We buck that trend
but how are we going to bring this tie to extra time or even win it on aggregate in Paris, when we haven't won a competitive away fixture against a decent side since.... since when again?
Absolutely gutted after last night.... didn't deserve to lose the game in the way we did.![]()
We buck that trend
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I'm being realistic, and if you analyse most of my other posts or even if you know who I am in real life, you'd understand that I'm very rarely EVER negative.
To win an away game against a team like France is asking an awful lot. I'll be there regardless singing my heart out and hoping and praying, but I'm just expressing my doubt, based on reality.
We will get chances in Paris but the players need to take them this time around.
I want us to go out and try and get an early goal. It's a big ask but this is our WC Final.
It really depends on how France approach the game. I thought I saw enough gaps last night between their back four and their midfield to give us a chance (albeit through Guinness goggles). We have to take the game to them. Stop sending high balls into the box for their keeper to pick off at will. Play more 1-2's around their box and create real chances. Allow Duff and McGeady to run at their defense and midfield. Duff lacked match fitness and I am hoping he will play a big game on Wednesday after playing yesterday. Lawerence plays his heart out but he lacks that bit of pace to get around the back of their defense. So I would play McGeady. 0-0 is of no use now. And I felt from early on in yesterdays game that we were playing for a draw. Never works for us. We might need to score 2 goals on Wednesday to have a realistic chance of getting through. If we start off the game the way we did against Bulgaria away then who knows. We will find out on Wednesday how good France really are. I'm not convinced they are a great side. And I really feel we can play a lot better than we did yesterday. Look back on our group games. Poor against Bulgaria at home. Excellent away. It seems that every second game we put in a big performance.
It would have been more appropriate to compare our chances to how Scotland fared a few years ago.
Both of the losses you refer to above were friendlies - all but meaningless, and as we all know a draw won't be enough.
Unless the 11 players on Wednesday muster up some magic, we are not going to beat France in Paris - simple as that.
No one likes losing friendlies at home, especially when the French public are waiting to pounce on you
I'd also wager that a friendly against Argentina is a lot more competitive than a qualifier against the Faroe Islands or even Lithuania and Austria (3 of the 4 wins) whilst their other victory came against Turkey in a friendly as well.
Romania went there and scored, that to me suggest we can go there and score, then it's open season on what can happen
Jebus, you are starting to clutch at straws here...
Players ALWAYS have a different mentality towards friendlies than they do towards competitive games, which comes from their own attitude towards them, the relaxed nature of the games and the manager's tactics/choice of players. To simply look at results and say; 'ye they lost this one and that one', without knowing the circumstances of the games or who was playing is ridiculous.
You'll notice that in all their home qualifiers in the 2010 phase, they didn't concede more than one goal at home, and they only conceded 3 times in total.
If you are going to analyse the situation, you have to do so based on most current results and most relevant matches - not some friendlies we know very little about.
And as for the French public... they've been on Domenech's back since we played them last time.
We really have to score at least one goal preferably two goals.
Anyway why would anyone Irish want it to be easy
We will fight to the end but if any of us have ever to go into battle then
I would say that it would be better not to tell your men that they are beaten before the battle begins.
The ones that were up for the fight would dispose of you as a liability and they would be correct.
If you do not contemplate victory then run away.![]()
I woudl argue that the French players would be more keyed up for testing themselves against Argentina than they would be against the Faroes
Also I'd argue that you criticise me for looking at the results and saying 'yeah well they lost this and that' without having watched the games and then you go and do the exact same to prove your negativity to be correct
Cause at the end of the day, unless you've just started watching football, I've never come across a fan that believes a 1-0 agg deficit to be the end of the world
Good words from Trap
"We can score on Wednesday. If we play offensively, we can score a goal."
I agree with noddy on this one, while I'm all for being positive and believing we can beat the french in Paris, and fair play to everyone who keeps believing, but I just cant see it happening, unless as noddy has said, we muster up a bit of magic. A draw will no longer do us which I thought was our best hope of progressing (away goals), I just cant see us scoring twice out there and only conceding once.
In my opinion they didnt even turn it on last night, and perhaps they wont again out in paris, but its scary knowing that at any stage during the 90 minutes they can just up it a notch and outclass us completely. Last night the fact that they brought on Malouda just purely to waste time shows the amount of class they have in their squad. I'm not looking to change anyones opinion or to argue with people that we have or havn't got a chance, of course its not over till its over, but I just dont think we will be at WC2010.
Cmon County!
That's another excellent point Kildare Lad.
They had an arsenal of attacking players at their disposal last night on the bench, and as you point out, only needed to bring on a single player in stoppage time to let the clock run down even more.
Comparatively, we expended our three substitutes, who are arguably our only three attacking substitutes we can realistically hope to change a game, although you could include Andy Keogh as a fourth.
They are far better individually than us, as they proved last night. But we had the better chances, and if we can take just one of them in Paris, it could be enough. It's a hell of a task, but we can do it. If we can stay organised and keep cool we could beat them. Despite outclassing us for periods last night, they had no shape to their play or formation and you could see the disharmony in the side. At one point Evra had the ball and was openly bickering with a player for not coming back to take the ball off him. That shows that they can be rattled.
My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method, is love. I love you Sheriff Truman.
Lets just go out there and play attacking,if we go and sit back we will eventually let in a goal like we do in every game so we might as well give us all a bit of entertainment
Ahhh
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