Kerr the Comedian

[ken foree]

i'd agree with that last point (re: fan arrogance). as for the game, fundamental not to concede early of course and not completely collapse if we do. keep it tight, a boring nil all would be more than handy and meet kerr's expectations of 4 points from the first two games. the difference this time *should be* roy keane. regardless what you think of him, his defiance was missing away from home during the last ec campaign.

[Slash/ED]

Yes, if we were playing at home or on neutral ground we would be outside favourites but our away record over the last 20 years is attrocious.

Now's a good time to change that

[Eh Weh]

Ill tell you why i think we should win, our players are far better than theirs ,simple, their best player plays for Stuttgart and cant get his game, but your probably right i mean, robbie keane, damien duff, roy keane, shay given, cunningham, clearly far behind anything the swiss have!

"Our own pathetic performance can't be used as an excuse to justify another one. The Swiss are average at best and missing players, anything less than a draw would be absolute failure but we should be going for the win."

Bang on!

[eirebhoy]

Ill tell you why i think we should win, our players are far better than theirs ,simple, their best player plays for Stuttgart and cant get his game, but your probably right i mean, robbie keane, damien duff, roy keane, shay given, cunningham, clearly far behind anything the swiss have!

Jaysus, you're starting to annoy me now. We had better players than a lot of teams we've played against away from home but still struggle to get a draw.

[brendy_éire]

Ill tell you why i think we should win, our players are far better than theirs ,simple, their best player plays for Stuttgart and cant get his game, but your probably right i mean, robbie keane, damien duff, roy keane, shay given, cunningham, clearly far behind anything the swiss have!

And Greece won Euro '04.

Dunno where all this wild optimism is coming from. I reckon we'll get a draw, and I'd be happy with that.

[dublinred]

The Swiss are great at looking after money , making watches , cheese and chocolates , apart from qualifying for Euro2004 football is not one of their strong points. We should beat them tonight but then again we never seem to put away the weaker teams . I am going for a win but expect it will be backs to the wall for the last half hour instead of going and getting more goals.

[Juz the Hoop]

Ok folks over the last twenty years (Qualifying for Mexico 86) here is our away record

Played 48
Won 17
Drawn 15
Lost 16
For 63
Against 52
G Diff 11


Not exactly much to write home about is it.

Id gladly take a point cosidering last year etc. That said 3 is possible

KOH

JUZ

[Hither green]

The Swiss are great at looking after money , making watches , cheese and chocolates , apart from qualifying for Euro2004 football is not one of their strong points. We should beat them tonight but then again we never seem to put away the weaker teams . I am going for a win but expect it will be backs to the wall for the last half hour instead of going and getting more goals.

I thought the Swiss played quite well in both games against us last time round. We didn't help ourselves but they were pretty well organised. Better than the Russians who did bugger all in either game and came away with much more than they deserved. Plus I thought they were unlucky against the english, they had someone sent off didn't they? Tonight could be tough, never thought I'd be pleased to see Roy Keane back in an Ireland top....

[thejollyrodger]

I'm going for a win tonight. I think we have enough quality on our side up front to score. The presense of roy keane alone is really going to help calm things down and dominate midfield. The defence are well aware of whatever formation the swiss can throw at us so there will be no surprises. Kerr has planned well and everyone in the squad (including clint) seems very motivated.

Plus they are missing players and the match against the faores islands isnt exactly a great warm up.

his is a very tricky encounter indeed. Most of the Swiss simply don't rate us and view us as hackers and "boring footballers"

now thats arrogant!! Were not 16th in the world for nothing. Us boring ?? At least our ENTIRE NATION isnt boring. I find the swiss team very arrogant typical german infulence to be honest

[tiktok]

Us boring ?? At least our ENTIRE NATION isnt boring. I find the swiss team very arrogant typical german infulence to be honest

Neither Switzerland nor the Swiss are boring, there are cantons that have a germanic influence (which are grand), but there are also french and italian speaking regions which have a completely different character and are fantastic. I've visited the country a number of times and worked there for a while, and I was always well treated and never bored.

Anyway, in fairness, why wouldn't they have been confident?
Kav, O'Brien and Reid had never played a competitive game before these qualifiers. They beat us in landsdowne and comfortably in Basle (where we were sh!te) in the last qual campaign. Granted they were poor in Euro2004, but not that bad, they weren't thrashed, and in any event, we weren't even there.

I agree with the comment that there's an 'English Tabloid' mentality about some of us, I was dissappointed with the result too, but what are we basing our own arrogance on? Qualifying for 4 out of the last 9 major championships and getting to the last eight once?

Grow up ffs

[the 12 th man]

Apparantly some of the lads met him @ 0530 this am.& he said "I never wanted the job anyway!" ......... .......though suspect we shouldnt take this too literally......as he was 'tired & emotional'

another purler from "the greener"
:"i love this job but it has one serious drawback","everybody interested in football in this country knows more about the game than me"