No 'ifs' and 'buts' about it - relegation should be a sackable offence.
No 'ifs' and 'buts' about it - relegation should be a sackable offence.
Thank god someone said it. F*ck me this is depressingQuote:
Originally Posted by lofty9
It's only a small thing and maybe Kenny will be fully vidicated, but I thought dropping Manning and Ebosele in favour of going back to Robbie Brady, looked like a retrograde move, especially when you consider that McClean turns 34 before the end of the season and Stevens (32) is becoming increasingly injury-prone.Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Manning (26) has been playing regularly and well at wingback this season, winning praise from his manager for his performances. Unlike you, I don't see him as a natural centre-half, but you would have thought his versatility and technical ability would have counted in his favour. Apparently not.
As another poster suggested, the retirements/career decline of a number of players from the O'Neill/McCarthy eras has meant that the average age of the squad has dropped almost by default. New players have had to be brought in to plug the holes. Kelleher's 24 next month, Travers, O'Shea, and Molumby are 23, so not exactly kids now. The more youthful profile of the team that played Scotland seemed to work and I hope we continue along that path.
This isn't a particular criticism of Kenny, who's been better than some of his predecessors, but sometimes I wish we were a bit braver and more proactive in identifying talent early and backing players. For example, Wales, following a long-term strategy, recently called up 17-year-old Luke Harris of Fulham after just 45 minutes of first-team football. Why? Because they've been able to recognise his ability early on and have had the courage of their convictions.
By contrast, it's been clear for several years that Nathan Collins is an outstanding talent and yet he only made his competitive debut in the last round of fixtures shortly before sealing a £20+ million move. Could he have been given his chance a bit earlier?
I think we could have been a little bit braver. Given how poor we've been over the last number of years I don't think we'd be risking a lot.
There was a time many years ago when it was said about the English Rugby Squad ( back a few eras ) that it was harder to get out of the squad that in to it ~ ~ It seems at times this could be said of Irish teams / squads down trough the years ~ ~ The treatment of Seamus Coleman by Trappatoni was bordering on the bizarre ~ ~ The treatment of Matt Doherty by Martin O’Neill was along the same lines.
Just looking at the Nations League tables "as they stand" tonight, I would be a lot less confident of securing a play off place for the Euro's if we don't qualify directly, than I was up to now.
If you look at the B path, it looks like the four group winners will be Scotland, Isreal, Bosnia, Norway... hardly locks to qualify directly.. maybe one of the 4 might, so that would close off getting into the B path play off
Currently we're in third place, so if we don't improve on that, one of Ukraine, Iceland, Montenegro or Serbia, would displace a direct qualifying team from the top four, if they didn't qualify, and you couldn't see the four of them being likely to go up either
Plus, if we remain in 3rd, those four would be ahead of us in going up to the A path play off, should less than 4 of the A group teams make it..
So I think to have any chance of the "play off" safety net.. we're going to have to win the two games this week... or qualify directly
The other "as it stands" seedings look like this
Pot 1.
Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany
Pot 2
Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, England, Poland, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Bosnia, Isreal,
Pot 3
Ukraine, Ireland, Iceland, Albania, Armenia, Montenegro, Finland, Romania, Sweden, Serbia,
Pot 4
Slovenia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Greece, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Azerbijan, Georgia, Macedonia, Bulgaria
So you could be looking at a right potential disastrous group there
Beguim, England, Georgia... arrgghhhh
Or, Denmark, Isreal, Kosovo
The maths of it is probably better than you realise. Basically - if we come third we?re ranked somewhere between 25th to 28th. 20 teams will qualify automatically. How many of those teams 20 teams will be in the top 28 as opposed to the bottom 25 - about 18 or 19 or 20. So as a result, the 8 playoff spots will go to the lads who didn?t qualify. If all qualifiers are from the top 28, then all unqualified 3rd place teams will enter a playoff. If one team outside that group gets in, 3 of 4 will qualify. Last time I think Turkey were the only qualifier outside that group for example. So in that context, as long as you weren?t the worst 3rd placed side, you?d make the playoff
Germany are also ahead of us, so that probably pushes us up one more spot?
I know if you read the list of names, you think, not a lot of definite qualifiers there but if the League A lads all qualify then you only need a handful of the others to qualify
I?d take:
Hungary
Israel
Ireland
Luxembourg
Someone in our pot is going to get a heavyweight first seed plus England in their group and it's going to be over for them before it starts. We just have to hope that team isn't us.
We're nowhere near the top 16 teams in Europe so if we don't qualify for Euro 2024 that's probably that for us in terms of major finals until 2028 at the earliest.
France, Poland or Portugal could be in Pot 2 as well, so it's not just a 1-in-10 change of drawing England we have to worry about. Though we could get Hungary as a first seed - they've been in great form lately, but you'd still figure we'd have much more of a chance against them than against any of the other top seeds.
The Scots are very confident ahead of today's game anyway - they seem convinced they're going to get a performance after what happened in Dublin, maybe they're right but hopefully not.
Some talk of maybe being able to rest the likes of Tierney and one or two more for this one to keep them fresh for the more difficult Ukraine game.
If football was won based on blind optimism Scotland would be promoted in June.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
I wouldn?t want Poland but I wouldn?t exactly place them in the same category as Portugal or England (I don?t think France will get relegated).Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Yeah, probably right on that in fairness.
I expect to be none the wiser about Kenny's abilities or the level of talent in the team after these two games. That's part of the entertainment factor with this past few years under Kenny though... no idea what we'll get... but all the time young players are getting a chance and building experience (and being forgiven mistakes and medicore moments).. and the overall play still feels like an improvement on some of the turgid dependability of previous generations of the Irish team. Can't make head nor tail of it though. Looking forward to both matches.
SK seems a little off going by that interview just now. Teetchy. Hmm. Not sure what to expect tonight.
Already a fair bit more direct than usual, which is interesting.
Scotland more composed than us early doors
At least he got that in the net, eventually.
What a finish from Egan!
Hello!
Slightly against the run of play, but a great finish from Egan.
(Quiet on here tonight)