No Agreement reach at Irelands Euro2012 fixtures meeting

[Kingdom]

That would be October for us, so it would still be under lights. I never want to see a competitive match during the day in Ireland again. We just can't do them.

Having looked at the pdf we'd prefer to be away from Russia and Slovakia, i.e. Ireland = A and Slovakia & Russia being D and F respectively, perhaps?

I know it met with almost universal disapproval, but I actually fancied the previous arranged draw. With the floating Armenian home match either at the start or the end of the campaign, I think we'd have done well. Helps that I'm super positive towards this group!

[mypost]

Armenia is 4 hours ahead, so if we and they were at home and their match influenced the group, they'd have to play by 9pm their time at the latest.

That means a 5pm ko here on a Tuesday afternoon in October. I'm assuming we'll still be in contention then.

Anyway, we'll see what the draw brings.

[DannyInvincible]

I never want to see a competitive match during the day in Ireland again. We just can't do them.

I always thought this one went OK.

[SwanVsDalton]

Draw has been made. Fixtures below, haven't had a proper look yet but Armenia away is a tricky first tie:

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/...3_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Edit - Whoa, had a proper look. Two home and away double headers against Russia and Slovakia. It's not a million miles from what the FAI wanted but those double header's are going to be tough.

[Yard of Pace]

Not bad. Should we need maximum points from our last two games it's set up nicely for us.

[Serb]

If you don't want to open a PDF, the fixture list looks like this:

Friday, 3 September 2010:  Armenia (a)
Tuesday, 7 September 2010: Andorra (h)
Friday, 8 October 2010:    Russia (h)
Tuesday, 12 October 2010:  Slovakia (a)
Saturday, 26 March 2011:   Macedonia (h)
Saturday, 4 June 2011:     Macedonia (a)
Friday, 2 September 2011:  Slovakia (h)
Tuesday, 6 September 2011: Russia (a)
Friday, 7 October 2011:    Andorra (a)
Tuesday, 11 October 2011:  Armenia (h)

[Junior]

Not bad. Should we need maximum points from our last two games it's set up nicely for us.

Yep and Russia to play Slovakia 2nd from last game could help also....

[Cymro]

We've got three home games on a Friday night. Bit of a joke, really.

[elroy]

We've got three home games on a Friday night. Bit of a joke, really.

Ive obviously missed something here, didnt realise we were moving to a Friday night and Tuesday games. We've only 2 sat games and no Wed. Is this a Platini thing I seem to recall?!?

Reasonably happy with our draw, we should be aiming for 9 points from the first three games. Macedonia away in June would want to be a late kick off. We've a relatively easy finish, so we'll have to have our work done by the Sept.

[Dodge]

Ive obviously missed something here, didnt realise we were moving to a Friday night and Tuesday games. We've only 2 sat games and no Wed. Is this a Platini thing I seem to recall?!?.

Nope, this is rich clubs looking for their players back a day earlier

[SkStu]

for a random draw it couldnt really have worked out much better. Only major problem i see is Russia away 4 days after Slovakia at home. There'll be some tired legs after that flight.

[Colbert Report]

I don't like the Russia/Slovakia double headers. I'd rather have two home matches against them and then two away matches against them. Stu is right, tired legs after a long flight.

I'm not impressed with the Friday/Tuesday thing. I'll have to take extra afternoons off work to watch them as I'm seven hours behind Dublin.

Russia home on October 8 2010 is the most important fixture. Three points would sure be nice there.

NO reason we can't win this group. We're better than we think. I don't see Trap making major changes to the squad, bar Kilbane retiring I can see us starting and finishing the qualifiers with this team:

Given
O'Shea-Dunne-St. Ledger-Kilbane
Lawrence-Whelan-Andrews(more than likely McCarthy though)-Duff
Keane-Doyle

hopefully some young players like Coleman can make the breakthrough, allowing St. Ledger to make way for O'Shea should he ever recover from injury.

[pineapple stu]

I don't like the Russia/Slovakia double headers. I'd rather have two home matches against them and then two away matches against them. Stu is right, tired legs after a long flight.

They're professional footballers. Fly out Saturday morning, light training session Saturday evening maybe, then full training Sunday and Monday. I always think the "the players will be tired after five hours sitting on a plane" excuse is over-stated. In practical terms, there's no difference between that and five hours on a coach going from Liverpool to London (or wherever five hours takes you).

[SkStu]

They're professional footballers. Fly out Saturday morning, light training session Saturday evening maybe, then full training Sunday and Monday. I always think the "the players will be tired after five hours sitting on a plane" excuse is over-stated. In practical terms, there's no difference between that and five hours on a coach going from Liverpool to London (or wherever five hours takes you).

yeah but they'll have a full blooded game on the Friday night followed by a long flight to Russia on the Saturday morning - i wouldnt fancy it myself. Long haul flights do take quite a bit out of the body and mind. Not saying that it should necessarily affect their performance a few days later, just that it is not ideal.

[pineapple stu]

Four hours isn't a long flight time.

And they'll be well used to playing two games in a week from club football (often involving four hours plus of travel, particularly if they're playing in European competition).

[SkStu]

okay then, you obviously think its an ideal draw and those fixtures couldnt be better. Grand so, argument over.

[mypost]

That would be October for us, so it would still be under lights. I never want to see a competitive match during the day in Ireland again. We just can't do them.

Us and Russia are home on the last day. Though we can't rely on Andorra doing us a favour there, so we could get a 5-6pm ko here, if as likely the group is still open.

[pineapple stu]

okay then, you obviously think its an ideal draw and those fixtures couldnt be better. Grand so, argument over.

Where did I say that?

[elroy]

No way will Kilbane be retiring before this campaign, the guy is 33, has another year or two of professional football left. Plus his dedication to the cause knows no end.

I think the Russia home game will set the tone for the campaign. After the last campaign and considering how reasonable our draw is, we really need to be aiming for top spot this time. Therefore, I think 9 points from the first 3 games is a MUST. If we managed that, there is a good chance, we would be in the region of 3-4 points ahead of both Russia and Slovakia after only 3 games played.

Off the pitch for a second, Im sure the FAI are probably quite happy to play home games on a friday night, it probably works well for them from an attractive time for a corporate point of view. However, from a fan perspective, particularly travelling to away games, its not so good, will mean an extra day off work in most cases.

[SkStu]

Where did I say that?

by arguing against the point that i made - that the fixtures in Sept. 2011 werent ideal due to the distance to be travelled between our home game and our away game. You disagreed with that assertion by countering that it was only 4 or 5 hours and that there will be no tired legs after the flight. Suggests to me that you have no problems at all with the logisitcs or affect on the players of those particular fixtures. Fair enough, argument over, you have your opinion, i have mine. I dont want to get into this crap with you again.