Republic of Ireland V Armenia - Tuesday, 27th September 2022 - UEFA Nations League

[Jd2793]

back to a 2 man midfield tomorrow with cullen suspended? id drop knight i think thought he was poor saturday. keep the rest the same with hendrick for knight and an extra forward for cullen. prefer when we use 3 in midfield but kenny seems to like going with the extra forward v lesser opponents.

[Stuttgart88]

back to a 2 man midfield tomorrow with cullen suspended? id drop knight i think thought he was poor saturday. keep the rest the same with hendrick for knight and an extra forward for cullen. prefer when we use 3 in midfield but kenny seems to like going with the extra forward v lesser opponents.I'd replace Cullen with Hendrick, keep 3 in the middle. Didn't we play 2 in Yerevan?

[passinginterest]

I don't think the shape should change. If he wants to make it more attacking maybe Ogbene for Doherty at wing back and Brady for McClean on the other side. If Cullen is suspended probably just drop Hendrick in there. Front two is probably the big call, does he stick with Parrot and Obafemi or change it up? I thought they linked pretty well again and their work rate was excellent. I have a feeling they'll get another go. Barring injuries, I wouldn't be overly surprised if the only change is Hendrick for Cullen (if Cullen is suspended, still not sure I've seen that confirmed anywhere).

[zero]

keep the same shape and 8 or 9 of the same team, struggle to a 1 or 2 nil win and keep the wolf from the door until we blow up in the euro qualifiers within the first 3 games.

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think the shape should change. If he wants to make it more attacking maybe Ogbene for Doherty at wing back and Brady for McClean on the other side. If Cullen is suspended probably just drop Hendrick in there. Front two is probably the big call, does he stick with Parrot and Obafemi or change it up? I thought they linked pretty well again and their work rate was excellent. I have a feeling they'll get another go. Barring injuries, I wouldn't be overly surprised if the only change is Hendrick for Cullen (if Cullen is suspended, still not sure I've seen that confirmed anywhere).
Cullen is suspended I heard. Brady for McClean should be considered.

[EAFC_rdfl]

keep the same shape and 8 or 9 of the same team, struggle to a 1 or 2 nil win and keep the wolf from the door until we blow up in the euro qualifiers within the first 3 games.
May as well jack it all in right now sure

[weldoninhio]

May as well jack it all in right now sure

If we?re gonna keep Kenny we might as well write off Euro 2024 now, you?re correct.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Tomorrow team

Bazunu
Collins
Duffy
Egan
Coleman
Molumby
Hendrick
McClean
Ogbene
Hogan
Obafemi

[Trequartista20]

I'd be surprised if Kenny went back to 3-4-3 after the turgid performances against Armenia and Ukraine earlier on in the group.

We looked far too narrow and kept trying to play the ball into players' feet in congested areas. It didn't work.

Kenny stumbled onto a far more effective formula against Scotland and it seems to suit the players much better. We've looked more competitive and harder to play through since moving to a midfield three, and we've also looked more dangerous in attack in having two strikers.

Surely it'll be a simple case of swapping Cullen out for Hendrick, who's generally played well since Kenny has come in and has seen regular action at club level this season. There might be a change at wing back too, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ogbene start given his form.

Slightly worringly, Kenny's Kids has Hourihane starting in his 'preferred team'. I hope he doesn't know something I don't.

[John83]

Has Hendrick ever played a holding role? We might be able to play a more ambitious midfield against Armenia but we were pretty dire before Cullen showed he could stabilise things from that deeper role, which makes me a little nervous. I shouldn't be nervous - it's Armenia for feck's sake - but you never know whether you're getting Stephen Jeckyll or Mr Hyde.

[Insidetherock]

Someones crunched the numbers over on Twitter.. trying to find the tweet again.. and reckons that after tonights NL results, a win v Armenia tomorrow, pretty much guarantees a play off spot.

Trying to figure it out, a win will put us 26th in the NL at worst, and if Sweden win or draw at home to Slovenia, 25th

Assuming only 12 of the Group A teams qualify directly, the A play off route will have the 4 unqualified in the play offs

That would mean 8 teams to qualify coming from the B,C, D groups.

If more than 5 of those come from the B group, then we'll get into the B play off group (as team 9 in B)

If more than 12 qualify from A, and 4 or more come from B, then worst case would be moving up to the A path play off

So a win is extra vital tomorrow night to give us a second chance of qualification via the play offs

[Insidetherock]

And, while tomorrow night might not be the game for it, maybe wait till the friendlies in the Autumn.. but would anyone think we should have a look at pushing Nathan Collins into the holding midfielder role, a la Paul Mc Grath of old..

He can read a game, pass the ball, and likes to get forward from time to time.. and is much more of a physical presence than Josh Cullen

[Bielsa´s irish]

yeah Collins in midfield is a good very good valid option but alongside cullen or hendric atm

[JR89]

Someones crunched the numbers over on Twitter.. trying to find the tweet again.. and reckons that after tonights NL results, a win v Armenia tomorrow, pretty much guarantees a play off spot.

Trying to figure it out, a win will put us 26th in the NL at worst, and if Sweden win or draw at home to Slovenia, 25th

Assuming only 12 of the Group A teams qualify directly, the A play off route will have the 4 unqualified in the play offs

That would mean 8 teams to qualify coming from the B,C, D groups.

If more than 5 of those come from the B group, then we'll get into the B play off group (as team 9 in B)


If more than 12 qualify from A, and 4 or more come from B, then worst case would be moving up to the A path play off

So a win is extra vital tomorrow night to give us a second chance of qualification via the play offs

Results against 4th placed teams don't count so as long as Armenia don't win we finish 26th as the second best runner up. Sweden have to beat Slovenia for us to finish as the best ranked third placed team. We've both played our four games and they're a point ahead of us on 5 after beating Norway the other day. If Sweden beat Slovenia they move to third but all six points will be against Slovenia so makes them the worst ranked third placed team once those results don't count for the overall ranking.

[elatedscum]

Someones crunched the numbers over on Twitter.. trying to find the tweet again.. and reckons that after tonights NL results, a win v Armenia tomorrow, pretty much guarantees a play off spot.

Trying to figure it out, a win will put us 26th in the NL at worst, and if Sweden win or draw at home to Slovenia, 25th

Assuming only 12 of the Group A teams qualify directly, the A play off route will have the 4 unqualified in the play offs

That would mean 8 teams to qualify coming from the B,C, D groups.

If more than 5 of those come from the B group, then we'll get into the B play off group (as team 9 in B)

If more than 12 qualify from A, and 4 or more come from B, then worst case would be moving up to the A path play off

So a win is extra vital tomorrow night to give us a second chance of qualification via the play offs

Only thing you?re missing is that Germany qualify directly, as the 21st team as hosts, so there?s only 15 group A teams trying to qualify. So basically we move up one space in the rankings

As I said when certain posters were getting very ott, we were always very likely that we go to playoffs. We?re 24th or 25th of qualifying teams and there are up to 28 slots available to A and B teams.
So we?d need 4 or 5 teams beneath us to qualify directly for us to have a problem

??????-
For arguments sake, 13 of 15 qualify directly,
2 go to playoffs A

In group B, we?d be 9th or 10th slot depending on Sweden result. Let?s imagine 4 of the 8 or 9 ahead of us in B qualify directly. 2 behind us in B qualify and 1 from C (or 1 behind us and 2 C)

So the 4 ahead of us in B that don?t qualify go to the B playoff and the 9th and 10th teams to go the A playoff.

????

You can sometimes have weird scenarios where the A playoff is weaker than the B playoff. For example, our playoff last time involved 4 B teams (Bosnia, Slovakia, Ireland, N.Iron). Meanwhile in A, it was one A team and 3 C teams (Iceland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). Hungary, a C team beat another C team to make the final where they played Iceland as the A team. For arguments sake, if no A team had failed to qualify, another C team would have been moved up and the C teams which failed to make the C playoff would have made up the A playoff.

Meanwhile the C playoff was 4 C teams - so weirdly, the B playoff was the toughest path to get through.

[Stuttgart88]

You can sometimes have weird scenarios where the A playoff is weaker than the B playoff. It's actually the most likely outome, no?

[JR89]

Only thing you?re missing is that Germany qualify directly, as the 21st team as hosts, so there?s only 15 group A teams trying to qualify. So basically we move up one space in the rankings

As I said when certain posters were getting very ott, we were always very likely that we go to playoffs. We?re 24th or 25th of qualifying teams and there are up to 28 slots available to A and B teams.
So we?d need 4 or 5 teams beneath us to qualify directly for us to have a problem

??????-
For arguments sake, 13 of 15 qualify directly,
2 go to playoffs A

In group B, we?d be 9th or 10th slot depending on Sweden result. Let?s imagine 4 of the 8 or 9 ahead of us in B qualify directly. 2 behind us in B qualify and 1 from C (or 1 behind us and 2 C)

So the 4 ahead of us in B that don?t qualify go to the B playoff and the 9th and 10th teams to go the A playoff.

????

You can sometimes have weird scenarios where the A playoff is weaker than the B playoff. For example, our playoff last time involved 4 B teams (Bosnia, Slovakia, Ireland, N.Iron). Meanwhile in A, it was one A team and 3 C teams (Iceland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). Hungary, a C team beat another C team to make the final where they played Iceland as the A team. For arguments sake, if no A team had failed to qualify, another C team would have been moved up and the C teams which failed to make the C playoff would have made up the A playoff.

Meanwhile the C playoff was 4 C teams - so weirdly, the B playoff was the toughest path to get through.

The best ranked team in League D gets the first available playoff spot in League A so we wouldn't really move up a spot when you cross Germany off from the overall rankings I'd assume. Could replace them with the League D team in the overall rankings.

[pineapple stu]

Do you mean League C?

Last time League D got in but this time it's the real dreck (Liechtenstein, San Marino, etc) that you wouldn't let near a play-off.

[JR89]

No League D. League D has no official play off path like last time so this campaign UEFA have decided whoever the best ranked league D team is the first team allocated a play off spot. That's gonna be Estonia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024_qualifying_play-offs

[pineapple stu]

Oh right. Is it only one League D team that gets the chance?

[JR89]

Yup just the one League D team and believe if Estonia were to shock the world and qualifed directly for the Euros then that also cancels out the League D team getting a play off spot. So wouldn't move down to Latvia. So basically only Estonia have the chance to get a play off spot if leagues don't have enough teams to fill the play off.

[nr637]

FAI claim that they are set to welcome over 42,000 supporters to the Aviva Stadium tonight! :confused:

[sadloserkid]

Parrott starting again? This is the sort of thing that makes me think Kenny is, at heart, as inflexible as MON was.

[Jd2793]

Parrott starting again? This is the sort of thing that makes me think Kenny is, at heart, as inflexible as MON was.

why should he be dropped? because he missed a chance?

[paul_oshea]

Brady said he can't understand why obafemi was taken off during the Scotland game

[SkStu]

I thought Obafemi was a little bit disappointing on Saturday. Yes he?s dangerous and he?s a definite starter but we squandered 2-3 very decent opportunities in the first half because of his touch and final ball and he did it again just prior to laying it on a plate for Parrott. He was also lacking match fitness a bit and I?d say that played into Kenny?s thinking at the time. Keeping Parrott on the pitch gives you a good counter to Ogbene in terms of possession and connecting the midfield and forwards. Oba and Oggie a bit more comfortable running onto things. I understand the different perspective but don?t think it was that bad a call.

[seanfhear]

Brady said he can't understand why obafemi was taken off during the Scotland game
Maybe Kenny is nursing his fitness.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I hope Parrott is up for it anyway. He'd want to be.

[sadloserkid]

why should he be dropped? because he missed a chance?

What a peurile suggestion. No, not because he missed a chance. Because he's out of form and if Armenia at home isn't a game to give a chance to others then what is?

[NeverFeltBetter]

We're going to have a lot of possession tonight, that's already clear. Might have to wait a while for Armenia to tire. Armenia look disciplined enough so far, sort of a 5-2-3 when defending. They obviously aren't too worried about crosses from the flanks, they want us going out there.

[paul_oshea]

And, while tomorrow night might not be the game for it, maybe wait till the friendlies in the Autumn.. but would anyone think we should have a look at pushing Nathan Collins into the holding midfielder role, a la Paul Mc Grath of old..

He can read a game, pass the ball, and likes to get forward from time to time.. and is much more of a physical presence than Josh Cullen

I said this way back. He came much further forward against Scotland too. I really think that needs to happen given how many good CBs we have already

[osarusan]

Anybody with a stream, PM me.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Thought that was a shocker of a miss from Obafemi at first glance, but it's just too high to direct it properly.

[pineapple stu]

Or is he too short? :p

[sadloserkid]

That was nice from Doherty.

[pineapple stu]

Egan the new Duffy anyway!

[NeverFeltBetter]

Who needs Duffy!? Great to go ahead early. Great header, downwards with power.

[joey B]

Should be scoring a few against these after the first…

[SkStu]

Lovely jubbly.

[sadloserkid]

I'll say this, over the last couple of games, we haven't missed Duffy for attacking set pieces. That's a really nice header.

[SkStu]

Brady been a little disappointing so far (feel like he slows us down a bit at LWB) but you can?t fault his delivery.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Would hope we'll go on to win comfortably now. Just don't do anything stupid at the back and keep the pressure up.

[pineapple stu]

Only disappointing thing so far is we've created little enough from open play despite how keen Armenia are to give the ball back to us.

Lots of time to change that of course

[Insidetherock]

Sweden getting beat by Slovenia.. puts us back a place in the rankings...

[joey B]

Game drifting now,final ball and touch off so far….

[centre mid]

Brady taking too much out of the ball for me, slows everything up. Would like to see a bit more pace all around.

[SkStu]

Sweden getting beat by Slovenia.. puts us back a place in the rankings...

1-1 now.

Overall a bit flat in the Aviva. We?re not doing anything wrong really, we are completely in control and we have the lead. The passes and runs just a little off all round. Not sure about Brady still at LWB and Oba and Parrott just a little off. The rest showing ok, back 3 very good and stepping up with the ball. One little snippet around 30 mins in was ball played back to Baz under a bit of a press, splits a pass to Molumby who turns and carries it into their half before laying to Brady (who slowed it down). Nice to see that, not something we?d have seen under other managers where keeper instructed to send it long.

Hopefully we can turn the screw on them in the second half, sharpen up a bit and get a couple more.

[Insidetherock]

1-1 now.

Overall a bit flat in the Aviva. We?re not doing anything wrong really, we are completely in control and we have the lead. The passes and runs just a little off all round. Not sure about Brady still at LWB and Oba and Parrott just a little off. The rest showing ok, back 3 very good and stepping up with the ball. One little snippet around 30 mins in was ball played back to Baz under a bit of a press, splits a pass to Molumby who turns and carries it into their half before laying to Brady (who slowed it down). Nice to see that, not something we?d have seen under other managers where keeper instructed to send it long.

Hopefully we can turn the screw on them in the second half, sharpen up a bit and get a couple more.

Yeah, we're badly lacking in creativity.. and looking at the body language of the Armenians in the last ten minutes there, I was thinking if we could get a second they might fold.

The Swedish result is important.. need them getting points there

[joey B]

Molumby Is a lucky boy…

[paul_oshea]

Kenny should take molumbynoff. Make an example of him