My glass is three quarters empty at this point so plumping for a standard 1-0 victory, disjointed performance with a Robbie goal and a bit of a kicking for the manager to follow.
My glass is three quarters empty at this point so plumping for a standard 1-0 victory, disjointed performance with a Robbie goal and a bit of a kicking for the manager to follow.
Your glass is quarter full.
Just remember Cyprus and San Marino during Stan's era.
Feel better?
2-0 tonight.
But any win will do for my accumulator.
Not really. Those are horrible memories for a Friday morning.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
The kicking is going to follow no matter what happens. If we win, well then it's only Kazakhstan, we're expected to beat the likes of them. If we lose or draw, then they'll call for his head.Quote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
And quite rightly. We're not going to qualify for Brazil if we drop points against Kazakhstan. We need a maximum haul of points against Kazakhstan and the Faroes.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Of course. My kicking was predicted off the basis of a poor-ish performance, rather than the general kicking that's going to happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Is there any kind of criticism that you will not dismiss as part of an 'agenda'?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
constructive criticism. calling for a manager's resignation is pointless knee jerk reactionism (that's a word right?) .Calling for his resignation, citing a number of valid replacements, backed up with research showing the improvements each one would make seems to be beyond the majority of journalists, not only in football but across sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
4-0 to Ireland.
Yeh you can get it anywhere I think, only takes a fiver to have free streams from then on :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
has it occurred to anyone else that complaining about the lack of new/younger players in the squad, and then complaining that Duff and Given are no longer available are contradictory arguments?
- - - - - - - Westwood - - - - - - - - -
O'Shea - St. Ledger - O'Dea - Ward - -
- - - - - McCarthy - Whelan - - - - - - -
- - - Cox - - - Keane - - - McGeady - - -
- - - - - - - - Walters - - - - - - - - - -
If we're going for this kind of shape tonight, with a bit of interchanging between Walters, Cox and Keane, it could be interesting. Keane said that he might be asked to play a bit deeper. However, if we're stuck with the flat 4-4-2 with Keane playing off the last defender's shoulder and Cox marooned out wide, under instruction to put in crosses, then it could be a long night, but this is encouraging from Keane;
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...323696816.htmlQuote:
Keane, who continues as captain for the new campaign, reckons Jon Walters’s role will be similar enough to the one usually played over the last few years by Kevin Doyle and that his own will not change much even if, he suggests: “I’ll probably play a little bit deeper than I normally would in order to help the midfield a bit.”
Behind him, though, he acknowledges that things will be a bit different without Damien Duff and one of the side’s more experienced central midfielders. “Simon’s a striker who can play on the right but he’s not a natural winger so he’ll probably tuck in a bit more.
How can it be a flat 442?Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
From the time the team was announced and some roles explained, it's clear that it's anything but a flat 442.
Change for the sake of change.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Why? Are the two mutually exclusive? Surely there are far better candidates that could be dropped from the squad to accomodate some new young players other than Duff and Given - two of our best players for the last 10 - 15 years. Andy Keogh, Stephen Ward, Paul McShane and Darren O'Dea are all far more deserving candidates to make way for any new emerging talent.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Not when they've been directly replaced in the starting line-up by Cox (25) and Westwood (27).Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
The arguments aren't mutually exclusive, particularly when one of the players involved is a goalkeeper. I don't hear anybody criticizing Trap for not having a young goalkeeper in the squad. I'm sure people would be more than content to see a goalkeeping trio of Given, Westwood and Forde/Randolph, picking Randolph due to age factors perhaps.
In relation to Cox, he has shown enough to deserve a place in the squad. Drop Keogh if there's a viable new/young player doing enough to justify selection. Keogh has been performing in the Championship, but as a striker. Not as a winger, which is where Trap will play him should he feel the need. Were Duff involved, Cox would move to the bench and Keogh would be gone. I don't think anyone would argue with this.
It all depends on how they play. If all the little mini-triangles work and players show for the ball and we can actually move it around at a high tempo then this XI could do just fine. Robbie dropping deeper might be the catalyst for more cohesive play. Our full-backs have to interact with our CMs and our CMs have to keep the ball rolling. However my fear is that we've heard the "Robbie dropping deeper" line before and it has never really worked out like that. I don't think he has ever really looked like a "Totti like" trequartista, he's never really looked composed enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
Far too often recently our full-backs or CBs have launched the ball long to Doyle or Walters, losing possession cheaply and we end up chasing shadows. We no longer have the invaluable "out ball" to Duff who always did something useful with it, even if it was only to bring it under control and buy a few seconds of possession, or draw a foul. I'm hoping that McCarthy becomes this composed recipient of the out-ball now.
This is a non-partisan appraisal of how I see it. I find it hard to see how anyone, pro-, anti- or undecided about Trap could disagree with this to any huge extent.
Personally I think personnel tweaks and tactical tweaks can help overcome what I think are our weaknesses but we've argued this dozens of times before and let's see how we fare tonight before going into it again.
Like those who underwhelmed in Hungary last night?Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
what better option is O'Dea keeping out of the squad?Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
just read this on When Saturday Comes: http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1152-...e-ireland-fansQuote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
It's the type of writing we need more of.
think this game could go either way , tough place to play for any team with atmosphere and conditions i think itll be a 0-0 draw
Unfortunately the streams don't always work in other countries. I've been caught on this in the US a few times when bet365 only seem to have Mexican league streams available when there are other games available in the UK or Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Acornvilla
Great article. Properly-directed criticism. Only part I'd query is why Shane Long would particularly be any better than Robbie Keane; that's just taken as read in the article.
For those of us in the US, the game is on GolTV
Good God I fear what Germany would do to us with a line up like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
Anyway, managed to finesse my way out of work for the morning so am quite hesitantly looking forward to the match.
My prediction: 3-0 Ireland, Robbie Keane scores a hat-trick and half the nation calls for him to be dropped for Shane Long.
Is it? I don't think Gibson would have started today regardless - McCarthy has leapfrogged him - Cox is not playing on the left or McGeady on the right, and McGeady stopped flattering to deceive two years ago. It seems to be just a jumble of vaguely accurate and inaccurate opinions with little evidence to back them up.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
lads im stuck in work in germany any links pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Cox to do far better than anticipated with McCarthy running midfield.
*braces self for being proven horrifically wrong*
Yeah, that would be my only gripe with that article too.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
I think the parts above are contradictory considering Robbie scored against Russia in that game. Also, to play the "big teams" card deliberately ignores his contribution to Ireland in the past year — he has scored quite a few important goals for us recently — his two goals versus Macedonia away, his goal versus Macedonia at home and his general performance versus Estonia in the play-off were all more recent than the Russia game, and were all critical to our Euro 2012 qualification.Quote:
The bloodbath of Euro 2012 gave devastating confirmation that this side's negativity is useless if the opposition happen to be good – Spain, Croatia, Italy and Russia have all pulled them apart in the past year [...] [Robbie Keane's] days of posing a goal threat to strong teams are long gone
He doesn't have any goals in 2012 admittedly, but virtually no-one does for Ireland at the minute (St. Ledger, Long and Cox have 1 each in 2012). His form for Ireland has been excellent up until 2012 (8 in 10 games in 2011, 4 in 8 in 2010) and he's scoring goals in the MLS at the moment, whatever that means. I'd still rather have him in the team than Long for the minute.
I was just going to post that it is very similar to a lot of the posts on here but you got there ahead of me!Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I assume the author meant the away game in Russia, which was a year ago yesterday, since he refers to the past year. You have to say, one goal from four games mentioned is not good going.Quote:
Originally Posted by Serb
I have backed Cox to get on the scoresheet.Quote:
Originally Posted by ped_ped
Good shot from McCarthy, tried to bend it in the corner but a good save from the keeper. O'Shea and Walters both should have done better.
Good effort McCarthy
Attn: Colbert Report!Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
On GolTV in Canada too
Set-pieces might come in handy here. The Kazakhs defended all 3 of those early corners terribly.
Dam I paid for a stream and now I find there are a few free ones, it's really top quality though
pretty much as good as broadcast TV so I can't grumble. Not sure if the aspect ratio is correct though
players looking a little squat. (edit think I have sorted it out but I think maybe the TV in Kazakhstan maybe 4:3)
Half the fans that went to Poland aren't even watching this. FACT.