Now that would be luck. Trap?
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Now that would be luck. Trap?
I actually don't feel too bad about the prospect of a play-off. The teams we are potentially facing are no where near as intimidating as the last time (Swe, Turk, Nor, Cze etc rather than Port, Fra, Rus). As usual FIFA doing everything they can to hand the stronger nations the advantage by allowing them to play the home leg second - we all know this is perceived as an advantage in a two-legged affair - but with our current game this could suit us. Say we sneak a wee 1-0 in Dublin, which in fairness we are capable of despite our recent drought in front of goal, then I'd fancy us to hold whoever to a draw away from home. As previously pointed out, drawing away regularly now to superior outfits like Russia, France and Italy shows its no fluke.
Would be still damn nice to go in the front door though. The 1-1 missed opportunity in Slovakia and Robbies fluffed header in Dublin on Friday will terrorise me til we're safely on the place to eastern Europe next summer.
This is it exactly, if we had beaten them either or both times, how different it all might have looked now. We could be closing out the group as champions elect, and what a crime against football that would be, but those are the margins. It would have been hillarious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bottle of Tonic
the table never lies. not the funniest thing i've ever heard to be honestQuote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I dont know, I think we are a half decent midfield pairing away from becoming Greece of a few years back and look what they did. The thought of it brings a beam to my face anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
What is the funniest thing you have ever heard then, if I may ask?
the appointment of stan in 2006 and the fact id been tipped off 4 months earlier and didnt put money on it at about 20 to 1!Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
I remember dismissing early indications this was about to happen as well. Surely no fool in a position to make these decisions would entertain such madness, or so I told myself.
Jaysus. That hurt!Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
I may be over simplifying matters here but in all these games the thing i shout out the most is "Show for the fupping ball"!
To work in traps system the midfielders need to show for the ball from the back 4 and distribute it out wide to duff/mcgeady. That's what they don't do. When we play well, that's what they do.
We are cursed with our fullbacks aswell besides Josh. Ward is no better than Kilbane. Many people warned of this but there was the usual Dunphy shouting "He's playing in the PL, blah blah". He's where he is cos Mick has a hard on for him. He's doin okay this season in fairness, but he was lucky to be getting his game last year. I think wolfy would agree.
Kelly is not a good player and should not be selected. Foley so far has shown to be nervous in irish games although he is consistently a good player for Wolves.
Final point - i don't think Andrews is our man anymore. We need to elevate someone to be Whelans partner. Maybe McCarthy, maybe foley i'm not sure.
Russia Squad Clubs:Quote:
Many people warned of this but there was the usual Dunphy shouting "He's playing in the PL, blah blah".
Arsenal, Tottenham, Saint Petersburg, CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow
Slovakia Squad Clubs:
Liverpool, Lokomotiv Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Trabzonspor, Fenerbahçe, Napoli, Slovan Bratislava
Ireland Squad Clubs: :disdain:
Millwall, Sunderland, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Portsmouth, Burnley, LA Galaxy
They're playing European football every year at top clubs across Europe. For most of ours, the only European opposition they face is with Ireland. There's a considerable difference in player quality, yet we're expected to beat them every time, and if they don't, they get booed off the pitch, and lambasted in the press. I don't think that's fair.
What about the respective club sides for Armenia? They don't play for any huge clubs so how dare they think they can go to Slovakia and hammer the **ite out of em in their backyard. If it was just who you played for then England would be getting to world cup finals every four years.
There aren't many Irish fans who expect the team to go to Russia and beat them but I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands who expect footballers who are paid thousands of pounds week to be able to string two passes together. Just getting the basics right would make things so much easier.
Armenia are the "Israel 2005" of the group. They are however 5th seeds. Awkward, semi-decent, but not going to qualify. The group is still imo a 3-horse race.
Disagree. To write off Armenia at this stage of the campaign is scandalous. Top scorers in the group by miles. They have taken 7 points from the 12 available against Russia and Slovakia, compared to our 3. They showed us on two occasions how to unlock the Slovakian defence, something we failed to do. They gave us a really tough game in Yerevan, that we just about shaded. I think we SHOULD have enough to see them off, but as things stand, they pose a much greater threat to our potential play off spot than Slovakia do.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Also it should be noted, Israel finished above us in WC 2006 qualification.
It's maddening to read that, nearly embarrasing.Quote:
Originally Posted by French Toasht
That technically isn't true. They showed us how to put the ball in the net! In Zilina we unlocked their defence 3 times, we just failed to take those chances. The same in Dublin.Quote:
They showed us on two occasions how to unlock the Slovakian defence, something we failed to do.
that's a fair observation alright.Quote:
They gave us a really tough game in Yerevan, that we just about shaded. I think we SHOULD have enough to see them off, but as things stand, they pose a much greater threat to our potential play off spot than Slovakia do.
Mkhitaryan has been the best player on any team in our group so far. Was brilliant again last night. Anyone who thinks we are going to have it easy against Armenia are not basing it on anything to do with football. The fact they have not qualified for anything means nothing. We will have to be at our very best to beat Armenia.
It should be noted that they were top going into the last night of those qualifiers. But they weren't playing on the last night, and they were largely forgotten in the three-way scrap for qualification we had with the French and Swiss. Like us, they failed to qualify.Quote:
Originally Posted by French Toasht
They've done very well in the past week, but they've lost in Russia, which we didn't, and drawn in Skopje, which we didn't. We beat them in Yerevan, and we should beat them here. They've done well in the campaign alright as others have dropped points, but I can't see them qualifying.
Irrelevant. They finshed ahead of us over 10 games, thems the facts. And of course it was a four hourse race, sure every game between Ireland, France, Switzerland and Israel ended in a draw, bar our defeat to France. How can you say they were not involved in our "three way scrap."Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
They took the same amount of points off Russia that we did and beat Slovakia twice, which we failed to do. And they score goals for fun, which is not something that can be said about us. Come on, credit where credit is due, they are right up there with us on merit. I ultimately agree that I think we will shade it, but they will ensure that last game will be a nail biter to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Israel never really looked like qualifying and didn't.Quote:
And of course it was a four hourse race, sure every game between Ireland, France, Switzerland and Israel ended in a draw, bar our defeat to France. How can you say they were not involved in our "three way scrap."
We were the group's top scorers until Armenia played Andorra a few days ago. Nobody, not even themselves thought they'd win 4-0 last night. It happened when Slovakia lost the plot altogether, putting on more forwards chasing the game, leaving yawning gaps at the back. I can't see us doing that, you know what Trap is like.Quote:
they score goals for fun, which is not something that can be said about us.
What there is in common between the groups now and then, is that they are very tight, allowing a lower seed to come up and attempt to challenge for a while. Ultimately, the bigger nations get the job done.
There was a higher force at work on Tuesday night...look at some of the results:Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Estonia 4-1 Niron
Luxembourg 2- 1 Albania (!!!)
But didn't you say earlier they were top of the group going into the final round of fixtures? That sounds a lot to me like they did look like qualifying.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost