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If we are going to be realistic we need the Welsh and the Cypriots to both take points of the Czechs I believe. If neither do manage to do so it's likely we'll have to beat the Czechs away and also win 3 of the other four games. This is not going to happen so it's up to the Welsh and the Cypriots.Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
I quite Fancy it now. the young lads coming through will have six months more experience and a few friendlies under there belts when the away games come around. The friendlies wil be more important this summer than the usual meaningless tripe we normally have. Stan made only one selection error last night (Finnan and O'shea in reversed roles) which is a huge improvement. His substitutions were bang on. so maybe just maybe he's learning from his howlers of the past. and maybe all the OTT media criticism is serving a purpose in a reverse psychology kind of way ie the players know what stan is really like not the 30 second press conference stan that we see so maybe they are ready to stand up and be counted for the gaffer
who knows maybe its a flash in the pan but maybe we have started to move in the right direction
the cyprans ( a la apres match ) wont do anything in the czech republic i reckon , wales home game with czech is vital for us. hope the welsh get somethign there
The Cypriots have to play the Czechs in Nicosia. They nearly got a draw with them in the Czech Republic. 1-0 though Cech made a great save in injury time to hang onto the win.Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMilla
So...you're saying we're DEFINITELY going to qualify:confused: :DQuote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
A 1-1 or 0-0 draw in Czechistan (good result under normal circumstances) is unlikely to be enough then without getting some extra help.
Win three games and draw with Czech Rep. and Germany leaves us on 24 points.Quote:
Team P W D L F/A Pts
1 Germany 5 4 1 0 21 / 3 13
2 Czech Republic 6 4 1 1 15 / 4 13
3 Rep of Ire 7 4 1 2 12 / 8 13
4 Slovakia 6 3 0 3 15 / 11 9
5 Wales 5 2 0 3 8 / 9 6
6 Cyprus 6 1 1 4 9 / 16 4
7 San Marino 5 0 0 5 1 / 30 0
Czech run-in
02.06.2007 v Wales (A)
08.09.2007 v San Marino (A)
12.09.2007 v Republic of Ireland (H)
17.10.2007 v Germany (A)
17.11.2007 v Slovakia (H)
Allowing for a draw against us and defeat to Germany, you could see them winning the rest so that brings them to 23 with a final game -
21.11.2007 v Cyprus (A)
- where they may only need a point depending on the score in the game against Ireland...?
Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
yeah quite possibly but i was just explaining that the goal difference won't come into it, as its results against each other.
the point is really that even if we go and beat the slovaks away and only draw 0-0 with the czechs it means we have to finish with more points than them. we need to at least draw 1-1 or beat them. regardless of other results.
and yes you are right we probably need 6 points from those 2 games. also need to beat wales and cyprus and a draw with the germans should qualify us. not probable i know but, as the man says, while its still possible!
ironic as it is but the 1-1 draw that saved stan may end up to be the one that knocks us out if we draw 0-0 to the czechs!!
There's always hope but its a big ask in fairness and as good as last night was we need to push on from it and not revert like we did after the Czechs. I think there's still some potentially strange results in this group so you never know. Still we've got the harder away games to come and going on our away form so far you've got to be realistic.
But...we've now got 6 months to build on this and introduce some alternative players to the squad in the friendlies ahead, we need to look at another CB, LB, CM and RW but it needs to be done right around a core of players that are established so its not just a mish mash of newbies with no direction. If we don't qualify but show some progression by November then I think Stan will have warranted another two years.
My predictions!!
Wales v czech * 1-1
san marino v czech * 0-10
czech v Ireland * 1-1
germany v czech * 3-1
czech v slovakia * 2-1
cyprus v czech * 0-3
SLOVAKIA v ireland * 1-2
CZECH REPUBLIC v ireland * 1-1
ireland v GERMANY * 1-1
ireland v CYPRUS * 4-0
WALES v irleand * 0-2
Germany to win group
Czech 23
Ireland 23
Then it would be us to go through as we did better against
Germany, a bit optomistic but what the hell!!!
The only optimistic bit there is Wales to hold czech the rest is possible if not probable
We don't do away wins against half decent sides (Scotland 1987 being the last one) so in a nutshell, no chance unless the history books are rewritten by Stan :D
The only away win against a decent side in condex prediction is slovakia away and I'd have to say afteer last night I'd fancy that if we get at them and dont sit back
If Toshack thinks there still in it, you never know...Quote:
Originally Posted by Block G Raptor
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_...045167,00.html
If we don't beat Germany I'll be very suprised if we qualify. I'd fancy us to beat Germany than to win any of the remaining away games.
surely wales should be a probability and we have at least a chance against slovakia.Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
the way wales's support is at the moment cardiff would be almost like a home game or at least a neutral game if we have anything to play for.
Definitely a chance in those games if we build on this. Thats the trick though, not falling back into what we've seen before. The really crucial game becomes Czech away, snatch a score draw there and there's real hope. Its still wishful thinking at this point though.Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
Im with you youngirish. We have had all our easier games at home already and the remainder of the campaign looks really tough on paper. I dont expect us to get any more than one point in the slovakia/czech double header and I think Germany will expose our lack of midfield strength and beat us.Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
I cant be confident about picking up many more points ... not even in Cardiff
3rd is the best we can get, which will help our seeding for future tournaments butof course we are Irish, so im sure we will have a go.
according to the brains at paddy power we are 9/2 to qualify, so there is a chance. less optimistically, we are 1/8 not to qualify. neither represent any where near good value, would anyone back either? by the way i won a nice few bob last night on the 1-0:)
It's a good point about the support. I was thinking more about the fact that they'll have Gabbidon, Delaney, Koumas and Earnshaw back. If Giggs, Bellamy, Davies, Bale are on form they've a decent team. I just dread our away matches.Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
just prior to our game against holland in lansdowne in 2001 we were 5/1 to qualify for the world cup ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
We were 9/2 to qualify for the last WC. All very similar so the bookies don't think we're out of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
yeah but we will be boosted by s.reid, a.reid, j.o'brien, (fit) k.doyle and hopefully will still have a mathamatical chance to qualify while they are going through the motions and by that stage giggs will probably be withdrawing from squads and bellamy will have fallen out with the boss :D :DQuote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
i wouldnt share that view. they dont get great crowds/atmosphere in czech/slovakia so with a good away contingent i think we can create a good atmosphere for the lads, allied to the fact we've shown we can match them both leads me to think we will get four points from the september trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by KopKiller
eirebhoy, what is your opinion / knowledge of celtic's irish forward cillian sheridan. he is big and looks like with bulking up could be strong. an option for an international target man or not up to it??
Seems to have just shot onto the scene. I've only seen 10 minutes of him so I know as much as you. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
not the indept knowledge i expected of you ;) :DQuote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
Brilliant! We havent had a lanky streak of p1ss since Quinn retired.
Hmmm...im suspicious of expecting too much of players that play in the scotish league, its a second rate division these days and players often look like world beaters there and then go south or get in the national team and are nothing more than average, they need to be playing in the premiership.
It's still in our hands technically so hears hoping..
Maybe we could do our bit to coax Robbie Savage out of retirement for the Welsh for the Czech and German games!!!
With six months to our next game it gives the younger lads a little more time to develop with their clubs.It happens sometimes after a good preseason young players start the season with a flourish.Central midfield is such a problem area for us so hopefully S.Ireland can start to become more imposing
at Man City.Pity Joey OBrien has missed a season of development at Bolton.,but should be back next season.Owen Garvan maybe?It will be interesting to see how our young strikers develop.Who will make the most progress before our next qualiying game.Long,Stokes or Keogh?What if Ward keeps scoring?I also think Roy O Donavon should be given a chance in our friendlies.No offence to McGeady but I think in his current form ROD would have caused Slovakia a lot more problems.Lets also hope O Dea nails down his place at Celtic.McManus always seems to make costly mistakes.
Any thoughts at the minute on the Eastern games. How we'll approach the games, who should /will play etc etc.
On a broader note - with us heading into the final series of games - how realistic a chance to we really have of making it?
wolfie, id say the belief is still the same, and the approach will still be the same as on 30/03/2007.
You mean the emergence of Lapira hasn't dramatically altered your view since then!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
no its hasn't why has it done so to you wolfie wolf wolf?
I'm not optimistic. I think we have the talent at our disposal to finish above the Czechs and Slovaks, but I think we've blown it. If we had a manager with any vestige of conviction or common-sense, we could have been six points better off by now, and in control of the group. Injuries haven't helped, but Staunton hasn't created a settled or even balanced squad. I'm hopeful that we could pick up a few wins to boost our UEFA co-efficient, but I can't see us taking the requisite 13 points from the remaining five games.
Staunton has picked over 55 different players for his squads in the last 18 months, which is astonishing, even taking injuries into account. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing.
i think stan is getting on track , the performances in croker and in america were positive. we are on one game at a time now , if we lose in bratislava its all over , if we draw then we will need to beat the czechs. Its **** or bust time. If everyone is fit i believe we can get something from both these games and then its bring on ze germans!!
I'm hoping he goes at the Slovaks and plays 4-4-2. Duff is an attacking loss in this regard but I still hope Stan resists the temptation to play it safe and "not lose" as opposed to try to win the game. Our best form of defence is attack. I'm not advocating an all out Kamakaze assault on them but certainly worth having a go.Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMilla
If we invite either the Slovaks or Czechs onto us it could be very very tough.
Both those options look bad to me, which is the good one?Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMilla
I have a feeling that the Czechs will need to travel out to Cyprus and have to get a win to finish ahead of us. Unfortunatly i think they will get it too. Id much prefer if the Czechs had to travel out to Cyprus much sooner as i cant see Cyprus reall worrying about the game considering its the last group game. However the Czechs are in turmoil, if we manage to get a result in Slovakia i really feel we can get one over on the Czechs. The Czechs have looked good in one game, away to Slovakia. They were very poor at home to Wales, Germany and Cyprus. This Czech team is no longer anywhere near the quality they had some 4 years ago. If we lose to Slovakia i can see us totally crumbling though
We have to be positive in both games. None of this "a point is a good result away from home" ********.
4-4-2 with Hunt on the left and a Doyle/Keano partnership is a must IMO. If we somehow beat the Slovaks then confidence should be at a high and I'd imagine the Czech's will start to have some doubts themselves about their ability going into the game. Like Carloz says this Czech side is not the same side that tormented decent sides a few years back, it's an ageing team that still relies on Baros and Koller to dig them out of holes.
4 points is a MUST if you ask me. 6 points and I'll be in dream land!!!
I'm not in the slightest bit confident.
A win in either Slovakia or Czech Republic will not happen. Going by away form over the last five or six years, I think 2 points will be the best we'll achieve.
As for Germany in Croker: It will be a huge match, great atmosphere, the players will be right up for it and start laying into the tackles from the first second but the Germans will find their feet mid way through the first half and close out a comfortable draw.