Russia v Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 6th September 2011 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

[Murfinator]

Frail defence, would have particular concerns over O'Dea and Ward. Neither are international class.

Obvious worries about the midfield but we'll see what happens. If history repeats itself against Russia and Trap has come in without a revised plan to contain their midfield he'll have nowhere to hide.

[Charlie Darwin]

Andrews' legs were gone after 60 mins fri night. It really was embarrassing watching him play.

I didn't see any evidence. I did see Andrews make several lung-busting runs into the box in the final ten minutes though.

McCarthy should have come on at that time, no question.

McCarthy wasn't named on the bench, rightly or wrongly.

On one previous occasion, he tried 4-4-1-1 but this didn't work because he had McCarthy playing in the hole behind the striker which is not McCarthy's position. He ended up playing the role of the headless chicken. McCarthy needs to be deeper orchestrating play from the back and making attacking runs from deep. Trap has opted for a flat 4-4-2 again tomorrow night (brave but positive decision I suppose), although I would have preferred to have seen a 4-5-1 with McCarthy in.

That's not really McCarthy's game either, though. He sits deep and allows other players to make the incisive runs forward, like Scholes. In other words, he needs to be surrounded by good midfielders to really affect the game.

[Murfinator]

Andrews improved as the game opened up, he did his only worthwhile actions in the last 20 minutes and was a passenger before that. What game were you watching?

[Duggie]

Andrews improved as the game opened up, he did his only worthwhile actions in the last 20 minutes and was a passenger before that. What game were you watching?

are u joking? last fri night i think andrews gave the worst performance a professional footballer could give. he was so bad its wasnt funny. at one point he was out near the sideline and he got so confused it seemed the ball just went out for a throw in to slovakia. he wouldnt want another performance like that.

[bwagner]

Did I mention world beaters with international experience >?>>?????????/????

[zero]

i thought andrews was better than whelan. ward looked decent enough though there was always a concern he'd get caught out.

[tommy_c12000]

I didn't see any evidence. I did see Andrews make several lung-busting runs into the box in the final ten minutes though.

McCarthy wasn't named on the bench, rightly or wrongly.

That's not really McCarthy's game either, though. He sits deep and allows other players to make the incisive runs forward, like Scholes. In other words, he needs to be surrounded by good midfielders to really affect the game.

Around the 60 minute mark, Andrews was out hugging the left touchline. He attempted to drag back the ball but the ball just went embarassingly out of play. It was a classic moment of his mind knew what he wanted to do, but his body was so tired it couldn't respond appropriately. That is the moment when he should have come off. The only thing he contributed from that mark was a return ball in a 1-2 with Whelan.

Just saw McCarthy participating in the half time kick around so presumed he was on the bench. If this fact is true, does it mean that there were no central midfielders on the bench?? Incredible if true

Not sure what point you are making about McCarthy. I've already stated that he prefers to sit deep, build from deep, then makes surging runs forward. Yes he does need 2 players around him, like he has with Whelan and Andrews. But he certainly does not remain deep to allow others make runs, he makes most those forward runs himself. Watson just sits while he makes the runs

[EAFC_rdfl]

Here's the team sheet from Friday with the subs
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/mat...ups/index.html
Last week Tardelli had mentioned Foley as CM option so that I am guessing was the sub CM

[elroy]

Lets hold fire for now lads, god knows if it goes wrong we'll have plenty of time afterwards to criticise etc etc. Hoping for a miracle of some sort, what we'd give for a draw!!

Or even to take the lead out there.....

[Stuttgart88]

The only comforts I can take is that we played a patchwork defence against Italy and managed to eek out a win, and that after a rubbish performance at home to Russia we played quite well in Slovakia.

We played well in Paris but we had nothing to lose there. I don't see this as the same thing, as a draw is still worthwhile in Russia.

Is Long in the traveling squad?

[Duggie]

a 92min winner would be the only job, kill them off with no time for a comeback....if only

[ArdeeBhoy]

No Long, I believe.

[lionelhutz]

Even if we get a draw tomorrow, we have to pray that there is a winner between Slovakia and Russia in their meeting. Cause if that ends a draw as well, we're basically ****ed!!

This is our own fault. We should have played with much more urgency on Friday and went about the game like it was make or break. Now I think we should go into the game tomorrow with a "win or bust" mindset.

On another note, is McCarthy on the bench tomorrow? Can't find the subs anywhere.

[koneinc]

No Long, I believe.

Yeah, Long is out, I suppose it's Cox on the bench again

[Tipp Townie]

In essence, we can't afford to lose to Russia. We get a draw and win our remaining games then we may sneak it via the play-offs. Too simple an analysis?

You're basically spot on imho - because this is precisely how Trap will be looking at it.

Anyone on here hoping for a repeat of Paris - forget it. That really was the last chance saloon because anything less than a win would knock us out, full stop. So we HAD to go for it.

This time, there are still plenty of permutations that could work out in our favour and it would be reckless to leave any gaps for the Russians to exploit. In that respect, this campaign is beginning to remind me of USA '94 - we qualified by virtue of a solid 100% record v the 'minnows' (and 1win/1 draw v NI), whereas our head-to-head v Denmark and Spain was weakest of the three.

Don't get me wrong, i share the pessimism that a draw will be enough for us come the end of the campaign. But i'm not even going to bother convincing myself that we're going to attack. Primary objective will be to avoid defeat, and probably would have been even if we weren't so depleted in defence.
I'm also mindful (and i bet Trap is too) that history is massively against us. Yes, Slovakia won in Russia in this campaign. But they are (off the top of my head; pls do correct if wrong) only the third team EVER to win a competitive game in Russia. Intimidating stats.

I want us to go for the win. But its not in Traps nature.
I dont mean to come across as negative; just trying to be realistic. Prediction - one side of my head says we'll get murdered; the other (slightly larger!) side of my head says we'll do our usual backs-to-the-wall heroics and come away with a creditable draw. I'm not paying any attention to my heart whatsoever.

[Sullivinho]

Very apprehensive about that back four. And their fancy eastern European midfield formation swamping us (again). Hoping the lads are still stinging from the last game and in the zone to collectively play above themselves.

No Long, I believe.

24 hours 10 mins.

[Noelys Guitar]

I've got to go into work tomorrow (8am) and come up with a dinger to get out by 10am (match on here 11am). Can't call out as I have something I've got to finish. That should take about an hour. Just took a half day on Friday and on very thin ice. But no way am I missing the match. Run out of people to bury so realing scraping around looking for a good one. Anyone any ideas?

[bwagner]

your partner was took ill, sister had a baby, sister was in a car crash..

[SwanVsDalton]

The patchwork defence is interesting. Ten years ago we ended up playing Portugal in the groups with Stan and Dunney at centre back, after Breen and Cunningham (I believe) were both injured at the last minute. Dreadful trepidation but they came out of it with a draw, then the clean sheet against Holland. Stan ended up starting at the World Cup, of course. So guess we have previous when it comes to thrown together defensive partnerships. Trying to be positive about it anyway!

Team wise I'm not surprised - with O'Shea missing, Kelly's experience probably swung it. He might only have twenty odd caps but he's been around the scene a lot longer than Foley. I hope McCarthy's on the bench tomorrow at least, so we can change up CM a little. I'm thoroughly expecting Andrews and Doyle to up their games significantly - Andrews at least has to keep his concentration enough to pass the ball to a teammate five yards away...

Pretty nervous and not particularly optimistic. But I did request three points from Lenin's corpse and a Stalin impersonator today, so you never know...

[DannyInvincible]

O'Dea impressed Trap V Italy, but he really didn't have much other choice with Clark not in squad.

Why wasn't Clark called into the squad? We're very bare for defensive back-up.

I'm also mindful (and i bet Trap is too) that history is massively against us. Yes, Slovakia won in Russia in this campaign. But they are (off the top of my head; pls do correct if wrong) only the third team EVER to win a competitive game in Russia. Intimidating stats.

Well, records are there to be broken and all that. If Slovakia could do it, why not us? (At least, that should be the mentality anyway.)