only a win is acceptable!

[Captain Tinrib]

Well first of all israel are ranked 50 to our 15th!! We have better players. We have the best fans in the world,we drew with the mighty french (we should have won) we are more passtionate about football than them (lets be realistic like) no im sorry but only a win is acceptable against an average southampton like team

[Plastic Paddy]

Well Captain, you know these rankings mean not an awful lot, but I agree with your assessment. I'll even extend it for us. Nothing less than six points in the next two games is good enough.

Bring them on...

PP

[tetsujin1979]

In terms of European teams only, where would ourselves and Israel rank?

[Captain Tinrib]

In terms of European teams only, where would ourselves and Israel rank?

Good point there mate, ide say we areonly behind the french ,the english and the italians, fair enough the dutch can be awsome but weve played them afew times and showed we can beat them, as far as israel go i would put them in the same league as belgium,croatia, and denmark, which isnt to bad really, they are improveing.

[jimbob117]

as far as israel go i would put them in the same league as belgium,croatia, and denmark, which isnt to bad really, they are improveing.

Disagree. They are not as good, and until they start qualifying for tournaments like the above have on numerous occasions, i wont be convinced. Id consider them to be in the same bracket as latvia, lithuania etc

[Sliogán Dóite]

I don't think they're in the same bracket as Belgium etc anyway.

[Curtains]

Israel are an awful team who dont rank with croatia etc but they are one of those annoying teams who are hard to brake down and rely on 2-3 good players to scrape them a draw or even a win. They play to the big occasion ie ireland france etc but look at the state of them when they played cyprus-they scored an 83rd minute equaliser. Its a must win game but i tell you it will be the most frustrating match cause they will pile all their players in their own half and lansdowne road being so small is the worst place for that to occur!!

[zinedineontour]

Well first of all israel are ranked 50 to our 15th!! We have better players. We have the best fans in the world,we drew with the mighty french (we should have won) we are more passtionate about football than them (lets be realistic like) no im sorry but only a win is acceptable against an average southampton like team

one thing about above ..we should win but it aint all over it we dont ...should win though .. anyway just to say we have the best fans in the world ?? how untrue is that .. the best fans in the world that cant sell there allocation for switzerland away last year in such a important game then 30000 go to paris ? i was in switzerland and the away end was nowhere near full yet everyone thinks we are great cause we got so many in paris ...

lansdowne is like a morgue sometimes ... to me the best fans in the world are scotland who travel everywhere no matter how **** they are ..

[pineapple stu]

The best fans in the world are quite often the Irish who go to the away games...unfortunately, it suits us to apply that tag to all Irish fans, especially when it comes to justifying sitting in pubs watching foreign football all weekend long...

Would disagree that the Israelis are less passionate about football than us though - the game in Israel seems to disprove that completely. Lansdowne Road was never like that!

[Adrianovic]

Although it will be by no means easy, I fully expect Ireland to win today and will be completely disappointed if we don't win.

Throwing away two points in Israel has probably been discussed to a death, but now we have to make amends.

If we win today, then we will be in a strong position in the group.

I think a big performance from Duff today could be the key. He can break down defences and find gaps where others can't.

Ade