We have given ourselves a chance after a disaster of a start so fair play but no more. Now if we get 4 points out of our next 2 games we will have done very well indeed.
Printable View
We have given ourselves a chance after a disaster of a start so fair play but no more. Now if we get 4 points out of our next 2 games we will have done very well indeed.
I'm optimistic about the current team because it's a very good set of players. All Stan has to do is pick the right team, keep morale high and very little else at this stage. Our defence is excellent, our attackers aren't bad either and there's still the missing link to come in the 2 Reid's.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Eirebhoy I like a lot of your posts but I think that is overly simplistic. Football is not played on paper and we have see teams like Greece win the European Championships and England fail time and time again. We may have decent players and some very good ones but if we are to do well we need to keep up with a simple game plan and to keep morale and hunger high. It is very important though that our game plan is simple enough for the players to undersand and keep it tight at the back.
Good point on the game plan. International coaches don't have enough time with the players to devote to overly elaborate game plans.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
I think 11 points will do us and we are capable
Slovakia WIN (poor side)
Czechs DRAW (Id say well play for a draw and we can get it as they are bot in good shape)
Cyprus WIN (We are in a different league to them)
Germany DRAW (on a crappy pitch a couple of weeks after tens of thousands of fans trample it at the all Irelands it wont suit them)
Wales WIN (once we are still in with a shout)
Czechs still have to play Cyprus Wales and the Germans away which are three tough trips as well as having us at home and a derby game with Slovakia at home.
They are 3 points ahead at the moment (san marino)
Wales - draw
Ireland - draw
Germany - loss
Slovakia - win
Cyprus - win
All very optimistic but definitely possible with the form their in. It would then mean that it goes down to away goals where at the moment they are in pole position with the 1-1 draw in Lansdowne.
Not unreasonable certainly. We're favourites certainly. However, it's not a foregone conclusion, and to dismiss them as God-awful four months after losing 5-2 to them smacks of an arrogance we have no right to display.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Its true, cyprus a poor side, if we cant beat them at croker...it will be a disgrace, after the defeat in nicosia, our lads will have something to prove, and i feel a comprehsive victory is on the cards...
I certainly don't think we're favourites for the 2nd spot but there's a bit of optimism for the first time in a long time.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
cyprus can draw with or beat the czechs on a good day, and god loves us if that happens.
Yeah I agree. It's absolutely silly for people to think that we are going to hammer a team that beat us 5-2 last time we met them.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
it was a freak match, that 5-2...Paddy Kenny should have saved 3 of the goals. O'Brien had possibly the worst performance ever, and according to a leak from the dressing room, stan gave the two wide men, duff and Mcgeady free roles and allowing them to shun defensive responsibility, hence the vulnerability of an exposed midfield consisting of Kilbane and O'Shea....Schoolboy error on stans part, he didnt give cyprus enough credit
And dont forget in Cyprus Stan was banished from the touchline that could've made all the difference
No matter who was in goal we would have lost that match with Kilbane and Ireland in the centre. It was over before the match began.Quote:
Originally Posted by citizenerased
We should really beat them at home.
january - liverpool 3 arsenal 6Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
march - liverpool 4 arsenal 1
six goal swings can happen:)
Cyprus are garbage which makes it all the more depressing that they could actually have beaten us by more. Paddy Kenny actually made one or two good saves in the game. Abit of organisation against them and we would have had no problems they cant defend to save their lives.
Germany have also failed to beat them and they ran the Czechs close last week. Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if we struggled aainst them. We were hardly world beaters in the Wales or Slovakia matches and certainly didn't look too hot in front of goal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceirtlis
I'd be happy with a 1-0 result in that match.
The team will have to consign that game to a freak result or they'll have a serious hangover to contend with when Cyprus hit Dublin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceirtlis
Secondly, our results leading upto the home Cyprus game will dictate a lot. If we're still in with a shout - there should hopefully be a packed, supportive Croke Park and if the team can play with the same commitment they showed against the Slovaks we should be able to put the Cypriots under pressure.
If we're out - it will be a damp squib, a half full stadium and everyone will be depressingly banging on about coefficients and seedings for the World Cup Group.
ya im sure you knew before that game that ireland were gona get hammered by the might of cyprus. dont tink it was all kilbane and irelands fault either. the team as a whole had no urgency about them - they just didn't seem to care during that gameQuote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
http://foot.ie/showpost.php?p=547729&postcount=84 :pQuote:
Originally Posted by lionelhutz
I didn't think it would be that bad in fairness. Cyprus were basically taking on our defence whenever they got the ball. They could have scored more than 5.
Have you all lost your marbles! Two nervy 1-0 wins against poor teams (who could have easly drawn with us) and suddenly we are world beaters.
Our away record under in the last 15 years is poor and under Stan it has been a nightmare.
We just might play well enough to drak in Slovakia but we will loose to the Czechs, Cyprus a 2-1 win, a draw with Germany because that is what we do, Wales will be a draw because nobody will care.
It is easy to be logical when the games are a long way off. For my sins I will believe before every game that Ireland will win and because of this I will be in Slovakia in September
Can you blame us? Slovakia are the best team we've beaten in 6 bloody years. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Ordinary Fan
Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
Not true, you beat us the week before. Such short memories. :p
And let's not forget Sweden at the beginning of Steve Staunton's reign, who would have predicted the results following that?
They're the highest ranked team we've beaten in a competitive game since Holland in 2001. Man that's depressing.
Sorry yeah, forgot to mention the competitive bit. We were one of the best teams in the world under Kerr, in friendlies. ;)
Key thing is, are we traditionally strong in September and will San Marino be an even bigger handful as the group wears on?
Its not inconcievably that we could beat Slovakia in Bratislava, in fact I still think there's enough in the team that we could beat anyone 1-0. However, it is unlikely that we could pull off two wins out of the three big games left. Key one is Czechs away... this may be presumptuous but if we don't score in that game they'll have us on the head to head, no matter what happens, which could be interesting as the group bears on.
As for the empty last day... its hardly Stan's fault, his team doesn't have its own Stadium, I imagine his bargaining power was fairly low. The organising of the last two games paid off for example. It would be sickening to be denied with no hand in the last day, but just like the rugby, by that stage you've already made your bed over a long long time.
However these guys really need to break their pattern of performance level (**** in the first game, get a bollocking from everyone and their Mother, better in the second) and put it up to the Slovakians, win and take it Prague. Drive Rosicky et al back to the brassers!
id say gemany and czech republic will qualify even though id have my doubts about the czechs
The Czechs really are quite dodgy at the moment. I'd say even we've got a chance of a result against them in 2 months' time if we play the way we can.
After those last two results, Ireland now have a great chance of pipping them to second, but I think you'll need to play a lot better than you have been.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cymro
exactly. We have to get this notion that the czechs are still a quality team out of our head. Their time has passed and tey are now in recession. The only game in this campaign in which they looked decent was away in Slovakia. The Czechs are there for the taking in this group
To be fair, saying a team is dodgy is not another way of saying Ireland can put them away. San Marino were more than dodgy but we took all the time we had to put them away!
My point exactly. This group looked strong on paper but all the teams are underachieving apart from San Marino who have no chance, Germany who will walk it and Cyprus, who are just plain unpredictable.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeNiro
So it's there for anyone really.
I still think that some teams will cause problems for the Czechs.
Wales could surprise them at home and the Slovaks too.
This group is wide open. Very few, if any, teams go through qualification campaigns without dropping points. Anyone from Germany down to Slovakia could qualify. I don't think Wales are in the shout anymore, but they'll cause problems for sure. They always get one great result in qualifications!
Mathematically we're still in with a very realistic shout. If our performances hadn't been so s*** of late I might actually still be optimistic, but the manner of the defeat in Dublin pretty much brought it home how poor we are right now.
The mighty Freddy Eastwood is joining our cause though so watch out! :D
Ireland will take four points back across the iron curtain, Wales will scalp Czech Republic at home and we can take second place. Probable? no, possible? very much so.
ireland will qualify. Some people on here are never happy. Good, bad or indifferent and there are quite a few opinions about the level of the recent performances, but the bottom line is we beat 2 of the relatively strong group teams at home - 6 points and no goals conceded. Wales and slovakia are not bad international teams. Roll on september, couple of good results in slovakia and czech rep. and will give us a shout for the german game at home.Throw 70 thousand real fans in the stadium, Let them hang flags in Croker, and we're on the way.....
Wouldn't be too sure about the first of those fellaQuote:
Originally Posted by billybunter
With all your players available, which I know is an ask in itself, Wales can beat anybody in this group. Koumas, Gabbidon and Earnshaw were probably the difference between losing in Dublin and winning there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cymro
Eastwood is a handy player. He'll be gone from Southend this summer too ...quite possibly to the premiership.
Hit the nail on the head there. Look at our big results in recent years-beating Italy and Germany at home, start of Euro 2004 campaign etc. We didn't have injuries or suspensions then. Strength in depth is a real key issue. Part of the reason why we are looking to use the granny rule! Anyone here know of some decent Irish players with Welsh roots perchance? I heard David Forde was eligible for us, but has declared for the ROI......Quote:
Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie
As for Eastwood, wherever he goes I hope it is for first team football. I think a team like Fulham or Wigan would be good. He should at least get games there as they're both rubbish.
Not true, but it's a common mistake, he only qualifies for the RepublicQuote:
Originally Posted by Cymro
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Forde -
Quote:
Contrary to popular belief, Forde is not a former Welsh under-21 international. Forde stated, "I'm not sure where that came from, but it's wrong," and continued: "That story started a long time ago when I played for Barry Town and seems to have stuck. I even read that I have a Welsh grandmother, but that's not right. Don't get me wrong because I love it here in Wales, but I am only qualified to play for the Republic of Ireland."
That's strange, because I definitely remember reading he had played under-21s for us. Reliable source too, at least I find it to be most of the time, but it was obviously off the mark on this.
He is making his first start today for Cardiff as Neil Alexander threw a wobbly over his new contract, so he might have a regular starting place there in future. So to be honest we could have done with someone like him!