Republic of Ireland v. Wales - Friday, 24th March 2017 - World Cup 2018 Qualifier

[mark12345]

McGeady needs to start. I watched the Reading game last weekend and his confidence is sky high. He changed wings, I think, when Horgan went off and this versatility might just cause lots of confusion in the Welsh defence. McClean has been great in the last few matches, so what a great headache O'Neill has.

Like your thought process and I would absolutely start McGeady. Horgan has a part to play at some stage I would suggest. One thing we have to be mindful of is tactics in this game.
I would prefer to see Ireland sit back a little and then try to spring a counter attack on them, with McClean and McGeady flying at the Welsh defence. If it is the other way around, where we are caught in the Welsh half and Ramsey releases Bale or Vokes, it spells trouble. I would also be wary of Bale shooting from distance at Randolph.

[Kingdom]

Are Wales still utilising the 3 defenders and wing-back combo? Getting our own formation right will be crucial, as there'll be space to exploit down the in the Welsh third and between the midfield holder and centre-backs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a deep-lying two if McCarthy is fit, to cover both the advancing Ramsey and the floating Bale.

-------------------------Hennessy------------------------
-------------Collins-----Williams--------Chester---------
Gunter---------------------------------------------Taylor/Davies
--------------------------Ledley------------------------------
-------------Ramsey ----------------- Allen ----------------
------------------------------------Bale----------------------
-------------------------Vokes-------------------------------


----------------Randolph---------------
Coleman --- Keogh -- Clark --- Ward
-----------Whelan --- McCarthy-------
------- Hendrick ----- McClean-------
--------------- Hoolahan-----------------
-----------------Walters----------------

That would allow for Shane Long, Aiden McGeady and possibly Horgan to come on and shore things up if we're in a positive place.

Edit. I knew Brady was suspended. So why did I not think of that when looking at the squad? D'uh. I'm supposing Arter is unfit, otherwise he has a chance. If james Mac is unfit, I wouldn't be surprised to see meyler there, but it would worry me if he has too much time to think. Personally I'd love to see McGeady start, but he won't pick both him, Wes and McClean, and wes needs to play for us to hold on to the ball.

[TerryPhelan]

Are Wales still utilising the 3 defenders and wing-back combo? Getting our own formation right will be crucial, as there'll be space to exploit down the in the Welsh third and between the midfield holder and centre-backs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a deep-lying two if McCarthy is fit, to cover both the advancing Ramsey and the floating Bale.

-------------------------Hennessy------------------------
-------------Collins-----Williams--------Chester---------
Gunter---------------------------------------------Taylor/Davies
--------------------------Ledley------------------------------
-------------Ramsey ----------------- Allen ----------------
------------------------------------Bale----------------------
-------------------------Vokes-------------------------------


----------------Randolph---------------
Coleman --- Keogh -- Clark --- Ward
-----------Whelan --- McCarthy-------
------- Hendrick ----- McClean-------
----------------- Brady-----------------
-----------------Walters----------------

That would allow for Shane Long, Aiden McGeady and possibly Wes or Horgan to come on and shore things up if we're in a positive place.

Brady is suspended, unfortunately.

I'd go with that team, but putting in Arter instead of Whelan and McGeady or Wes instead of Brady.

[geysir]

Like your thought process and I would absolutely start McGeady. Horgan has a part to play at some stage I would suggest. One thing we have to be mindful of is tactics in this game.
I would prefer to see Ireland sit back a little and then try to spring a counter attack on them, with McClean and McGeady flying at the Welsh defence. If it is the other way around, where we are caught in the Welsh half and Ramsey releases Bale or Vokes, it spells trouble. I would also be wary of Bale shooting from distance at Randolph.

Considering O'Neill's special relationship with McGeady dating back to before his senior Celtic debut and O'Neill's fulsome opinion about his talent, if MCGeady is not starting then O'Neill has his own very good reasons.

[Stuttgart88]

..which may well include using him off the bench as an effective weapon for the last 35 minutes?

[OwlsFan]

----------------Randolph---------------
Coleman --- Keogh -- Clark --- Ward
-----------Whelan --- McCarthy-------
------- Hendrick ----- McClean-------
--------------- Hoolahan-----------------
-----------------Walters----------------

Too soon for Walters to lead the attack? God knows, even TOWK's Murphy might be a better option. I'd go for Long and O'Shea instead of Keogh. Arter, instead of McCarthy who won't be fit and if both are unfit, Meyler perhaps.

[KrisLetang]

Bale feels great, raring to go, likely to score many goals vs Ireland.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...-bale-ireland/

What is everyone predicting?
My head says 3-0 Wales, My heart says 2-0 Wales.

[SkStu]

3-1 to us.

[nigel-harps1954]

5-0 Ireland. Niall Quinn with a last minute header to guarantee the win.

[geysir]

Bale feels great, raring to go, likely to score many goals vs Ireland.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...-bale-ireland/

The Welsh windbag.

[mark12345]

5-0 Ireland. Niall Quinn with a last minute header to guarantee the win.

What's Niall doing these days beside the odd bit of punditry?

[samhaydenjr]

I'm not disagreeing with you completely but there's a bit too much competition in the squad for a competitive match like Wales that we will need the defensive experience the likes of Pearce and McShane if we are struck by injuries. I think Hoban has the most potential of the lot. He showed more than the other pair at a younger age.

Lenihan was playing centre half last night per LiveScore. All three started.

They definitely should be in the conversation for the upcoming friendlies, along with a lot of other players at a similar level such as Manning, Cullen, Forrester, Cunningham, potentially Robinson and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Alan Browne, dammit, that's who we both forgot

[KrisLetang]

What's Niall doing these days beside the odd bit of punditry?

He and Nigel Harps went shopping for Disco Pants yesterday according to reports.

[Closed Account]

[DannyInvincible]

The faux-Cyrillic font is a nice touch.

[DannyInvincible]

I see Liverpool's youngest ever scorer Ben Woodburn is in there. That's his first call-up.

On paper, they're a very average (and you could say beatable side) although they clearly have a tremendous team-spirit and with world-class Bale in the team bolstered by the likes of Ramsey and Allen, they're a little less predictable.

I'd love a win by a goal - be it 1-0 or 2-1 - and we have the superior players and overall ability across our squad to do that, but I just think we'll play out a tight 1-1 draw. Hennessy is a weak keeper - a flapper - so I hope we take full advantage.

[tetsujin1979]

The faux-Cyrillic font is a nice touch.

The inconsistent direction the capital "E" is facing in "TogetherStronger" is killing me!

On paper, they're a very average (and you could say beatable side) although they clearly have a tremendous team-spirit and with world-class Bale in the team bolstered by the likes of Ramsey and Allen, they're a little less predictable.

I'd agree with that, their midfield is better, we have the better strikers and defence, and obviously Bale is the best player by a distance across the two squads

[DeLorean]

Yeah, although we'd be creaming ourselves if we had a young player getting game time (and scoring) up front for Liverpool.

Hennessy is a weak keeper - a flapper - so I hope we take full advantage.

It a shame we don't have the Brady/Duffy combination to test him.

[geysir]

The faux-Cyrillic font is a nice touch.

I get images of Soviet/Nazi/WW2/propaganda posters

[KrisLetang]

One of the riveting debates surrounding the Wales team, will it be Vokes or HRK up front?
http://apostlewelshfootie.proboards....ussion?page=12

Fighting Irish doing their work to bring good omens to you right now, starting to run away from Princeton in March Madness.
Edit: Irish now in a dogfight. Uh oh.