]

Austria were seeded second in the draw, and we we were fourth. I'm pretty sure that if we win, it'll be the first time we have beaten a higher seed home and away

[DeLorean]

So time to make history on Sunday ? A double over a group rival: dare we dream ?

In terms of what turned out to be a group rival, we did do the double over a high flying Armenian side under Trap en route to Poland. We were only one point ahead of them going into that final group game in Dublin. We would have been well ahead of them in the rankings/seeding though.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Rankings started in 1994 as far as I know.

92/93 no? I thought we achieved our highest placing in August 93.

In answer to the question on doing the double -any instances in which we've done so in living memory has involved lower seeded sides. Sure we could nearly name them -Malta, Cyprus, Iceland, Luxembourg, Turkey, Albania, Liectenstein, San Marino, Andorra, Gibraltar, Estonia, Faroes, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and ....that's the lot unless I've missed someone.

Sunday represents our best chance to add a notable scalp to that list for some time. Probably the last time we'd a really good chance, all else being equal, to do this was in the Euro 96 qualifiers when we were more than good enough to beat both Northern Ireland and Austria home and away and spectacularily failed to do so picking up just 4 of the handiest 12 points on offer in international football that year.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Armenia and Macedonia! :p

[DeLorean]

Probably the last time we'd a really good chance, all else being equal, to do this was in the Euro 96 qualifiers when we were more than good enough to beat both Northern Ireland and Austria home and away and spectacularily failed to do so picking up just 4 of the handiest 12 points on offer in international football that year.

I'd add Slovakia under Stan to that. We beat them at home and had the game almost won away but for John O'Shea turning his arse to their late equaliser. They were no great shakes and weren't again when we drew with the twice under Trap - Robbie Keane unusually the main culprit, missing a penalty away and a sitter at home.

OwlsFan is spot on though, this would undoubtedly be our best double ever, which probably means it's not going to happen. :)

[mark12345]

That attitude from the Irish team on Sunday will go a long way to securing the three points. An up and at em approach by all 11 players, 14 if necessary, while also focusing on ball retention, could have the visitors hoping for the final whistle in the first twenty minutes

[Fergie's Son]

That attitude from the Irish team on Sunday will go a long way to securing the three points. An up and at em approach by all 11 players, 14 if necessary, while also focusing on ball retention, could have the visitors hoping for the final whistle in the first twenty minutes

I think this is spot on. We are at home and they are beatable. Let's get the three points.

[DannyInvincible]

92/93 no? I thought we achieved our highest placing in August 93.

Aye, the FIFA ranking system was formally introduced in August of 1993 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings#History) after FIFA published a ranking list of its member associations in December of 1992 to provide a means of comparing the relative strengths of their teams. August 1993 - when we were positioned sixth in the world - was indeed our highest placing. I'm pretty sure that was also our original ranking position. Perhaps FIFA over-estimated us as it's been all downhill since then! :(

[DannyInvincible]

Balls.ie have a preview of the game here (https://www.balls.ie/football/ireland-austria-preview-362579) but I thought the following point effectively emphasised our special team spirit:


Nobody lets anybody else down, and the unity and spirit of the Irish side are unignorable virtues: something clearly fostered at the Euros odyssey last year.

That is precisely what Austria are missing. As anecdotal evidence of what Ireland have over Austria: Kevin Long skipped his brother's wedding in the hope he would make his Ireland debut in a friendly game, while Austrian left-back Andres Ulmer is skipping the Ireland game to get married himself.

[DannyInvincible]

Austrian journalist Fabian Zerche (https://twitter.com/fabianzerche?lang=en) of Sportsnet.at gives his perspective on tomorrow's game: http://opeljersey.com/new-blog/2017/6/9/opposition-watch-austria


Much of the spirit of the EURO qualification went missing in France and the bad form was somehow dragged into the Word Cup qualification. Austria seem to be in a quite bad cycle – physically and mentally. It all started with the bad spell at the Euros. After that the team captain Christian Fuchs retired from international football. Since then Ramazan Özcan and Markus Suttner did the same.

Additionally many important players are now injured. Like RB Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer who fell at home through a glass table. Or Schalke’s Alessandro Schöpf, both goalkeepers (Lukse and Almer) and Basel striker Marc Janko. The most important offensive player – Marko Arnautovic – is suspended as is Stefan Ilsanker. That’s a pity because the new 3-4-3 formation looked promising to me. I am not sure how the team will cope with all those key players missing.

[Fixer82]

Will ireland have new jersey tomorrow???

[DannyInvincible]

Will ireland have new jersey tomorrow???

Not as far as I know. The New Balance deal takes effect from August.

[Stuttgart88]

One more sleep.

[DannyInvincible]

Austria have three keepers in their squad and two of them are uncapped. Heinz Lindner, who has 10 caps, is expected to start tomorrow. He isn't actually first-choice goalkeeper at his club, Eintracht Frankfurt. As far as I can make out, he's only played twice for his club since joining them in 2015.

[tricky_colour]

Will ireland have new jersey tomorrow???


No, it was the Mexico game that was in New Jersey, this one is in Dublin.