What would be an acceptable return from next 2 games ?

[shakermaker1982]

well I hope you beat Bulgaria 3-1!!!!

[Delbertt]

If Montenergro beat Bulgaria would we then be happy with a point in Podgorica as long as we beat Georgia?

[boovidge]

well it would be less of a disaster but we'd have missed the chance to put daylight between ourselves and the bulgarians.

[mjpcc]

In my opinion,you will be able to beat Georgia in Germany(if you had played in Tbilisi i would say X).
I think that neither you or Bulgaria will be able to beat us in Podgorica.
We have very strong offansive with Vučinić(AS Roma),Jovetić(Fioretina) and Vukčević(Sporting Lisabon-scored nice goal against Bolton last year in Uefa cup-they wanted to buy him later for 12 milion euro).
Our middlefield is quite good also with Peković(Mainz),Bošković(Rapid Wien) and Drinčić who plays for Russian team Amkar you probablly never heard of,but believe me he is good enough to play in premier league clubs like Wigan,Sunderland...
We also have good side backs with Pavićević(Cotbus-Germany) and Božović(Rapid Bucuresti).Our main problem are our center backs Tanasijević(Dinamo Moscow) and Batak(Ankaraspor) who are not on top of their performance.
All in all,I think that we have quite strong team esspecially up front.Our defence is weaker part of the team.Surely I cant think off another country that has 700 000 population and that have better team than we do.My predictions for these two games would be:win against Bulgaria 3-1 and win against Ireland 3-2.
I may be wrong,but we will see.

Thanks for the extra goal over the Bulgarians anyway - we might need it for goal difference in the end. I will be watching with interest your game against Bulgaria - good luck against them. Most of us know you have a good team and are not underestimating how difficult a game it will be for us.

A lot depends on results on Saturday, if we do the business against Georgia on Saturday - not an easy game either - we will be well up for the game against you, just as your results Saturday will affect team spirit for Wednesday. Here's hoping for some great games.

[lionelhutz]

well it would be less of a disaster but we'd have missed the chance to put daylight between ourselves and the bulgarians.

If Montenegro beat Bulgaria on Saturday, should we not then consider them to be as much of a threat (if not more so) than Bulgaria?

[Lionel Ritchie]

In my opinion,you will be able to beat Georgia in Germany(if you had played in Tbilisi i would say X).
I think that neither you or Bulgaria will be able to beat us in Podgorica.
We have very strong offansive with Vučinić(AS Roma),Jovetić(Fioretina) and Vukčević(Sporting Lisabon-scored nice goal against Bolton last year in Uefa cup-they wanted to buy him later for 12 milion euro).
Our middlefield is quite good also with Peković(Mainz),Bošković(Rapid Wien) and Drinčić who plays for Russian team Amkar you probablly never heard of,but believe me he is good enough to play in premier league clubs like Wigan,Sunderland...
We also have good side backs with Pavićević(Cotbus-Germany) and Božović(Rapid Bucuresti).Our main problem are our center backs Tanasijević(Dinamo Moscow) and Batak(Ankaraspor) who are not on top of their performance.
All in all,I think that we have quite strong team esspecially up front.Our defence is weaker part of the team.Surely I cant think off another country that has 700 000 population and that have better team than we do.My predictions for these two games would be:win against Bulgaria 3-1 and win against Ireland 3-2.
I may be wrong,but we will see.

Thanks for the insight Montenegrin. As has already been said, very few Irish are expecting the game against you guys to be anything but tough. Best of luck in your first campaign.

[backstothewall]

If like me you come at this from the perspective of believing we should be in with a shout of getting 2nd place in this group, then nothing less than 6 points should be acceptable. We are playing Georgia in a neutral venue and a montenegro side who have only played a handful of games together. I'm not saying it will be easy, but it is a challenge we should be able to over come, and we should not accept second best.

The old excuses about Irelands away record need putting to bed, and this is the best opportunity we will ever have to raise confidence in our own abilities outside of Dublin.

I suspect if it comes down to goal difference with the likes of Berbatov, Bojinov and the Petrovs we will miss out, so we really have to get our act together and start either getting some away results together, or battering the weaker teams.

Either way we need two wins this week.

[Montenegrin]

Thank you for nice wishes.I admit that I may be little bit to optimistic,but I think that we really have good team if you look player by player.Also we have beaten Norway,Hungary,Kazakstan and Estonia and had only one major loss to Romania prior the European Championship(it was 4-0,but we missed penalty and three one on one chanses in first 30 minutes,before they destroyed us) allready in the friendlies so I think that we have nothing to be affraid.
Let the best team win.

[irishultra]

If like me you come at this from the perspective of believing we should be in with a shout of getting 2nd place in this group, then nothing less than 6 points should be acceptable. We are playing Georgia in a neutral venue and a montenegro side who have only played a handful of games together. I'm not saying it will be easy, but it is a challenge we should be able to over come, and we should not accept second best.

The old excuses about Irelands away record need putting to bed, and this is the best opportunity we will ever have to raise confidence in our own abilities outside of Dublin.

I suspect if it comes down to goal difference with the likes of Berbatov, Bojinov and the Petrovs we will miss out, so we really have to get our act together and start either getting some away results together, or battering the weaker teams.

Either way we need two wins this week.

I guarentee we score more goals in this campaign than Bulgaria.

[tetsujin1979]

Absolutely delighted to read this: http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...102547,00.html

Giovanni Trapattoni has admitted he would not be happy with four points from the Republic of Ireland's opening two World Cup qualifiers.

[irishultra]

Yeah, when I heard Tony O'Donaghue saying that, I was like we have a winner here.

[backstothewall]

I guarentee we score more goals in this campaign than Bulgaria.

On paper we should, but where we will score 2 against Cyprus or Montenegro at home they will put 4 or 5 past one of them.

Irish sides always take the foot of the gas at the first sign of a 2 goal lead and it annoys the hell out of me in groups with goal diff

[irishultra]

We scored the same goals as them in the last campaign, but I do agree with you.