Estonia V Ireland - Win, Lose or Draw?

Estonia V Ireland - Win, Lose or Draw?

...of lithuania-v-ireland when cascarino scored the only goal.i think we will win but estonia possed a few problems for the dutch.did yous see the highlights?
tonight eurosport 11:15 although there will probably be curling or indoor waterskiing on instead:D

They are no pushovers. If they had beaten Holland- 2-1 up with 14 mins to go- that would have been 10 points. This is great considering it's the group of death. Staunton must go and take
the Honey Monster Dunne with him. No wonder Joe Royle got the sack:o
He should play duff and holland in future!:cool: :cool: :cool:
Quinn is a big stick these days! He needs to be rested or kept
as sub. Another Irish striker living on past glories. Kinsella
was great tho'- unsung!:) :) :)

Let us discuss Steve Staunton...

... If this man was to be the most capped player in irish history, it would be the world (yes the world's) greatest tragedy.

How is this man playing football still?
What is he doing anywhere the national team squad.

If you are a fan of Steve Staunton........ i have one quesion for you


WHY????????

Wouldn't be at all surprised to see us lose. They ran holland close- at least on the highlights I saw. While we were desperate and fortunate not to get done 5 or 6 - 0. Maybe we should get beaten, burst our bubble- we might realise we're average at best, and that Mick doesn't have a clue. Look at our squad:
Given- a very good keeper.
Carr- excellent full-back, but he can't do it all alone.
Dunne/ Breen- to football what the clown is to the circus. They are both hopeless.
Staunton- Unbelievably dreadful for the last 3 years.
Cunningham- A very solid FULL BACK for a div 1 team; enough said. He raises his game when he wears green, but hes no Stam.
Harte- average, good going forward for leeds but defensively frail. Hasn't played well for Ireland in ages.
Kelly- NOT A MIDFIELDER! Good full back, not as good as Carr.
Keane- best midfielder (player?) in the world now.
Kinsella- good & solid, plays well with keane.
Holland- he's bloody english! He sang God S*ve the Queen at the playoffs, why is he playing for us????!!!! Otherwiise, average player.
Kilbane- has pace and a bit of skill, doesn't perform to his ability.
Kennedy- much the same as Kilbane.
Quinn- excellent, but pushing on.
Keane- bags of promise, yet to deliver it all.
Crowe- better than Connolly, could yet do the job for us, esp against the likes of Estonia.
Doherty- solid but unexciting, not a forward.
Connolly- unspeakably bad. Who gave him a contract?!

Lads, if we dont get to the world cup, then Micko should really call it a day. We have not got to one competition, and the devil we dont know cant do much worse.

I'd heard that the affore mentioned Micko was calling it a day after the World cup whether or which - he wants to get back into club management, cause he "misses the day to day involvment with players" One can only hope - my cat can pick a better team than this fella.

Gaz's cat for the ireland managers job
I'll start the campaign now then so.;) ;)

james

don't be too hard on big Mick! Don't forget only one qualifies
automatically now- now like 2 from Big Jack's days. Having said
that, what he sees in Breen and Staunton or kennedy I'll never know. I thought he made a good tactical move taking off Quinn
and Keane but was unlucky it didn't pay off. Who'd take over
anyway?- Roddy Collins if we could tempt him from Barnet. Mick'c
moulded a good squad, it just needs pruning. And there are no
bigger prunes than Brenn, Staunton , Kennedy, Dunne and I'd
add Niall Quinn who's past it unfortunately. :mad: And we have amassed 15 points in one of the toughest groups!

I'm going for a scraped 2-1 win tomorrow after an extremely scrappy 90 minutes, with more than one nervous moment in the away team's penalty box.

according to ireland.com report from emmet malone stevie staunton will not only start but alo captain ireland in keano's abscence.

Emmet Malone in Tallinn
Having returned to the centre of the international stage on Saturday against Portugal at Lansdowne Road, Steve Staunton looks set to lead his country in tomorrow night's World Cup Group Two qualifier against Estonia in Tallinn.

The Aston Villa defender had a difficult first half on Saturday, but Mick McCarthy afterwards described his performance as "outstanding". He echoed the sentiment yesterday when, having read some of the reports on the game, he observed: "I see one or two of you weren't impressed, but I thought he was excellent considering that the partnership (with Richard Dunne) was only thrown together on Friday morning."

Saturday's appearance allowed the Dundalk man to equal Tony Cascarino's record of 88 appearances for the Republic, and as he will almost certainly set a new record mark tomorrow night, McCarthy admitted "he has a very good chance of captaining the side".

"If," he added with a grin, "selected." It is a remarkable turnaround for the 32-year-old, who made his international debut 13 years ago against Tunisia as Jack Charlton attempted to add a couple of younger players to the panel that had just competed at the Republic's first major championships.

"It was a very different set-up to the one we have now," recalls Staunton. "I think for a long time there was only really me and Roy Keane who were the younger members of what was basically a very experienced, settled squad.

"Now you've got a load of young players, with more looking like they're coming through from the under-21s and further back down the line than that. Obviously we had a very strong bunch then, but it's great to see the situation we have got now. Things look really good for the future."

McCarthy admits he has felt the need to take Staunton aside a couple of times over the past year or two to reassure the defender he is still an important member of his squad. But despite having made just two brief appearances from the bench prior to Saturday in this campaign, the player insists he has never needed to be sweet-talked into sticking around.

"It's still very important to me," he says. "Games like the Portugal one are games that any player would desperately want to be involved in. It's like Mick says, if you stick around you'll get your chance. I joined up with the squad this time knowing that there was a chance I would get to play and I'm enjoying the opportunity now that it's come along."

Staunton believes the trouble he has had at club level over the past couple of years has equipped him with a new attitude towards the game. "Sometimes you'd get a bit pedestrian about it all, but after not being involved at Liverpool for so long I tend to be grateful for every game now. I think I've learned to play every single one as if it's my last."

His last, though, should still be some way off as he insists he still very much enjoys the game and that he feels he has another couple of years left in him.

"It's probably partly down to that time at Liverpool. It's funny, I'd certainly never had said so at the time, but looking back on it, that time probably did me the world of good. Not that I have any regrets about getting away. They've had a great season and good luck to them, but I was behind (Christian) Ziege and he wasn't getting on the bench, so I probably wouldn't have been on the plane for the UEFA Cup final a few weeks ago."

Eventually, he says, he will complete the coaching courses he has once before started without finishing. First, though, he will heed the advice of everyone who has ever offered him any on the subject, which is to play for as long as he possibly can.

At 32, he feels he is still well able for the Premiership, a combination of maturity and changing practices in the British game having taught him to look after himself. "The money now is huge, but even before that football clubs were always good payers compared with other employers. I don't think it's a whole lot to ask in return that for 10 years players take care of themselves.

"Obviously as you get a bit older, you learn anyway that you can't just shove a load of chocolate or Chinese meals into yourself, but the whole thing has changed beyond all recognition now because of the way clubs are trying to get the best out of their players."

Right now he knows all about it. When he returns home to England next week his close season will last precisely one long weekend, after which he will have to start an exercise regime that will be drawn up by the Villa fitness people. "We've got the InterToto in a few weeks, so there's very little time to relax. But whatever time I've got I'll manage to use it well."

Andy O'Brien has been promoted from the under-21 side to the senior squad for tomorrow night's qualifier. O'Brien, whose elevation costs him the chance of captaining the under-21 side in a European Championship qualifier tonight, is only likely to be on the bench for the tie.

Minor doubts over Graham Barrett (throat infection) and Damien Delaney (groin) prompted under-21 manager Don Givens to postpone naming his team for this evening's game against Estonia.

With qualification for the next summer's finals already beyond the reach of the Irish in the wake of last Friday's defeat by Portugal, Givens says he will make a number of changes. Barry Roche and Keith Foy of Nottingham Forest, as well as Celtic's Jim Goodwin and Damien Delaney of Leicester, could all be given their debuts at this level.

Givens is also without Richie Foran, the suspended Barry Quinn and O'Brien, although Jason Gavin is available again after suspension. If fit, the certainties to line out are Barrett and Clinton Morrison - Givens said after Friday's game they would start again this evening - and Celtic's Colin Healy, who will skipper the side in the absence of O'Brien.

Estonian forward Kristen Viikmae will miss tomorrow night's qualifier after injuring his Achilles tendon. Viikmae sustained the injury during the 4-2 defeat by the Netherlands on Saturday and will be out of action for five to six weeks. Defender Dmitri Ustritski has also been ruled out because of injury.

My cat could certainly do better than picking Staunton and Dunne in the back anyways. I suppose with Breen and Cunningham out, Dunne was going to play - but why the hell did he play Staunton over Docherty?

The other thing that really fecks with me is the way Mick turns us into Andorra every time we get a lead - "That's it lads, we're one up, 11 men behind the ball for the rest of the game!" If we played for the full 90 minutes like we can, we'd have gotten the 3 points against Holland, (and possibly 3 the other day) and we wouldn't be sweating over tomorrow's game.

Mick is quick to sat how difficult it is to play against a team with 10 men behind the ball when we play Andorra etc.... but when we do an Andorra V Portugal he surprisingly says nothing.

Putting 10 men behind the ball as in almst every game we've been ahead shows a lack of confidence in our abilities. I wouldn't mind if we had a very good defense be we don't so we badly need to hold onto the ball & get into the other half of the pitch.

Mick in a masterstroke brings on Duff......but of course had to feck up with dragging Holland on for Quinn. Ehen we went 1-1 he realised his mistake :(

When we went 1-1 he realised his mistake

rebel, you'd think that when we coughed up a 2-0 lead to the Dutch he'd have realised his mistake. I'm not an experienced international manager by any stretch of the imagination - but even scrubs like me know that when you sit back trying to defend a slim lead against a quality team, you're going to get burned.

Martin O"Neill for Ireland!!!

Gaz,
previous subject directed @ Micko's comments re: Andorra not yourself ;)

We HAVE TO beat Estonia without question. Going to be a nervous 90mins I think with Stan & the Honey Monster @ the back. Those Estonian forwards have a bit of pace :(

Why is it a mistake to take off a 34-year old with a bad back who has run tirelessly for 75 minutes?

McCarthy has worked wonders with the limited resorces we have at the moment. I think it's the Jack Charlton crowd that will never accept him - Interesting fact: Mick McC has a better record (results wise) than Jack Charlton, but has got that with a squad of players nowhere near as good as Charlton had. Charlton ****ed us up in the end.

I don't disagree with taking Quinn off but he should have put a forward (Doherty I suppose) on in his place.
At that stage we only had Duff in a quasi-forward role (advanced Midfield position) & badly needed someone to hold the ball upfront.
The fact that Mick took Kinsella (who wasn't having so bad a game compared to all around him) off & replaced with Doherty was an admission of his error.

And as for the interesting results stat - this fact remains: Jack Charlton got us to Germany in 88, Italy in 90, and the US in 94. I'm not advocating that Charlton was the be all and end all, but think that the only thing that McCarthy has ever given Irish football (as a manager) is heartache.

I'd also like to point out that although you point out that a certain group of people will never accept McCarthy as a viable manager, Charlton faced the axe and ire of the Irish public after failing in a bid to qualify for England in 96 - Mick has blown two qualifying campaigns so far, and if we fail to qualify for the 2002 WC, he has to take the blame for a third, after his tactical farces in Holland and against Portugal.

Just my opinion though, I might be wrong...

Fair points, and you're right - getting to major tournaments is what we want rather than individual results... BUT...
'88 - We got there thanks to Gary Mackay!
'92 - Didn't get there
'94 - Last gasp McLoughlin goal
'96 - Didn't get there

Also worth noting that in '88, '90 and '94 the top 2 in each group qualified. If that was still the case, McCarthy would have had us in the last 2 tournaments...

I say fair play Mick McCarthy - we now play good football and have a predominantly Irish team.

We may have a predominantly Irish team, but that's thanks in part to the fact that we've had no success in the past 8 years. Since McCarthy took over, we've slipped from being ranked 6th in the world when the FIFA Rankings started, to being at one

If we had maintained the level of success that we'd enjoyed, I'm sure that more Granny-bangers would be clamouring for Ireland. Even Clinton Morrison - who plays for a team that barely escaped relegation from the FIRST division - hummed and haa-d about declaring for Ireland.

And given the fact that outside of midfielders and full-backs we're far from International class, we'd welcome them with open arms.

I agree that we play more attractive football under Mick. But I firmly believe that if we had a more accomplished manager (someone like Martin O'Neill, who has publicly said that he'd love the job) we could play attractive football AND not have to sit around every Summer watching England play.

Sorry - left out one part of my post:

"We've slipped from being ranked 6th in the world when the FIFA Rankings started, to being at one point ranked 57th " See the attached graph, courtesy of those nice fellas at Fifa.

Nobody remembers that we played attractive football against Belgium in 97, or Turkey in 99 (which we didn't, by the way). They just remember that we choked and lost.

As great as it would be for Martin O Neill to manage the Republic team, i would say he'd only last a week before being assasinated by our not so friendly counterparts up north!

If and when Mick goes, I'd love to see us do the same sort of thing as England (cough! :eek: ) and appoint a foreign coach. Someone like Sacchi. I strongly doubt we'd ever tempt away the manager of a Serie A team like the Brits did!!

Here here .... Mr O'Neill, come on down.

The song to sing when Micko leaves is





























"thinnngggss ... can only get, can only get BETTER"

Final addenum to the Charlton/McCarthy thing, and then I'll put it to bed.

Thought about the "attractive football" thing, and this was pointed out to me.

I guarantee that if you asked your average Irish fan to name their top three experiences, none of them would be under Mick. For example, my three:

1) Italy, WC 94 (Ray!!)
2) England, Euro 88 (Go on Ray!!!)
3) N. Ireland, Qualifiers for WC 94

(Outside of that, there was the Ireland v England game in Italia 90 as well)

So you see, despite the fact that back in the day we played "hoof it and hope", we got results and a rather creditable ranking of 6th in the World. And those are the things we remember. I doubt that in years to come you'll hear oul fellas in the pub saying things like "Remember the time we nearly beat Holland in 2000? Ah sure we fell apart, but God we passed the ball well for a while, so we did."

Sounds too much like the old days under Eoin Hand, God help us...