Republic of Ireland V Azerbaijan - Saturday, 4th Sep 2021 - 2022 World Cup Qualifier

[pineapple stu]

How does half way mean anything? Work out the stats for groups and at what point it's not half.
Well it does when we're on 0 points - it means we can still catch everyone by winning all our games.

That stops being the case once half the games are played (eg after 5 games, if we're on 0, we can't catch anyone on 10+)

[Bielsa´s irish]

I thought about it stamina wise. And some are drained and weary. I like it. Thought about Arter over Hourihane

[Olé Olé]

I would go this team tomorrow

..,...,...,.. bazunu ......
Obomamidele Duffy. Egan

Coleman Cullen jeff. Matty

Robinson/idah. Mcgrath

Connolly
.,..,.........,................................... ...

This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.
Energy wise Idah is first change.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.
Actually I wouldnt touch the team much but we have the serbs next. Arter is someone who wouldnt let anyone down. In that zone

[pineapple stu]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson
Hourihane drove me mad against Andorra with his square passing; he seems the wrong choice for a game like Azerbaijan at home where we have to be on the front foot.

Connolly out is reasonable, but I'd like to see Parrott get some time - I know he's in the third tier and generally speaking that's not good enough, but he's a young player who's scored a couple of goals lately and I think he's more likely than Connolly to break open Azerbaijan. Can't really argue against Robinson though if he's fit, and I think Idah is sufficiently different to Parrott that that swap doesn't really make sense.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.

Yes I thought about Parrott. The coach will value his neck today. He is gonna put the 11 he trust the most. We played two days ago. Its hard. McGrath is 24 shouldnt be that tired. I would play. molumby in Arter in center midfield but they havent played that muchos. We need a bit of bite in center mid. Is a totally diferent match than Portugal.. We need to go up to them.

[liamoo11]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson

How does horgan fit in a 352? I can't imagine kennys going to trust hourihane to basically play in a midfield 2 if that's the team. Be good to see what mcgrath could do creativity against a packed defence. Connolly might really benefit from the confidence of been picked again

[John83]

How does horgan fit in a 352? I can't imagine kennys going to trust hourihane to basically play in a midfield 2 if that's the team. Be good to see what mcgrath could do creativity against a packed defence. Connolly might really benefit from the confidence of been picked again
He doesn't. That's a 3-4-3. Kenny could nearly play himself in a midfield two with Cullen ahead of three good centre halves. You must have an awful opinion of Hourihane.

[ifk101]

Liam Scales not in the match 23. Probable team mentioned seems to be the case.

[paul_oshea]

Well it does when we're on 0 points - it means we can still catch everyone by winning all our games.

That stops being the case once half the games are played (eg after 5 games, if we're on 0, we can't catch anyone on 10+)

If we win all our games and Serbia win all their games bar us they'll finish ahead of us. Portugal are already away from us.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.i
I wouldnt touch much on the team but I would play al heads if you ask me. Arter Mc Clean Horgan those I would play maybe Collins up front. This match is for veterans in my liking

[pineapple stu]

If we win all our games and Serbia win all their games bar us they'll finish ahead of us. Portugal are already away from us.

Yes, but that wasn't the question.

The question was "Can we qualify if we win all our games?" and the answer is yes, we can

[paul_oshea]

What do you mean we can qualify if we win all our games ? From now on in? We're 7 points behind Serbia we can't qualify unless other teams slip up. I mean if no teams play any other games we can qualify easily or if Serbia declares war on Albania and Kosovo we might even get through in third place. But no we can't qualify. And it has nothing to do with being halfway through the group or not - in our case.

[punkrocket]

I've already been checking out the best route to take the V-Dub. Looks like ferry to France drive to Venice, from there get a ferry to Alexandria drive down to Suez, get another ferry from there to Jeddah then drive across the arabian peninsula to Qatar. Hope I'm not being premature.

[pineapple stu]

What do you mean we can qualify if we win all our games ? From now on in? We're 7 points behind Serbia we can't qualify unless other teams slip up. I mean if no teams play any other games we can qualify easily or if Serbia declares war on Albania and Kosovo we might even get through in third place. But no we can't qualify. And it has nothing to do with being halfway through the group or not - in our case.
Which is it Paul?

(Hint - it's the first answer. Which doesn't contradict the question asked)

[Olé Olé]

https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1434163087846690832?s=20

Just don't see the point in McClean starting. Maybe he will bring energy and vigour with the crowd etc

[liamoo11]

https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1434163087846690832?s=20

Just don't see the point in McClean starting. Maybe he will bring energy and vigour with the crowd etc

Hopefully it's a back 5 with mcclean left wing back and parrott in behind a front two.

[SkStu]

Can only think it’s all a bit horses for courses and that Kenny sees a direct approach out wide as something that will pay dividends against this lot.

[ifk101]

Not sure about the McClean pick, was sold badly for the first Portugal goal. Think I would have gone with the same back 5 that finished the Portugal game, if we are lining up the same way.

[Supreme feet]

Hoping that Luxembourg was Kenny's 'Macedonia '97' moment.

Remember people calling for Mick's head after Skopje; 'he's out of his depth, has to go, only 3 wins in 13 games, etc.'

Then, we went away to an excellent Romanian team, and lost 1-0 - but created chances, played good football, and were very unlucky not to get a point. Roy Keane missed a penalty.

Battered Liechtenstein 5-0 then. Convincing performance, McCarthy got a vote of confidence from the FAI, we ended up in the playoffs, and were very competitive thereafter.

Although I'd settle for a manky 1-0 this evening.

[NeverFeltBetter]

We have to win tonight, no excuses. The team that got that close to beating Portugal simply has to be good enough to beat Azerbaijan.

McClean did nothing to warrant a selection here, so I'm automatically concerned.

[Colbert Report]

Anything less than three points today should result in the immediate dismissal of our manager. No excuses not to win this one.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Nice move there, the way Doherty ghosted onto the end of that cross shows how poor this crowd are at the back. We need someone who can convert those chances though.

[pineapple stu]

Azerbaijan seem awful here.

Very positive start

[shakermaker1982]

We look good early on. Glad we’ve stuck with the wing backs, it definitely suits us.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Definitely the kind of game that previous Irish squads would be expected to win by a good few goals. Azerbaijan have holes everywhere when we come forward. But we just don't have the quality up front. Coleman had a go from inside the box there and didn't even hit the target.

[Colbert Report]

Azerbaijan looking the better of the two sides to me so far.

[placid casual]

McClean continues to look like one of those minor celebrities on SoccerAid, who thinks he coulda been a football player if his soap opera career hadn't taken off first - All endeavour and head down marauding but couldn't trap a bag of sand and limited in the extreme.
At least hair-band jeffrey isn't playing so that's a positive. Coleman & Doherty still look our best players, and Idah looks threatening.
Has Parrot touched the ball yet?

[Colbert Report]

Azerbaijan unlucky not to be one up there.

[NeverFeltBetter]

We've let them into it now, and they look more dangerous in the final third. You can see the confidence levels swapping sides before your eyes the longer the first half goes.

[Colbert Report]

We just can't seem to create any space for crosses. Time to switch things up and pump a few long balls into their box.

[NeverFeltBetter]

McClean's a liability out there. He's not pushing up with attacks, he's not making himself available for overlaps when the ball is tight to the sideline. Not that the rest of the midfield is covering itself in glory either, but he's offering very little on the left.

[passinginterest]

Feels like if Idah or Connolly could nick a goal they could really damage these lads. Great link up there showed some of the potential best of both of them. We’re back in control after a shaky spell.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.
We are a bit slow connolly growing in the match

[Bielsa´s irish]

We should go get them attitude with grass footie

[passinginterest]

McClean really does look finished as a footballer. He’s definitely a liability for us on the left.

[paul_oshea]

Big difference between even the 4/5th and 6th seeds, Azerbaijan and Andorra. Troy's finding that out

[Colbert Report]

There's a very realistic chance we could end up with zero points at the end of the entire qualification campaign if we continue with Stephen Kenny. This is atrocious. Why are we giving them so much respect? They are awful, but we are even worse.

[centre mid]

Connolly is such an infuriating player. Picks up really good positions but makes some really poor decisions

[shakermaker1982]

I must have jinxed the team, since I posted we’ve been very average. Need to up the tempo and see more off the ball movement.

[pineapple stu]

It feels like we had an instruction to go hard at them for the first ten, but it didn't work and now we can't keep that pace up

[paul_oshea]

Parrott and molumby not at international level.

Connolly a running has been very good off the ball, but no one picking out his best runs .

Egan is the fulcrum at the back sorting out the movement on and off the ball.

We've proved under previous management we're very good against superior opposition, but the difference with Jenny is we play a bit more so lads are fooled. The usual suspects on foot

Some of us are not though.

[seanfhear]

Oh dear !

[Colbert Report]

Sack this manager already!

[NeverFeltBetter]

What a finish. Shouldn't have been let get the shot off of course. Now what?

[centre mid]

FFS ridiculous

[Colbert Report]

Insisting on playing the ball on the ground is madness. We just don't have the players. How can Kenny continue on like this?

[shakermaker1982]

Quality goal. Not sure what Coleman was doing.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson


This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.


We just can't seem to create any space for crosses. Time to switch things up and pump a few long balls into their box.
What agoal