I guess it would get you out of wearing that kit. That would be something*Quote:
Originally Posted by Gather round
* Ours could be every bit as bad
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I guess it would get you out of wearing that kit. That would be something*Quote:
Originally Posted by Gather round
* Ours could be every bit as bad
Would a Gibson inclusion be compatible with a no-moaners policy, ha?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Martin O'Neill ≠ Michael O'LearyQuote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
I came across this on a mixed ethnic (Irish Scottish) discussion board.
http://i68.tinypic.com/347ck7p.jpg
Never mind that. The real issue here is that there are football anoraks on foot.ie who don't care about the glorious and rare B-International. The novelty of them!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Shocking.
I'm surprised nobody has asked the obvious question - who do we want to sing the team's song?
I think that question answers itself #whatdoyoumeanQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
https://twitter.com/justinbieber/sta...32330464489472
Doesn't some media org like Today FM or RTE get knee deep in the squad song? I can see it now.... "Rockabilly Republic" with Imelda May! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Rocky Road To Poland was mentioned on balls.ie the other day. I'd forgotten that the Ray D'arcy Show was involved with it, but it got me thinking. The Ray D'arcy Show was on Today FM, which is part of independent media, owned by Dennis O'Brien, who was paying Trapattoni's wages (or at least part of them) and is doing the same for O'Neill and Keane at the moment. Maybe it's not so surprising.
For the record, I'd love to see the FAI approach The Rubberbandits, or failing that, Noel Gallagher said before he'd write a football song for the FAI
Noel Gallagher is always a good back up plan if you can't get the Rubberbandits.
Look no further...
http://www.caricatures.ie/wp-content...ly-331x400.jpg
It's that damn Wee Daniel... He's so hot right now
Before the match the other night I reminded myself that if it all went tits up at least we wouldn't have to put up with the songs. It got right vulgar last time round. A glorified dick-measuring competition between two commercial radio stations -and that was just the Rocky Road to Poland V the Jedward one. Then there was the avalanche of have-a-go part-timers who reckoned they'd a Joxer in them ...all in aid of charity of course. People aren't going to buy these dirges unless morally arm-wrenched by the dubious philanthropy of the event led charity single.
"It was the least I could do", said yer man from The Coronas of his involvment in the last one ...during his sit-down interview ...on the late late show. How often do musicians (who aren't Sinead O'Connor) get sit down interviews on the late late? That's normally reserved for former soap actors who tried to move on to other things but are now on to plug their appearance in an up-coming panto.
If Ireland didn't qualify would you guys be rooting for Northern Ireland, be ambivalent, or be rooting against them? Someone asked me that yesterday and I said I had no idea.
I think I'd probably adopt WalesQuote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
Could be the new Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
http://thepetertaylorstory.co.uk/wp-...010/04/pic.jpg
There are definitely some on here that would be rooting against them. Personally I have massive respect for what they're achieving and would wish them well. The fact that I know many (the majority?) of them despise us probably does linger in the back of my mind, but I try not to dwell on that. It's easy for me though because I'm a long way from the border. It's great that we're both in attendance at a major tournament for the first time ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
Good man DL, returned with thanks.
Plenty of us near and inside the border are just as relaxed as you are.
I'm married to a Nordie so if we didn't qualify I'd have been rooting for em. However I'd draw the line at the little one being kitted out in a Norn Iron top!!!
[QUOTE=DeLorean;1849734] I know many (the majority?) of them despise us probably does linger in the back of my mind, but I try not to dwell on that./QUOTE]
Thanks for responding a bit chaps, I realize questions like that are annoying, I was curious too though. Delorean, sorry if this is a dumb follow up, but when you say them, do you mean the players on NI or the populace at large?
I meant the NI football supporters.
I'd echo DeLoreans sentiments. I'm from Mayo and ignorantly just think of the North as another part of Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
I'm not saying that there wasn't a difference between Chris Brunt swinging in a free kick today than there would have been had it been James McClean, but I felt better that it was Brunt and not Gardner or AN Other. That being said, I'm mature enough to realise that none of it really matters. But a small bit small bit of tribalism helped us be competitive and get out of the primordial soup. A small bit.
I love the Irish Team, I love it when we are doing well and I hate it when we are doing bad/worse. And there are fine lines between them.
I celebrated like everyone, and I ain't no party pooper but I've just read this from the Irish News and it's the first time in any media all week(although I haven't read them all) that I've seen something I concretely agree with
Twice during the Lansdowne Road game, Bosnians players hoofed the ball from the touchline, behind themselves to the edge of their own box. They kicked the ball out of play unintentionally at least six times. At one point Pjanic rolled the ball to Glenn Whelan and threw his hands in the air in frustration. They were terrible. Whatever amount of possession they had, universally measured as two thirds, it was aimless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish News
I can't say they were worse than the Estonians, only because time dilutes stuff, but they were bad. After the first leg I commented how they looked afraid to qualify and the second leg further compounded my theory.Despite all this, it's hard to argue that the spirit of this Irish team is totally different to the one four years ago.
The difference in player standard is negligible but team spirit and camaraderie can carry you a lot further than one or two players playing in the champions league. To borrow a phrase, it's all about men-tal-it-eee
Edit: I'd love to read a Keith Andrews article on Ireland qualification. I always found him entertaining/forthwith.
Yep, Andrews is great. Very smart guy. Steven Reid too, and Hunt is way better than I'd ever have expected.
The worst of Bosnia & H was seen after we went 2 up, it's disingenuous to highlight that as evidence of overall poor quality, the tie was lost from their perspective at that stage. It's not much different to highlight Keith Andrews freaking out against Italy or David Connolly freaking out against Belgium as evidence of how crap Ireland were. The discipline of some of their players was atrocious and had an obvious effect, but had they been half way functional we would have struggled. Pjanic was the player who lost it after going 2 goals down but I'd have him in the Irish team in a heartbeat, We were a superior team and they had no effective strategy to deal with out intense game, but I wouldn't be sticking my nose in the air about how poor the Bosnia & Hertz performance was.Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_denilson
Yet over the two legs they equalled us for shots, on and off target, and their ball retention under pressure was much superior to ours. They had us pinned back for 20 minutes in the 2nd half. Most observers thought our first goal was fortunate (not me) and that was pivotal. They have 6 or 7 players who would walk into our team.
Sometimes people will find fault with the opposition when we beat them. It's been a trick of Messrs G & D for years. However, it's an old adage that teams are only as good as they are allowed to play. I have no doubt that the German team man for man was better than us or that the Bosnians on paper were better than us. But there is more to football than names on a sheet. We met both teams face to face and they blinked. We made them look poor by our tactics, our spirit, our endeavour, our intensity (thanks Geyser) and also our football. We didn't allow them play and that is also part of football: stopping the opposition from playing their game. The Bosnians may have been poor on the night because we made them look poor. Our defensive system was excellent. They couldn't break through it (until the last minute). I believe they wanted to qualify every bit as much as us - their supporters certainly did - but we prevented them from playing and we created our chances. Well done to us. Au revoir Bosnia.
If it happened in a cup tie, e.g. Southend beating Chelsea, would you say that Chelsea were terrible? No, you'd say that Southend showed up, were well organised, restricted the opposition's chances, and took their own when they came, and ultimately deserved the win. And that's what we did to Germany and Bosnia. Man for man they're better sides, but on the day we beat them. Doesn't matter what would have happened if/but/or, it's what did happen.
That's why you play the game as you've always said Tets.
What is the biggest upset in sports history? Is it USA over USSR in hockey at the 80 Olympics?
I think something that is being missed here is that temperament is a footballing quality of it's own. It's all well and good being a great technical players but that gets you so far. If you lose the head when faced with adversity that is as much a negative as more obvious failings like being slow or not having a great 1st touch.
People always raved about United getting late goals under Ferguson but it didn't happen by accident. A guy who threw in the towel like a few of the Bosnians did the other night would have been out the door.
I never saw them give up at any stage in qualifying. The late goals we scored were no accident either. At times in the group they had their excuses if they had wanted them, and if they had got on like the Bosnians last week we wouldn't have even been in a playoff.
Our lads might not be the technical equal of the Bosnians, but I believe we have better players overall, and I believe they proved that over 2 legs.
A recent one but Japan beating South Africa in the Rugby World Cup must be up there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
Absolutely. What a game that was!Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Good point, it was interesting to listen to Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool conceded a late equaliser to Southampton a few weeks ago. He was talking about their heads dropping and that they still had another seven or eight minutes to get a winner, if they had the right mentality/temperament. Just compare that to United conceding a late equaliser to Watford the other day and Van Gaal's reaction afterwards, talking about how he was delighted they responded in the right way and created two or three chances themselves in the little time they had left, including the winner obviously.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
Go and Compete?
They would laud Southend at the start of the programme, and then well and truly dissected the faults with Chelseas individual players and as a team by th eend of it. You can't do one without the otherQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Like who? Pjanic and Dzeko, yeah. Besic maybe, although obviously not at McCarthy's expense. They have a lot of players who may be more naturally talented than our players but it doesn't follow they'd walk into our team. None of their back five would, Begovic included. Cocalic, no, Medunjanin, no, Lulic is at a big club but no. Don't get me wrong, if they click they probably have a level we don't, but man for man the real difference is the two Roma players.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
I agree. We'll prepare and go and do our best: we'll put 'em under pressure. The game is about being effective. Being aggressive. winning the ball. Getting on with the play. We'll put 'em under pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
I must say I agree with all this. One thing is for sure – it’s not going to be easy for us but it’s not going to be easy for them either.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
We inflict our game on the people.
you gotta give, you gotta give, you gotta give to win.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Ireland are 400-1 to win in Vegas. Might be worth throwing a few brass farthings on that eh? I would buy crackbird for the whole team. Speaking of crackbird, many are deep frying their turkeys today.
The heat will be terrible there though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87