Euro 2016 Qualifying

[Closed Account 2]

Pretty hard group, would rather have avoided Scotland and Georgia. Hopefully Germany beat everyone so we can factor them out.

[Cymro]

I watched the Gibraltar-Slovakia 0-0 draw on youtube. Gibralatar played very well to get a 0-0. They are perhaps slightly better than San Marino/Andorra, but basically your average pot 6 team. Nothing to worry about. Best known player is Danny Higginbotham, once of Stoke. They have a centre-back from Barnsley too, and a striker who plays for Farsley Celtic in the English non-league. Enjoy the trip to Portugal for that one, I'm sure Gibraltar will enjoy playing you and Scotland.

Poland look to be the biggest threat to you in that group. Scotland will compete with you over third. I personally would fancy Poland to nick second, but all the teams (even Georgia) will pick up some points off each other.

[Cymro]

Out of the possibilities I think we got a middling strength group

If we had got group B, O'Neill would have jumped out of his seat and ran the length of the aisle. No wonder the Belgium manager had that smug smirk that oozed relief.

I'm not quite so pleased about group B. Cyprus and Andorra are nice draws, but Israel are totally unpredictable and the away game we'll jut be happy to be still alive at the end.

Belgium and Bosnia are small countries, but that's irrelevant. In terms of their teams they're both at least as good as a number of the first seeds.

[SwanVsDalton]

I'm more worried about Scotland than Poland. They'll have targeted this qualifying campaign to end the major finals drought, they'll be scrapping for all points and recently have been very capable of upsetting better teams.

[Cymro]

Scotland also lost home and away to us. It's not just about the one off games, but consistency over the whole campaign. Scotland have been woefully inconsistent in the last 10-15 years. They often beat the good teams, then stuff up against the smaller ones. Don't be surprised to see them drop points to Georgia.

[SwanVsDalton]

Scotland also lost home and away to us. It's not just about the one off games, but consistency over the whole campaign. Scotland have been woefully inconsistent in the last 10-15 years. They often beat the good teams, then stuff up against the smaller ones. Don't be surprised to see them drop points to Georgia.

They'll get it right eventually and they'll be quite happy with us and Poland. Granted, I'd like to think our recent consistency against lower seeds will be an advantage.

How you fancy Group B? I'd say we'd both have loved if Ireland had been drawn out of that instead of Belgium.

[christo]

They also sneaked a 1-0 win and lost 3-2 to Liechtenstein. Poland and Scotland were both only 1 result away from finishing 5th in their groups as well

[geysir]

I prefer our group to finish second in, over these other options,
Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia
Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway,
Russia, Lichtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria,
Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey,

[Cymro]

They'll get it right eventually and they'll be quite happy with us and Poland. Granted, I'd like to think our recent consistency against lower seeds will be an advantage.

How you fancy Group B? I'd say we'd both have loved if Ireland had been drawn out of that instead of Belgium.

I'd have loved to get the Irish, but sadly we got Belgium instead. Whoever we got out of pot 2 would have been a difficult draw, but at least with someone other than Belgium we'd have had a chance.

The group's okay. The games against Israel are critical. if we get 4 points from them I reckon we'll probably be in the play-offs. That would be an excellent result. Andorra are basically the nicest bottom seed we could have had and Cyprus one of the easiest fifth seeds. But I don't see us getting much from B/H and Belgium.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Pretty disappointed tbh. We have got the second or third hardest first, third and fourth seeds possible. The Scotland games could turn out to be real "6 pointers".

[Stuttgart88]

I think that's one tough group. Scotland are resurgent under Strachan, Poland are technically good and could have huge support in Dublin. Georgia will be a banana skin. Fourth is as likely as second.

O'Neill will really have to earn his corn. The upcoming friendlies can not be wasted in any way.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Wales and Northern Ireland got pretty decent groups and of course England got their customary walkthrough.

[SwanVsDalton]

I'd have loved to get the Irish, but sadly we got Belgium instead. Whoever we got out of pot 2 would have been a difficult draw, but at least with someone other than Belgium we'd have had a chance.

The group's okay. The games against Israel are critical. if we get 4 points from them I reckon we'll probably be in the play-offs. That would be an excellent result. Andorra are basically the nicest bottom seed we could have had and Cyprus one of the easiest fifth seeds. But I don't see us getting much from B/H and Belgium.

Belgium really swung it the other way. But with a top three finish at stake, could've been a lot worse. Also Bosnia might suffer from the usual major finals debut hangover.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Bah, I see RTÉ's online coverage of the draw this morning is Ireland-only. The UEFA website will be broadcasting it here from 11AM, however: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/draws/index.html

Sean St. Ledger is on Sky Sports News covering our interest in the draw.

I think Sean has played his last game for Ireland. Richard Keogh certainly hopes so.

[Bungle]

Germany were probably the hardest 1st seeds we could get. They will walk away with the group.

We got lucky with the 3rd seeds. Romania, Turkey and Serbia are much better than Poland. Poland are better than Norway but are probably a similar level to the other teams.

Scotland will be a derby. However, Armenia, Montenegro and Wales are better teams and I'd rather the Scots than Bulgaria.

Georgia could be a banana skin. 6 points won't be a formality. Definitely, one of the better fifth seeds. Gibraltar shouldn't pose too many problems.

All in all, it could've been a lot worse.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

It would be great if any two of Piszczek, Blaszczykowski or Lewandowski were to encounter injury problems when we play them. They are probably Poland's best players and the former two have had pretty dodgy injury records recently. In fact, Blaszczykowski is out for the rest of the season with a cruciate. There is that and the fact that their club, Borussia Dortmund, are struggling this season in the Bundesliga.

As has been said, we don't deserve to be there if we can't get a couple of wins over teams like Poland and Scotland. We should know what Scotland are all about - bit of a derby though - and Poland did not cover themselves in glory when they hosted the Euros; they looked pretty average.

As for Germany, as Sweden have been proven, victory or a draw is not insurmountable if you don't show them too much respect. It's just a pity that O'Neill could have had a platform to learn from in the WC 2014 Qualifying campaign but instead we just showed up to lose against Germany in Dublin and by the time we reached the return game, we were already out and were playing a completely experimental strategy and team.

Lastly, I am probably clutching at straws here but Lahm, Mertesacker and Schweinsteiger will be in their 30's and Klose will be retired by the time we play them.

They don't have much coming through to take Klose's mantle and their defence - on paper and in reality - is pretty suspect.

[tetsujin1979]

It would be great if any two of Piszczek, Blaszczykowski or Lewandowski were to encounter injury problems when we play them. They are probably Poland's best players and the former two have had pretty dodgy injury records recently. In fact, Blaszczykowski is out for the rest of the season with a cruciate. There is that and the fact that their club, Borussia Dortmund, are struggling this season in the Bundesliga.

As has been said, we don't deserve to be there if we can't get a couple of wins over teams like Poland and Scotland. We should know what Scotland are all about - bit of a derby though - and Poland did not cover themselves in glory when they hosted the Euros; they looked pretty average.

As for Germany, as Sweden have been proven, victory or a draw is not insurmountable if you don't show them too much respect. It's just a pity that O'Neill could have had a platform to learn from in the WC 2014 Qualifying campaign but instead we just showed up to lose against Germany in Dublin and by the time we reached the return game, we were already out and were playing a completely experimental strategy and team.

Lastly, I am probably clutching at straws here but Lahm, Mertesacker and Schweinsteiger will be in their 30's and Klose will be retired by the time we play them.

They don't have much coming through to take Klose's mantle and their defence - on paper and in reality - is pretty suspect.

It's not their defence I'm worried about, it's the midfield and strikers that really concern me

[IsMiseSean]

I think Blaszczykowski done his knee in a few weeks ago. If we play Poland early he could still be out.

[Stuttgart88]

Klose's record is rubbish though. Oh wait...

[DannyInvincible]

Georgia could be a banana skin. 6 points won't be a formality. Definitely, one of the better fifth seeds.

France only managed to come away from Tbilisi with a point during World Cup qualification back in September. The two drew 0-0.

Georgia were very poor when we played them last June, however.