Win or Bust tonight and well we didn't bust. The asthetics are irrelevant. A massive boost. As long as we avoid Italy we have a punchers chance against the others. Croatia were good tonight but dropped the ball a bit over the last few months, lost to Turkey only beat Kosovo 1-0 and were held at home by Finland. Swiss had a pi$$ easy group - Latvia / Andorra / Faroes so hard to know how good they are and we know all about Sweden who might have improved since the euros.
No one will fancy playing us. You have to beat us physically before your superior technique comes into it and it's starting to become an issue for teams. We have a string of impressive results which can't be dismissed as luck any longer.
Wrote us off this afternoon, thought we had too many injuries. You'd be a fool to write this team off under MON any longer.
COYBIG
Nine of our twelve goals in qualifying came from players who came through the League of Ireland.
I'm sorry, but this isn't chance. It's possible to fluke one or 2 wins but we've now had wins against Germany, Italy, Austria (away), Wales (away), drew in Belgrade, won a playoff against Bosnia over 2 legs and gave France a hell of a fright in the Euros. These are all teams with better players than us on paper but esprit de corps counts for a lot in international football and that is what have in spades.Originally Posted by mark12345
I enjoy a crisp passing move as much as the next man, but it's only one way to win a game of football. There are other ways and it's legitimate to pursue them if the manager feels it's the most likely approach to deliver success with the players available to him.
The harsh reality is that the group of players we have aren't going to win the World Cup, but O'Neills tactics have achieved as much as could have realistically been hoped for over 2 campaigns now. There have been ups and downs for sure but could we have achieved more with a different tactical approach? I'd suggest we probably couldn't have done much better, but we might have done an awful lot worse. Wes Hoolahan is a fine player, but it's not like he is someone like David Silva or Philippe Coutinho who can have a team built around him. He's a 35 year old who is usually on the bench for Norwich. The 2 guys who played in midfield tonight are starting regularly in the Premier League so clearly it isn't just Martin O'Neill who rates them highly.
If we draw Italy or Croatia it's probably going to be tough but if we get Denmark, Sweden or Switzerland we can do our thing and see what happens.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Feel sorry for Wales, thought Chris Coleman was gracious in defeat. Outstanding performance tonight, not pretty but job done.
A bit off topic I know and I shouldn't have done so but couldn't resist going on to the Jocks "pie and Bovril" page. **** but their bitterness is off the charts. If I could bottle their bile I'd have the most corrosive substance known to man. Anyway our away record in recent years is something to be proud of.
''and I for one welcome our new insect overlords''
A 0-0 and a 1-1 will do the job nicely.
A perfect 10/10 for O'Neill, unprecedented for us to win such a crunch game against better seeded and hyped up to the gills opponents on their own turf. O'Neill had that team perfectly prepared for the 90 minutes of what could be described as a duel, not a football game as such.
Not a game for Wes. After the last game, Wales needed to be kicked and shouldered about with some verve.
Coleman was moaning about that we only had one chance and scored, afaics they only had one chance and Randolph saved it with panache. This game was about winning and what it takes to win such a game.
I though we did a pretty good job, particularly defensively, which is the bedrock of any team, I feel quite positive, a good team performance.
We dealt with everything Wales threw at us quite comfortably.
Wales have not lost in a competitive match at home since 2013 ie in 4 years!
Still BUZZING.
I wouldn’t want to play Croatia but the away trip with their fans would be brilliant. They were a great laugh in Paris last year.
Sweden would be the most winnable out of the 4 but still a tough ask.
Then again you cannot write us off anybody and the 4 seeded teams definitely won’t want to be paired with us. We are a horrible team to have to play against.
Regarding the Swiss, i think theyd be the best team to get, good at crosses and can string the ball around, but rely to much on shaqiri, and dont like it up them...........very brittle team. But arent they our bogey team?
Swedan will be unseeded like us! ... Its Italy, Portugal (they wont win tonight), Croatia or Denmark! ..... Take your pick. I would want Denamrk!
******** it’s Denmark not Sweden. Still prefer Danes out of the rest. Fingers crossed.
Denmark or Switzerland (we owe them one). I believe there are lots of holes in the Swiss defence (sorry).
Great job by O’Neill last night. I must say, he has some team spirit going with this group.
Look at the lads celebrating last night. McGeady and Hoolahan in the thick of the celebrations. Everybody is onboard with this team and there doesn’t seem to be any grumbling from fringe players.
Having Coleman, Walters and Long there at the game speaks volumes too. They’re very much part of the group, injured or not.
Dunphy made a good point about Long’s embrace of Maguire when he replaced him during Moldova game. There is no ego in this team it seems
Last edited by Fixer82; 10/10/2017 at 8:21 AM.
I know wales spirit is usually good also but I thought it was telling that 3 of our injured players (long, coleman and walters) were sitting just behind the bench last night while bale was looking down from the corporate boxes like Caesar. walters and coleman also sat behind the bench last friday
My girlfriend remarked on just the same as we were watching. Beyond any of his (many) faults as a team selector and a tactician, O'Neill, and Keane I'd imagine, do well in terms of general morale/cohesion. You'd imagine if, Coleman say, said he was going to watch from the stands Keane would have a bollicking ready.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Agree. They're a part of it and are made feel a part of it. It's a family atmosphere. Whoever is not playing is shouting on their team-mates. O'Neill deserves big credit for that.
Folding my way into the big money!!!
Probably lucky that he knew Maguire was playing for Ireland .
Where was McCarthy last night? ..Didn't see him there?
George Hamilton said that Wales needed to win after Croatia went ahead in Ukraine. Is that correct (he gets so many things wrong)? If Wales had drawn, they would have had 18 points (like Slovakia), but Wales GD was better. Anyone know?
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