Republic of Ireland V Ukraine - Wednesday, 8 June 2022 - 2022/23 UEFA Nations League

[lofty9]

This is a seriously impressive and dangerous Ukraine side. Not sure they’ll bring this intensity to Dublin though.

[CSAD]

You just knew Wales would score there.

Wales really are one of the most poxiest football teams the world has ever seen.

[paul_oshea]

They're losing and their style will suit Kenny. It'll be their third game in a week. We should be in pole position for the win.

[pineapple stu]

Good to see VAR ending all controversial refereeing decisions there.

Anyone able to give an insight why Ukraine didn't get a penalty there?

[CSAD]

Good to see VAR ending all controversial refereeing decisions there.

Anyone able to give an insight why Ukraine didn't get a penalty there?

It would be a pretty soft penalty if it was given to be fair.

Wales only score poxy goals not concede them, that’s our job! 😂

[pineapple stu]

Well he kicked the Ukrainian's foot, stopping him going for the loose ball.

I don't think the Ukrainian not having possession matters in that case?

[CSAD]

Well he kicked the Ukrainian's foot, stopping him going for the loose ball.

I don't think the Ukrainian not having possession matters in that case?

I do think if it went to VAR Wales were in trouble as technically it is a penalty but a ref is unlikely to give it himself as the contact is minimal.

[paul_oshea]

Maybe because he came up behind him rather than the other way around? I mean I thought it would be given but felt it shouldn't but it's definitely not consistent for what you see given 99% of the time. Nice to see common sense prevail even if it doesn't happen often

[pineapple stu]

I do think if it went to VAR Wales were in trouble as technically it is a penalty but a ref is unlikely to give it himself as the contact is minimal.
I don't think you could get clearer contact tbh. He kicked his boot and caused him to lose any chance of getting to the loose ball

[Stuttgart88]

If that’s against Harry Kane it’s a pen

[joey B]

What we wouldn’t give to be able to bring the likes of Brennan Johnson off the bench!

[lofty9]

They're losing and their style will suit Kenny. It'll be their third game in a week. We should be in pole position for the win.

You can see now their 2nd intense game in a few days is catching up with them.

[paul_oshea]

Extra time now and penalties great for us.

[CSAD]

What we wouldn’t give to be able to bring the likes of Brennan Johnson off the bench!

He’d be on crutches.

[pineapple stu]

Right - we need a decent PL reserve keeper for Wednesday. Anyone know where we can find one? :p

Hennessy has been better than superb in this

[CSAD]

Extra time now and penalties great for us.

It’s not just the physical side of game but the emotional side of it, coming into a NL game after the last few days only 2 days after WC play off is going to be a massively emotional come down.

[CSAD]

Right - we need a decent PL reserve keeper for Wednesday. Anyone know where we can find one? :p

Hennessy has been better than superb in this

After today anyone want to guess how many yards out the Ukraine goal will come Wednesday? Ukraine clearly getting their practice in already!

[CSAD]

You know after that shot that Ukraine are done.

[paul_oshea]

After today anyone want to guess how many yards out the Ukraine goal will come Wednesday? Ukraine clearly getting their practice in already!

They've had an awful lot of wayward long shooting. Perhaps it's tiredness but it's been brutal at times

[CSAD]

They've had an awful lot of wayward long shooting. Perhaps it's tiredness but it's been brutal at times

Getting them right for Wednesday I bet as we seem to love conceding 40 yard crackers!

Ukraine just looked emotionally drained this second half.

[pineapple stu]

Delighted for Wales I have to say. Nearly men for a long time and some great players never played at the World Cup as a result. 64 years is a long time.

Ukraine will be a stern test on Wednesday, although it won't be easy for them to pick themselves up so quickly

[Bielsa´s irish]

Ukraine will play substitutes on Wednesday. They are mentally drained. They are a dirty bunch did a lot of dark arts today, Well done Wales some Celtics will be there, and there are a lot in Patagonia, where I heard Bale has some family

[paul_oshea]

Which member of bales family? Always thought he looked a bit Latin.

[geysir]

You know after that shot that Ukraine are done.
Hmmm, writing off the Ukrainians?

[Bielsa´s irish]

Which member of bales family? Always thought he looked a bit Latin.
Yeah indeed, Bale looks italian, he needs to use his hands more while talking like De Niro or Pacino, at least he can curse opposition in Spanish after all those years in Madrid. The food in Galicia "wales" is really good too!

But there are some irish too who look like Italian doppelgangers Brian Kerr, Colin Farrell and Gerry Adams, Alec Baldwin to name a few from football Ryan Manning looks from Calabria, (Ringo Manningo in italian), also Dolo O'Riordan (rip) too, she looked like a napolitana ragazze.

It is my opinion but I guess most Celtic people look very Italian, French, spanyiard, Greek, I mean Mediterranean. Its only my opinion.

But in seriousness on the national team of Ireland I'm quite sure you will defeat Ukraine next Wednesday, I have never been so sure about a football result. Some of you said that he needs to get some results and pronto or else, he will get the sack.
My opinion is that Kenny other option is start bringing the youngsters and a few veterans, a la Wales.

Greeting and I am always rooting for Ireland, I hope you Irish good people root for Argentina in November, Mexico vs Argentina is already sold out I read

kenny needs to take advantage of the Scotland Ukraine situation, never a better scenario,

I sense Republic to prevail. 1-0 2-1

[Razors left peg]

Tets instead of merging posts there were other better options available there :)

[Bielsa´s irish]

Tets instead of merging posts there were other better options available there :)
I will post the link on Wednesday for Ireland vs Ukraine. Armenia vs Ireland was broadcasted 10 am Saturday morning.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Ireland will defeat Ukraine, mark my words.

[tetsujin1979]

You've been warned before about multiplie posts Bielsa. Next time use the edit button or I'll delete all of them

[sadloserkid]

Viva ls Mexico!

[pineapple stu]

Bazunu out of the squad; Talbot called up as a replacement

(FAI Twitter)

[Stuttgart88]

I reckon a full strength motivated Ukraine will give us a very hard time. They were far too good for Scotland, for 80 minutes anyway. The Wales game was a bit mad though. Despite dominating the stats I think Ukraine were mainly well-contained by Wales and Wales had some of the better chances, not least the Ramsey chance which he tried to be too deliberate with. Wales also hit the post but I think the keeper had it covered.

On the other hand when Ukraine found their sense of urgency they impressed me with their build up play. You'd expect a VAR review to award that penalty to Ukraine all day long imho - but you could say it wasn't the result of Ukraine's overall play earning a penalty. In real time the late Hennessy save looked great but on replay you can see that he really only stuck out an arm, diving after he palmed the ball to get purchase on it and to clear his feet. Poor header in hindsight. Ukraine had a few dangerous pinball moments in Wales box and Wales put in some brave blocks. Each team could have scored 2 or 3, as it was Wales scored one very fortunate goal. We need to be able to win games like that, like Wales did, and I don't see it happening without a proven matchwinner.

[Trequartista20]

Bazunu out of the squad; Talbot called up as a replacement

(FAI Twitter)

Well, the goalkeeper's likely to be far busier against Ukraine than Kelleher was against Armenia.

Do we stick with him or reward Travers for an outstanding season?

To be honest, I'd like to see Travers see action in at least one of the upcoming matches.

[Bielsa´s irish]

We must play a 9. Smallbone in the team please, Lee O'Connor is great for me, Bagan too. Manning in midfield . Parrott in the hole .

[pineapple stu]

To be honest, I'd like to see Travers see action in at least one of the upcoming matches.
I'd generally agree (I would have given all three regulars playing time in March) but I wonder if we are going to change the defence around to deal with four games in June, does it make more sense to keep the keeper behind them consistent?

[tetsujin1979]

We must play a 9. Smallbone in the team please, Lee O'Connor is great for me, Bagan too. Manning in midfield . Parrott in the hole .
As has been pointed it before, the U21s are in a position to reach the play offs now, if not qualify directly. With their final game on the same night at the Ukrainian away game, I doubt any player will be promoted, and risk that. Mandriou has been stated as being on standby.

[sadloserkid]

I think Travers deserves a game. I think Kenny is going to stick with Kelleher though and, howlers from the Liverpool man aside, Bazunu won't get straight back in.

My gut feeling is that most people (including Kenny) very much view Travers as third choice still and that, on some level, Kenny would prefer not to complicate things further for himself. In just a few months you potentially have a situation where Travers is playing week in week out in the PL and the case for him not starting for Ireland won't be helped if he's given a good account of himself in international games in the interim.

[JR89]

Delighted for Wales I have to say. Nearly men for a long time and some great players never played at the World Cup as a result. 64 years is a long time.

Ukraine will be a stern test on Wednesday, although it won't be easy for them to pick themselves up so quickly

Wonder if Ukraine will take a leaf out of Armenia's book. Maybe sit back to conserve energy and force us to try break them down and pick us off on the counter. They've still got two games to play after us.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Under normal circumstances we would be expecting to beat Ukraine at home, especially given their tough build up to this game. It's just that expectations have been dragged so low under the current management.

I still think we should win and we need it. Our rankings are falling off a cliff. I think we're 52nd on the current in running rankings. We should be freshening up our team as we have 4 games in a short period, Ukraine will be wrecked from the week they've had and other circumstances. I'm going for a 2-1 Ireland win. Let's go!!!

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!

[Trequartista20]

Going purely by statistics, it's going to take take something pretty extraordinary to win this one.

If we do manage to win it would be our first home competitive win over a higher ranked team since the play-off defeat of Bosnia in 2015 - more than six and a half years ago - and our first home competitive win of any description since we beat Gibraltar three years ago.

[Stuttgart88]

I think Kelleher should start tbh. There's no point giving Kelleher the easy games only to see what he's made of.

[joey B]

Even with Ukraine’s tough week I’d still have them favourites,looking at their bench the other night ,which you’d expect most of their starters would come from tomorrow,the majority are from Ukrainian clubs playing regularly in the Champions League….

[seanfhear]

Even with Ukraine’s tough week I’d still have them favourites,looking at their bench the other night ,which you’d expect most of their starters would come from tomorrow,the majority are from Ukrainian clubs playing regularly in the Champions League….
If we can’t put in a good performance against the Ukraine after the week they have had ~ ~ Then the Kenny regime is in big big big trouble ~ Boris Johnson probably has better long term prospects ! !

[tetsujin1979]

I think Kelleher should start tbh. There's no point giving Kelleher the easy games only to see what he's made of.
I think it'll have to be Kelleher, Travers hasn't played since Serbia(his only competitive cap) putting him in against Ukraine would be a mistake, and if he doesn't play that game, he's unlikely to play against Scotland.
I know hindsight is 20:20, but playing Kelleher against Armenia really looks bad now, Kenny has effectively painted himself into a corner by selecting him. We didn't learn anything we already didn't know about him in that game. Playing Travers would have been a reward for his season with Bournemouth.

[Diggs246]

Even with Ukraine’s tough week I’d still have them favourites,looking at their bench the other night ,which you’d expect most of their starters would come from tomorrow,the majority are from Ukrainian clubs playing regularly in the Champions League….

We are 13/10 favs on paddypower. I just don't get that we just lost to armenia.
All my mates are very confident that' the Ukraine players will basically fall asleep on the pitch because they are wrecked physically and psychologically.

[joey B]

Yeah we’re the same against Scotland and I’d not put a penny on us in either game!

[pineapple stu]

I know hindsight is 20:20, but playing Kelleher against Armenia really looks bad now, Kenny has effectively painted himself into a corner by selecting him. We didn't learn anything we already didn't know about him in that game. Playing Travers would have been a reward for his season with Bournemouth.
I don't think he's painted himself into a corner as much as simply made the decision that Kelleher is ahead of Travers (which is maybe a more conscious decision than you're allowing)

The big problem is losing to Armenia already has us under pressure. If we'd beaten them and, say, taken a draw or better from the upcoming two games, well that's a good return from the window and you could be more relaxed about making changes for the last game. But changes for the sake of it don't seem the right thing to do if we're on, say, one point from three games especially if, as on Saturday, Kelleher hasn't done anything wrong really.

Wouldn't begrudge Travers a game of course. But I'd be more interested in finding out who our best forward options are.

[Trequartista20]

Coleman out.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2022/06/07/seamus-coleman-ruled-out-of-ukraine-nations-league-tie/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[pineapple stu]

Looks like he wasn't in line to play tomorrow anyway (https://extra.ie/2022/06/07/sport/soccernews/seamus-coleman-ukraine), so no loss in that regard.

Though the article suggests Kenny will rotate the team around, then mentions the 21s making five changes, and then doesn't give any indication what changes are likely, or if there may be as many as five or if the 21s reference was just completely random. Not the best journalism I've ever seen!

[Trequartista20]

Confusing all right.

There will be 'no wholesale changes' according to Kenny:


https://www.the42.ie/seamus-coleman-15-5784701-Jun2022/