If I were a betting man (though I'd be bankrupt 10 times over), Georgia at 5/1 doesn't look too shabby.
I doubt if McClean will be axed after one (non) performance under Mick.
If McClean is dropped, that presumably means Brady on the left and Brady was pretty brutal when he came on against Gibraltar. So not necessarily the better option on the left than McClean at this point in time. I'd play Coleman and Doherty again as against Gibraltar, don't see any other option within the squad selected, and drop Maguire for an extra body in midfield. Let Hendrick drift in midfield, add Arter for bite and have somebody anchoring it all.
Duffy would be a loss, his hoofing notwithstanding. A real threat from set pieces and a solid defender.Meanwhile, McCarthy has a major fitness concern ahead of the game with Georgia with Shane Duffy forced to miss training this morning.
"Shane has got a sore ankle but we just left him out today. He's going to have a scan and see if there's anything serious. I'm hoping if he's ok but might not be."
I fear all the evidence points to us losing tomorrow... we might get a goal but I doubt we will keep them scoreless.. maybe a draw but im not confident at all
To me there were three really disappointing aspects in the Gib game (ignoring the only one goal side of things): Duffy's distribution (from his very first touch), Stevens anonymity (and almost fatal error) and Maguire unable to hold the ball up. That's said, can't judge performances on one game but I think we should somehow try and accommodate both Doherty (we have few enough players playing at the top level and doing well) and Coleman (too early to speak of his demise). I like Judge. He can pass and move.
Georgia have outplayed us most times we have faced them and we still for the most part have come out on top. They even outplayed Switzerland and managed to lose 0-2. I would still fancy us to win but they need to be put under pressure and not allow them play.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Georgia didn't outplay Switzerland, they had passages of very good play in the 1st half. In the 2nd half the Swiss almost totally dominated and pinned them to their rearguard. They are just about worthy of 4th seed, not consistent enough to make it higher. But on their day they'll do in a better team.
I've a tendancy to ****e on a fair amount with my posts. It does nobody any good.
Keeping it simple, We need to press Georgia high up the pitch, from the start and often. Our goalkeeper is too deep when we have the ball up high, and it forces our defenders to drop back further than required.
I'd drop McClean. I'd drop Maguire. Withdraw McGoldrick into his natural position, with Byrne alongside him. We don't have any wingers in our squad, so trying to accomodate them in a 442 or 451 isn't going to work. Arter has the athleticism to cover roving full-backs, where is where our width is going to have to come from. We have one right-sided player who is tearing up the PL in an attacking sense on the right-side. It's Doherty, and he should be played there. Stevens doesn't appear to be as proficient in that regard on the left. But having Brady on that side might compensate. There's another reason why Byrne, Maguire, Judge, Brady won't get picked together. Defensive set-pieces.
------------------Randy
Doherty----Keogh----Egan-------Stevens
-------------------Arter--------------------
------Hourihane----------Brady----------
------------Byrne------McGoldrick-------
-------------------Collins------------------
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Owlsfan - The Swiss had 25 shots to 6 and 65% of the ball vs Georgia!
Mick isn’t going to take any risks. He cannot afford to and doesn’t have time to experiment by chucking in kids in must win games. It’ll be 451 or 442.
Following his comment about Doherty it would not surprise me to see him dropped with Brady coming in. Harsh but he isn’t going to drop Coleman.
It really is an average squad and is completely unbalanced. We don’t have any wingers and we don’t have a striker who is consistent at getting the ball in the net.
If we had a ball player at CB it would really push the team forward and open things up. Duffy and Keogh are great at blocks and defending set pieces but the modern game needs a centre back to start attack’s and being comfortable on the ball. The days of lumping it long just does not work anymore.
I don’t think in my lifetime that I’ve ever expected us to lose against theoretically inferior opposition,and definitely not at home,kills me to say it but I fully expect us to lose tomorrow.Theres just too many players that aren’t international standard.Duffy’s probably our best goal option so hopefully he’s not out.Doherty’s having a brilliant season and we’re considering dropping him because basically we don’t have a midfielder that he can pass inside to and expect to get the ball back.I’d take any kind of draw and hope someone can find form for the next round or that we can find some better players.
Le monde est a nous
Given the makeshift nature of our team for this game, I'm not sure that we can even refer to Georgia as theoretically inferior - the gap on paper is looking quite narrow, if we consider Shaktar Donetsk, Lokomotiv Moscow and Vitoria de Setubal to be on a par with Burnley, Brighton, Wolves and Everton and Magdeburg, Luzern, Zurich, Gent and Sturm Graz to be reasonably comparable to Preston, Middlesbrough, Stoke and Sheffield United. Five of our starters on Saturday had fewer than ten caps.
There is no learning curve option here - we can't afford to play like we did against Gibraltar, even taking the wind and the pitch into consideration - this team, which again is pretty makeshift, will have to click from the start tomorrow and all of them will have to play close to their best if we are to have any reasonable level of confidence that we will beat Georgia. If they manage it, even if it's a messy, ugly, single-goal victory, then they, and Mick, will actually deserve some plaudits for getting the campaign off to a safe start and giving us a platform to take on to the games against Switzerland and Denmark, when we will hopefully have a stronger team.
That said, I am very concerned about our chances tomorrow
Who are the youngest players in the squad? I think we need the fastest fittest young players to start in midfield. The age profile of the team lacks balance.
Bookmarks