Republic of Ireland V Azerbaijan - Saturday, 4th Sep 2021 - 2022 World Cup Qualifier

Hoping that Luxembourg was Kenny's 'Macedonia '97' moment.

Remember people calling for Mick's head after Skopje; 'he's out of his depth, has to go, only 3 wins in 13 games, etc.'

Then, we went away to an excellent Romanian team, and lost 1-0 - but created chances, played good football, and were very unlucky not to get a point. Roy Keane missed a penalty.

Battered Liechtenstein 5-0 then. Convincing performance, McCarthy got a vote of confidence from the FAI, we ended up in the playoffs, and were very competitive thereafter.

Although I'd settle for a manky 1-0 this evening.

We have to win tonight, no excuses. The team that got that close to beating Portugal simply has to be good enough to beat Azerbaijan.

McClean did nothing to warrant a selection here, so I'm automatically concerned.

Anything less than three points today should result in the immediate dismissal of our manager. No excuses not to win this one.

Nice move there, the way Doherty ghosted onto the end of that cross shows how poor this crowd are at the back. We need someone who can convert those chances though.

Azerbaijan seem awful here.

Very positive start

We look good early on. Glad we’ve stuck with the wing backs, it definitely suits us.

Definitely the kind of game that previous Irish squads would be expected to win by a good few goals. Azerbaijan have holes everywhere when we come forward. But we just don't have the quality up front. Coleman had a go from inside the box there and didn't even hit the target.

Azerbaijan looking the better of the two sides to me so far.

McClean continues to look like one of those minor celebrities on SoccerAid, who thinks he coulda been a football player if his soap opera career hadn't taken off first - All endeavour and head down marauding but couldn't trap a bag of sand and limited in the extreme.
At least hair-band jeffrey isn't playing so that's a positive. Coleman & Doherty still look our best players, and Idah looks threatening.
Has Parrot touched the ball yet?

Azerbaijan unlucky not to be one up there.

We've let them into it now, and they look more dangerous in the final third. You can see the confidence levels swapping sides before your eyes the longer the first half goes.

We just can't seem to create any space for crosses. Time to switch things up and pump a few long balls into their box.

McClean's a liability out there. He's not pushing up with attacks, he's not making himself available for overlaps when the ball is tight to the sideline. Not that the rest of the midfield is covering itself in glory either, but he's offering very little on the left.

Feels like if Idah or Connolly could nick a goal they could really damage these lads. Great link up there showed some of the potential best of both of them. We’re back in control after a shaky spell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Olé Olé

Dan McDonnell has a probable line up in the Indo which is surely based on decent info but there are a few changes I didn't expect.

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Cullen Hourihane Manning
Horgan Idah Robinson

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Olé Olé

This would be my team but I'd nearly rather Idah, McGrath and Robinson as my front 3, as opposed to Connolly ahead of Robinson or Idah.

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We are a bit slow connolly growing in the match

We should go get them attitude with grass footie

McClean really does look finished as a footballer. He’s definitely a liability for us on the left.

Big difference between even the 4/5th and 6th seeds, Azerbaijan and Andorra. Troy's finding that out

There's a very realistic chance we could end up with zero points at the end of the entire qualification campaign if we continue with Stephen Kenny. This is atrocious. Why are we giving them so much respect? They are awful, but we are even worse.

Connolly is such an infuriating player. Picks up really good positions but makes some really poor decisions