No idea, they did clear off soon after I arrived back on the Saturday so you might be on to something. I was hoping to go clubbing with Marco Arnautovic but he disappeared quicker than Keyser Soze.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
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No idea, they did clear off soon after I arrived back on the Saturday so you might be on to something. I was hoping to go clubbing with Marco Arnautovic but he disappeared quicker than Keyser Soze.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Bale out 'til spring.
"He will be operated on in London and is at risk of missing Wales' 2018 World Cup qualifier against Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 24 March"
I'm gutted for the lad.
Had a good chat to a lad last night at our Christmas party(yes :rolleyes:) who's heading over to the game. He said Bale is obviously massive, but its actually Ramsey that holds it all together and without him they look very poor. They dont hold possession well or play a good passing game. He said he'd be more worried with Ramsey missing than bale missing.
Yes I get that Welsh logic all right, it makes total sense:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Bad that Bale is out, but god help us all it could have been worse if it was Ramsey instead, so us welsh folk should feel better that it wasn't Ramsey.
That's about it isn't it?
Paul if you weren't such a nutcase yourself you might have recognised a welsh nutcase at 10 paces and avoided being collared for most of the party. Were there no ladies there?
Anyway, 4 months is plenty of time for Ramsey to do in his acl or something.
Yeah that's mind-boggling to say the least. I wonder is it based solely on the Welsh semi final performance against Portugal (with Ramsey suspended) where they fell short of some their previous levels at the tournament. Well they were poor against England and Northern Ireland in that tournament as well with Ramsey present. They wouldn't have even threatened to qualify for that tournament without Bale whereas I think they would have coped without Ramsey comfortably enough. Having seen most of their qualifiers I thought quite a number of their players performed to a higher level than Ramsey, but he did up it several notches in France to be fair to him.
50-50.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Ramsey has games where he is unbelieveable, and games where he is unbelievably bad. Bale is often very quiet, but usually produces at least one moment of quality in a game. Ramsey has games where he looks really, really poor. It's more a lottery as to what you're going to get. For every four games you get three brilliant performances and a stinker.
There is something to that view though. A couple of campaigns ago, we beat Scotland 2-1 at Hampden Park with Bale missing. It was if anything our best performance of that campaign, and Ramsey was instrumental in our passing, as well as bringing down their striker in the closing moments with a rugby tackle that would have made George North proud, earning himself a red card for his troubles.
For me, Joe Allen's absence against Georgia has probably been the biggest loss. I'm confident that had he been available, and particularly if Ramsey had also been fit, we'd have won that game. Allen is the most consistent player in the squad. Ashley Williams and Hennessey are also critical players.
If Bale doesn't make it, we would probably still have a chance, but if we suffered any more injuries to any of those named players, I wouldn't fancy it much.
Obviously Coleman is overly focused on the availability of Bale and his importance for the wcq v Ireland. According to news in this thread, Coleman should chill out as apparently Bale's not all that vital to Wales' chances of pulling off a shock result. If Bale doesn't manage to recover in times, Wales will hardly notice his absence from the line up. This best player in the world tag must be just a bit of agent hype as it appears he's way down the line of importance in the Wales team :rolleyes:
I'll go with a couple of informed supporters anyday, in this case a couple of welsh ones.
But do they actually go to away games?Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Yes indeed, but are they the opinions of 'informed' fans?Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
I look to the positives in that article, the headline is Zidane is cautious about Bale, no timeframe for his return and the recovery is taking a little longer.Quote:
Bale might be back for the 2nd Leg of Real Madrid's Champions League tie with Napoli on the 7th March (two and a half weeks before the Ireland - Wales match). - ESPN
One can detect an blatant use of the understatement when he uses the determiner 'little'.
I don't think it's been mentioned but a Serbia XI exclusively made up of domestic players played out a 0-0 draw in the USA last week
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017...nt-goals-video
I didn't know Bruce Arena was back with the U.S. either. Good for him.
Keep praying for a setback. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/...to-be-fit-for/
Chris Coleman talking us through the various formations used by Wales in their Euro 2016 qualification campaign.
http://www.welshfootballtrust.org.uk/news/WFT103837.ink
Confirmed two match ban (pending a possible appeal) so he will be available for Real's trip to Bilbao the weekend before the Ireland match.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39157373
Disgraceful. He should be banned for months from all football.
The Georgia-Serbia game kicks off at 5PM tonight, so a few hours before our fixture. Might be worth keeping an eye on.
Georgia 1-0 up after six minutes.
live text of the game here: http://www.uefa.com/worldcup/season=...&match=2017794
Should be 2-0 up. 1 on 1 with the keeper with a free man in the 6 yard box, literally two 5 yard passes to score.
I cannot believe that, square ball and a tap in. FFS
Georgia tbf look good going forward. Serbia very dodgy at the back.
Inevitable penalty on the stroke of halftime to Serbia
Serbia win 3-1. Disappointing result considering Georgia really should have been 2-0 ahead before giving away an utterly stupid penalty to gift Serbia an equaliser just before half-time.
Healthy pressure on us now to not settle for anything other than a win.
Austria 0 Moldova 0 at half time.
1-0 Austria
Marko Arnautović picked up a yellow card last night in Austria's 2-0 win over Moldova, so it means he'll miss the game against us in June through suspension as it's his second yellow of the campaign: http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35564624.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan McDonnell
If y'all had a gun to your head what would you say the % is of Ireland qualifying? 50-50? Better? Worse?
Joe Allen was a bit of alright for Wales, I liked their Joe.
I didn't even notice Ramsay missing in that game because Joe stood up and had the moral courage. I liked their Joe. They'll hardly notice Bale's absence in their next game because they got Joe,
Overall Serbia did very well once they took control of that game v Georgia, but in getting there they had to depend on that cxnt Kostic drawing another penalty.
Lol. Ramsey did look like he wasn't playing on FridayQuote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Looking at the "How many pts do Ireland likely need" articles today....18 pts was enough for second for all nine groups last time. If I said right now that you could go 2 wins and 3 draws would you take it and take your chances? Or are your hearts set on 3 wins 2 draws?
The choice between 20 or 22 points? Unbeaten in the campaign. I'd take either.
538 has us with a 56% chance of qualifying, but it really depends on who we draw in the play-off, should we be lucky enough to hold on for second place. Can't see anyone but Serbia winning the group at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by KrisLetang
I think Austria and Serbia at home is huge. Win both those and well top the group I reckon.
Four wins and a draw (in Wales which makes them cry like girls) and absolutely balls out beast it home from here on a wave of never before seen confidence and momentum levels.Quote:
Originally Posted by KrisLetang
I predict the following results;
Austria (h) 3 pts
Georgia (a) 3 pts
Serbia (h) 1 pt
Moldova (h) 3 pts
Going into last game away to Wales with 21 pts.
Serbia's run in;
Wales (h) 3 pts
Moldova (h) 3 pts
Rep of Ire (a) 1 pt
Austria (a) 1 pt
Going into last game at home to Georgia with 19 pts.
If we draw with Wales and Serb's win, then we both end on 22 pts. In this scenario, I reckon they will pip us on goal difference!