Republic of Ireland V Poland - Sunday, 29th March 2015 - Euro 2016 Qualifier

[jbyrne]

An important factor in the Polish game will be the ticket office (and for the Scots game). Those at the friendly in Lansdowne a year or so ago will recall that well over half of the crowd was Polish. This has got to be avoided.

i dont think the importance of this can be over stated. if the poland tickets go on public sale they will be snapped up by irish poles and we could easily see 15 to 20,000 poles creating a home like atmosphere for their team. time to get the FAI thinking cap on if it exists!

[paul_oshea]

If there was any message from O'Neill's tenure at Celtic it was that his sides were usually poor away from home but almost always victorious at home. Let's hope this trend continues. My recollection is that many of Celtic's famous victories at home were won by set pieces, often delivered by Thompson.

If Poland are so good how come Scotland drew 2-2 there? Of course we can beat them. All square at the half way point with 3 home games left would be a position as any of us would have taken.

30 away gmaes in Europe or something and no wins.

We're not really capable of beating them given how oneill sets us up(and we havent beaten anyone of note for about 13 years home or away), but we need to win it and based on waht O'Neill said I am holding him to it "the onus is on the home side to win". If he doesn't set up to do that then he is a hypocrit.

Strachan outwitted him, he put more thought into the game and they got the goal.

Our performances were just as poor and consistent for Fridays game as they were for Georgia, Germany and the last few years. We lost becuase we lacked the luck we got against Georgia and Germany.

[BonnieShels]

We beat France over 90min in Paris and but for the vagaries of the ET and AG system that would be a win. )

Can't really blame MON for the goal.

Some critical player errors at that moment, and I think Hendrick is the most culpable from what I recall, caused us to concede.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Yeah, but Paris was 5 years (today) ago.

Feck all relevance to now.
We should have courted, or do, the likes of Noble or Kane more forcefully never mind eejits like Grealish.

[paul_oshea]

We beat France over 90min in Paris and but for the vagaries of the ET and AG system that would be a win. )

Can't really blame MON for the goal.

Some critical player errors at that moment, and I think Hendrick is the most culpable from what I recall, caused us to concede.

McGeady moved out of the space that allowed Maloney to shoot into that area. None of them picked them up, 3 or 4 scottish players ran out and all were left, you could see what was happening a mile off(or at least 80-90m away where I was standing, it was a good finish though. I just remember saying to another lad why is no one coming out to meet and pick them up, 15 seconds later we could see the net moving.

Ah thats a measure of how desperate we are if we need to keep going on about France, we drew over the course of the whole match. The game finishes when the final whistle is blown and its the end result that matters not what happened at half time or after 90 - if extra time is played. No one has ever won a game 1-1.

[jbyrne]

Yeah, but Paris was 5 years (today) ago.

Feck all relevance to now.
We should have courted, or do, the likes of Noble or Kane more forcefully never mind eejits like Grealish.

has noble shown even the slightest bit more interest than Grealish to represent us? id say the complete opposite is true

[Stuttgart88]

I thought the free that Hendrick conceded just before the goal was naive and unnecessary. Poor old Jeff was culpable on at least two bases for the goal. It's hard to be critical though, it was a tough game to be thrown into as part of a two man midfield accompanying a less mobile player and facing a midfield three. I have no doubt that had we played a three in the middle Quinn would have shadowed Mulgrew all night long. Instead Mulgrew was highly effective and had space to attack.

[ArdeeBhoy]

has noble shown even the slightest bit more interest than Grealish to represent us? id say the complete opposite is true

The point stands, our squad isn't good enough and no kidding ourselves otherwise will solve the problem.
They have the good and bad cops, so MO'N/RMK need to be forcefully pursuing players than they seem to be.

And at least my example is about an established EPL player (or a very promising one who missed out on) rather than some fringe joker who might never turn out to be any good anyway.

[ArdeeBhoy]

An important factor in the Polish game will be the ticket office (and for the Scots game). Those at the friendly in Lansdowne a year or so ago will recall that well over half of the crowd was Polish. This has got to be avoided.

i dont think the importance of this can be over stated. if the poland tickets go on public sale they will be snapped up by irish poles and we could easily see 15 to 20,000 poles creating a home like atmosphere for their team. time to get the FAI thinking cap on if it exists!

Don't see how it can or will be. The FAI are only interested in filling the stadium, to 40k Poles if necessary.
That's not the issue. The crowd is irrelevant. It's how and who we play.
And the same v.Alba in June.

The latter doesn't exactly inspire with confidence, so a question of bucking a trend, but without a deeper squad unsure how we can make any meaningful or necessary contingencies.

[paul_oshea]

At this stage we need to better scotland and polands next results, probably need to better more than just the next ones, because we have poland away from home as our last game. Conceiveably we could all be on 10 points if we managed to beat Poland hallf way through the campaign. Its like starting from scratch, but poland have a home game to come against us where we could get nothing and they get 3. We have germany at home and they have Germany away I'd imagine we would be more likely to get a draw against Germany than they will, but that still leaves them 2 points ahead of us, so we would have to ensure we beat scotland after that game. And so the same process for Scotland. Georgia play scotland in september, when they will be well out of contention for anything other than finishing higher than Giblatar, as with all these teams, the interest will have waned and they will not put up the same fight, so Scotland should come out on top easy enough. Both Ireland and Scotland play Germany at home and the scots have poland at home their second last game, I think thats when we will find out what chance we have of qualifying, Germany wont be home and dry as originally thought and will come to us looking/needing to win(not like a few years ago when they came), I feel that SCotland will match or outdo us against the Germans, I feel they are more likely to get a draw than we are. The group is going to be very tight indeed, assuming we beat Poland at home. Its more than likely we will be competing directly with the scots now for third, and I don't see the georgians that late in the day doing us any favours.

So ya, the penultimate round of fixtures will be very telling, hopefully we wont be out of it by then, but there is a good chance we will be.

I honestly don't see us finishing ahead of scotland now, and therefore dont see us qualifying.

[jbyrne]

Don't see how it can or will be. The FAI are only interested in filling the stadium, to 40k Poles if necessary.
That's not the issue. The crowd is irrelevant. It's how and who we play.
And the same v.Alba in June.

The latter doesn't exactly inspire with confidence, so a question of bucking a trend, but without a deeper squad unsure how we can make any meaningful or necessary contingencies.

really, the potential for 40,000 poles in our stadium is irrelevant? what frame of mind would it put our players in for the game if they walked out to their own stadium full of away fans?

good home support can have a massive effect on the team

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think Poland are as strong as people seem to be afraid of. The German result had a fair chunk of luck ascribed to it, not least when Podolski hit the bar at 1-0, and relying on a rare Neuer error to score from an even rarer attack. If we had won the game the same way Paul would be quick to highlight that aspect.

I'm not being overly positive or naive, but we weren't a million miles off a different result on Friday, and I think there is little between us all. That said, I just don't see how anything less than wins at home to Poland and Scotland will be enough. I think we'll need wins in both, and a point away in Poland. It's a big ask of O'Neill.

[Stuttgart88]

really, the potential for 40,000 poles in our stadium is irrelevant? what frame of mind would it put our players in for the game if they walked out to their own stadium full of away fans?

good home support can have a massive effect on the team

This is where the FAI customer relations team can earn their corn. Don't release tickets on general sale until necessary. Prioritise season ticket holders, supporters clubs and known buyers of tickets from previous games. Launch a big campaign to ensure season ticket take up: England, Scotland, Poland and Georgia as a bundle ought to be attractive, plus a possible home play off.

[paul_oshea]

Stutts down through the years we have heard the same, I dont think X is that good, I dont think Y is that good.

They might not be but I know that we are NOT that good, and we arent capable of beating any decent team really. Don't devalue the other team before realising how poor we are and incapable we are, but again if the right players are picked I think we are a match for many teams.

[paul_oshea]

Oh and everytime we are not that far off a result or a different result its usually down to we haven't done enough to actually get a goal, and eventually we concede.
Sometimes we get a bit of luck or the rub of the green and we get a draw or a win.

[Stuttgart88]

Stutts down through the years we have heard the same, I dont think X is that good, I dont think Y is that good.

They might not be but I know that we are NOT that good, and we arent capable of beating any decent team really. Don't devalue the other team before realising how poor we are and incapable we are, but again if the right players are picked I think we are a match for many teams.

again Paul, you're agreeing with me despite appearing not to agree with me. I think there's not much between the three of us. We have home advantage which used to count under most managers, but not Trap, probably because we were too cautious. I said its a big ask of O'Neill but by saying this I was saying that it is within his powers to select a team and an approach that will get these wins. I'm not saying it is likely but it is possible. If Iceland can beat Turkey and Holland I am not giving up hope of Ireland beating Poland and Scotland. Would I bet on it? No.

[OwlsFan]

This is the team we beat them with on their last visit: David Forde, Paul McShane, Ciaran Clark, John O’Shea, Greg Cunningham, Robbie Brady, James McCarthy, Glenn Whelan, James McClean, Shane Long, Conor Sammon.

Unlikely to have more than 4 changes for their next visit all things being equal.

[Stuttgart88]

Wow, no way would I have recalled that starting XI. I'd probably recall better the starting XI that drew 0-0 with them in Dalyer in the 80s with Buckley and Campbell upfront.

Still, my memory is suspect these days though my continence is still reliable.

[ArdeeBhoy]

This is where the FAI customer relations team can earn their corn. Don't release tickets on general sale until necessary. Prioritise season ticket holders, supporters clubs and known buyers of tickets from previous games. Launch a big campaign to ensure season ticket take up: England, Scotland, Poland and Georgia as a bundle ought to be attractive, plus a possible home play off.

Except most of that is how they sold the current season tickets, unsure how many sold, but 10k max. AFAIK.
As for the FAI, we all know 'efficient' they are. Still scope for 20k minimum away fans if they don't get their act together, which is pretty likely.
Maybe someone should petition them further with the sensible content of this post, but don't hold your breath.

I'll predict a 1-2 to Polska now with 15k away fans and 1-1 v.Alba with 20k visitors. Though ultimately the numbers will be irrelevant. It'll come down to a lack of quality and tactical nous.

I do sincerely hope I'm wrong though.

[DeLorean]

Delaney said in the programme that they're offering a package 'hat-trick' for Poland, England & Scotland. That's a good start I think and something I'll definitely be taking advantage of. Think you get to choose your own seat also, within reason.