The last time this happened?

Lads lads lads

We will NOT get nine points from our last 3 games, NOT under this regime. We will be lucky to get three (either 3 draws or else a 2-1 win over cyprus).

We have also not reached our nadir yet, we will fall further unless changes are made, quickly.

Everyone on here could predict the starting XI for England but not one person in world could guess what team Stan will pick. I think he just pulls the names out of a hat.

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Originally Posted by jbyrne

this is more positive than i was thinking for some reason. highly unlikely we will sneak in but who would have thought scotland would win away to bulgaria in '87 to help us qualify or that france would lose their last two qualifiers at home in the qualification for USA 94 when they only needed a point to qualify??

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Big difference though Ireland c.1986-88 was a good team, with a manager who had a game plan, crude but effective though it may have been!

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Originally Posted by back of the net

ah i know u were mate - i wasnt being smart wit u

its very possible that it could pan out the way u said

if we get 6 pts next wk - it will be a very interesting november - cos the czechs will lose against the germans nxt wk - esp if we beat the germans in dublin on sat

and the czechs are a team in massive decline

plus look how good the slovaks are on the road - narrow loss to germany , hammered cyprus , hammered wales, narrow loss to us - so they could well get something in czech rep

all i was saying equally as u well know - which ireland team will turn up on sat nite - the one thats going to stand up and fight or the one thats going to lay down and take a beating


who knows mate..

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And as so many Slovak players have played in the Czech League and it's next door and they used to be one country anyway, it's not that much of an away game so to speak.

Even in the unlikely event of us getting 9 points from our last 3 games I just cannot see the Czechs failing to beat Slovakia at home. They should get beaten away to Germany and I could see them dropping points away to Cyprus but they beat Slovakia handily enough away from home and I expect them to do the same in Prague.

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

And as so many Slovak players have played in the Czech League and it's next door and they used to be one country anyway, it's not that much of an away game so to speak.

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yeah but czech pumped slovakia in bratislava 3-0 so it should be an even easier game for them now

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Originally Posted by Wolfie

I think we were well out of it with 3 to go in the Mexico '86 campaign.

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Not quite, well, not mathematically anyway. I think with 3 games to go we went to Switzerland needing a win to realistically keep the hopes alive. Instead, if memory serves, it was a dull 0-0, meaning (as someone has noted above) that we needed to win in Russia and at home to Denmark. I think at that point The Soviet Union had a 100% home qualification record! This will probably be the first time since then that we'll go into our last qualifier already out of the running.

Euro '84 - I think technically speaking we were still mathematically in with a shout with 3 games to go for these too. Two games to go in fact, after we won 3-0 in Iceland. But again, this was heavily reliant on improbable results: both Hollland and Spain failing to win at home to Malta!

Strictly speaking, i think the last time we ballsed up a qualification campaign this badly was Euro '72, when we got one point out of six games.

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Originally Posted by RogerMilla

yeah but czech pumped slovakia in bratislava 3-0 so it should be an even easier game for them now

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Pressure is a funny thing though..especailly when the slovaks might look to get one over their former compatriots

Form does go out the window in a derby game, e.g. Belfast in Nov '93. A team with nothing to lose in a derby game is capable of anything. Then again it's us, so some kind of injury time sucker-punch goal will probably sink us somewhere.

Dream on. We will get just 2 points.

Draw with Cyprus
Draw with Wales

You need a game plan to win matches, not just throw players onto the pitch and hope for the best.

You gotta love the optimism of the Irish supporters, normally im the same but no way can I see us beating Germany. We havent beaten a decent team at home in 6 years and that was a lucky enough win. The way we're playing at the moment, 5 points from the last three games is about the best to expect.

If we somehow manage to get six points in the next two games, it would put a bit of pressure back on the Czechs but I doubt it'll even come to that.

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Originally Posted by DmanDmythDledge

Wouldn't be surprising at all if Cyprus drew with Czechs. They are actually good at home, got a draw against Germany. Czechs have drawn with us and Wales away from home. However our faint hopes will be crushed when they beat Slovakia.

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What would be surprising is us getting 9n points though!

yeah in fairness we have a patethic setup...no way will we get 9pts,

i wouldnt worry about any future optimism elroy the current circus act are quickly getting rid of that