Republic of Ireland V Montenegro - Wednesday, 14th October 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[DeLorean]

we werent lucky or unlucky in this group

If memory serves you don't believe in luck in any capacity anyway

Sorry Duggie, wrong man, twas actually Dodge that rules luck out completely.

[paul_oshea]

Delorean id agree with all that.

Id also point to the fact we are good defensively however, i think the game against australia showed up some frailities, where a couple of silly mistakes which we always make or long shots that end up in the net, we get punished for, and given the way we play/set up to play i dont think we would be able to come back from a 3/2 - 0 down. We dont create enough chances, and more importantly we dont try or go about trying to create chances. I just hope we dont get shown up in the qualifiers for this where 2 or 3 lucky things/long distance shots go in.

I also hope if we qualify that this doesn't happen that we get hockeyed in one of the games. But i fear the australia game is a sign of what would happen if we conceded a couple of goals.

[Brendan 82]

What a fool, go back to reading the Sun. We also have won less games than anyone else in the play-offs. Stop spouting those useless 1 line statistical pieces of nonsense you read in the tabloids and watch the performances and consider some of our other results. If you think France, Portugal or Russia are fearing drawing Ireland then you are the idiot. Muppet.

They do fear us. That is a fact.

[Brendan 82]

We are a poor team punching above our weight due to Trap's system. We have been very lucky so far on numerous occasions :

- Home and away to Bulgaria
- Getting a dodgy penalty at home to Georgia when behind with 15 minutes left
- Away to Italy with the sending off
- Not having to play Georgia in Tibilsi
- Home to Cyprus when we scraped an undeserved 1-0 win

Anyway point is if anyone really believes France, Russia or Portugal are dreading drawing the likes of us, a team who has only won 4 games in the entire qualification process thus far over the likes of Bosnia or Ukraine then they need to cop on.
We can beat Greece and Russia if they have an off day (unlikely) but France and Portugal will beat us when it matters over 2 legs whether they are struggling or not.

So whats your point? That we are shyte and we should all cry about it like little bitches like you.

Fair play to the lads!

The lads

You

[Wolfie]

They do fear us. That is a fact. I won't resort to insulting you any more, its a waste of my time

Fear can't be established as "Fact".

France, Portugal and Russia are just happy they won't have to face each other.

I doubt they give a flying one as to any of the 4 they will face, certainly in comparison as to who they could have faced in an open draw.

[Duggie]

Sorry Duggie, wrong man, twas actually Dodge that rules luck out completely.

well i do and i dont. luck to me is the ball hitting both posts and bouncing in off the keepers head!! we all say ah we were lucky or unlucky but it really does balance itself out during the campaign. we could have had a peno in montenegro but they had a clear peno last night aswell. you could go through each match and point to certain incidents.

[DeLorean]

They do fear us. That is a fact.

If I was French or Portuguese I'd be thinking along the lines of....

1st choice - Slovenia
2nd choice - Bosnia
3rd choice - Rep of Ireland
4th choice - Ukraine

They'd probably prefer to avoid us alright but I don't think they'll be dreading us too much. In Portugal's case they'll be just delighted to be there.

[Brendan 82]

If I was French or Portugese I'd be thinking along the lines of....

1st choice - Bosnia
2nd choice - Slovenia
3rd choice - Rep of Ireland
4th choice - Ukraine

They'd probably prefer to avoid us alright but I don't think they'll be dreading us too much. In Portugal's case they'll be just delighted to be there.

I'd go for that. I would imagine most teams would much rather play Bosnia or Slovenia. Toss up between ourselves and Ukraine I guess. I think all of the teams in the second pot are good though. Would LOVE it if all four from the second won their ties

[Duggie]

id say slovenia are probably the worst of our pot. id say the top teams wont want us or ukraine.

[paul_oshea]

'We played in a beautiful stadium with a great atmosphere in front of the best fans in Europe, and the only shame is that there were no goals for them.'

I wonder does he say that in front of other nations too....


Either way 50,112 for a nothing game was a brilliant attendance.

[SuperDave]

id say slovenia are probably the worst of our pot. id say the top teams wont want us or ukraine.

slovenia just went to slovakia and won 2-0.... remind me how we got on there?

[paul_oshea]

It would make for a less entertaining world cup without france and portugal though.

Its bad enough with the amount already that dont get to qualify from Europe given the strength of the nations compared to other federations but what can you do!!

[shakermaker1982]

The intelligence of some of our players baffles me at times. I mean how many long aimless passes down the line to Robbie and Hunt does it take before Kilbane realises this tactic is a waste of time?

These guys are professional footballers..... they were even mi****ting 10 yard passes. Shocking stuff. I know there was nothing riding on the match but with the pressure off you'd think they'd try and play a little football. If we're just going to lump it long then start Folan and Best. Keano must be ripping his hair out. No service just balls pumped up to him as if he was Jan Koller.

I was happy enough with the Italian performance because we got stuck in but if we're only going to raise our game for the bigger nations then we don't want Greece.

The other four top seeds won't fancy coming to Dublin but they know that they'll have 60% of the ball, will dominate for long spells and if they make sure they mark tight at set pieces then then they are as good as through.

We are also so PREDICTABLE. No plan B,C,D or E it's just 4-4-2 with two holiding midfielders and long punts to Keane and Doyle.

I know it's a long shot but I hope the Trap recalls Andy Reid to the squad and Steven Reid is fit for both games.

[Duggie]

slovenia just went to slovakia and won 2-0.... remind me how we got on there?

slovakia were no great outfit when we played them if you remember.

[SuperDave]

slovakia were no great outfit when we played them if you remember.

yeah, and now they've just qualified for the world cup (therefore are better) and Slovenia just went there and won 2-0.... kind of backs up what I was saying that Slovenia are certainly there to be feared by the top four teams!

[Wolfie]

The intelligence of some of our players baffles me at times. I mean how many long aimless passes down the line to Robbie and Hunt does it take before Kilbane realises this tactic is a waste of time?

These guys are professional footballers..... they were even mi****ting 10 yard passes. Shocking stuff. I know there was nothing riding on the match but with the pressure off you'd think they'd try and play a little football. If we're just going to lump it long then start Folan and Best. Keano must be ripping his hair out. No service just balls pumped up to him as if he was Jan Koller.

I was happy enough with the Italian performance because we got stuck in but if we're only going to raise our game for the bigger nations then we don't want Greece.

The other four top seeds won't fancy coming to Dublin but they know that they'll have 60% of the ball, will dominate for long spells and if they make sure they mark tight at set pieces then then they are as good as through.

We are also so PREDICTABLE. No plan B,C,D or E it's just 4-4-2 with two holiding midfielders and long punts to Keane and Doyle.

I know it's a long shot but I hope the Trap recalls Andy Reid to the squad and Steven Reid is fit for both games.

I was surprised at just how easy it was for Montenegro to completely shut us down.

Once the supply and options down the wings was closed down - we were going nowhere fast.

Our system does not allow runners from midfield and without that option we were stopped in our tracks.

Its painfully obvious that any coach worth his salt will put plans in place stifle the life out of our wingers - certainly at home.

From an offensive perspective - Our "sitting midfield" can be rendered completely inactive if our wingers are marked out of the game.

[Duggie]

yeah, and now they've just qualified for the world cup (therefore are better) and Slovenia just went there and won 2-0.... kind of backs up what I was saying that Slovenia are certainly there to be feared by the top four teams!

well if u look at that group slovakia lost 2 and still went through.

[Duffman]

Haha they showed Paul McGrath, Curtis Fleming, Don Givens and another fella with John Delaney sitting below them and they didn't mention only Delaney



Are Italy playing any of their first team?

ANother fella = Joey Malone former Dundalk captain and legend, think also Athlone Town as well.

As an aside, did I hear that George Hamilton made some reference to us having a good history of going into major tournaments undefeated in the group stages? Or maybe I misheard him, hopefully so anyway!

[DeLorean]

yeah, and now they've just qualified for the world cup (therefore are better) and Slovenia just went there and won 2-0.... kind of backs up what I was saying that Slovenia are certainly there to be feared by the top four teams!

Portugal and France will be hoping to win the World Cup. The certainly won't be fearing any of us non-seeds but they would probably prefer one of us over the other, that's all it is I think. Plus, like ourselves, I'm sure opinions would vary hugely with regard to who they would prefer to get.

[DeLorean]

did I hear that George Hamilton made some reference to us having a good history of going into major tournaments undefeated in the group stages?

He said something along those lines alright but he wasn't basing it on much. Basically we qualified in 2002 via the playoff having not lost a group game.

Euro88 Lost to Bulgaria (a) 1-2

WC90 Lost to Spain (a) 0-1

WC94 Lost to Spain (h) 1-3

WC02 Undefeated in Group

Like I say, he was basing it on little or nothing so I wouldn't take it as too much of an omen, especially seeing as we were undefeated in our Euro92 campaign and didn't qualify!!