QuoteDude.... Believe me I've tried.
Sometimes, late at night, I can still see the goalkeeper & referee laughing maniacly, stroking two huge rotwielers.
If we play like we did against Israel we'll definitely beat the Swiss. Freak match and should be forgotten about asap.Originally Posted by dr_peepee
Dude.... Believe me I've tried.
Sometimes, late at night, I can still see the goalkeeper & referee laughing maniacly, stroking two huge rotwielers.
The swiss are a very average workman like side to coin a phrase often used. But thats what they are. They arent world beaters. The problem with Ireland is that were were traditionally set up to dampen all the great teams play and then just get a goal.
We were brilliant at that but we never dispatched a weaker team. Hopefully Kerr is putting this wrong right. It's the main thing that is holding the team back, that and along with losing 2 nill leads. There is nothing in that swiss team that would bother me in any way. We should beat them 3 or 4 nill
Give up??Ireland, Holland, Ukraine, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Spain, Croatia. What do we have in common?
The swiss are a very average workman like side to coin a phrase often used. But thats what they are. They arent world beaters. The problem with Ireland is that were were traditionally set up to dampen all the great teams play and then just get a goal.
We were brilliant at that but we never dispatched a weaker team. Hopefully Kerr is putting this wrong right. It's the main thing that is holding the team back, that and along with losing 2 nill leads. There is nothing in that swiss team that would bother me in any way. We should beat them 3 or 4 nill
Give up??
There's no way we'll beat them 3 or 4 nill. We are not much better than the Swiss.
yes we can beat this swiss team by 3 goals maybe 4... were on our way up and still havent reached our top gear.. switzerland is on the way down
Yes, we are. We will beat them if we play to our potential.
With some people here the confidence is turning into arrogance...
Switzerland may not have world stars in the team, but we all know a good collective (and they have that) is better than a few star players that bear all the weight on their shoulders. And they also haven't got a player who is really bad.
The national team also had some good results in the last years.
Swiss league crap ?! My man, you don't know what you're talking about. The Swiss league is certainly not worse than the Belgian, Austrian, Dutch, or I'd say even Portuguese league. We often see Swiss teams doing well in Europe, some made the Champions League and I seem to remember that in a very recent past 'crap team' Basel was the sensation of Europe that caused all big clubs nightmares. They lost to Hearts. Big deal. If you judge a team based upon the one game you saw...Every team, even the Real Madrid's of this world, loses a game against weaker opposition now and then.
If the Swiss are such a bad side, it's up to the Irish to prove it. A look on the table though learns me that the Swiss are in better position than the Irish, if they don't lose in Dublin they got it all in their hands. And I think Ireland will have a hard time getting through that Swiss defense, just like France and its world class strikers had (and didn't succeed in !).
And they still have to travel to Cyprus. Ireland as well. Don't underestimate them, the small ones can make it pretty hard for the in theory bigger side. Switzerland may drop points in Nicosia, there's however no guarantee Ireland and France won't as well.
I'm not a Switzerland fan, let that be clear. But when self-confidence turns into arrogance it's time someone is being a bit realistic here and bring you down to earth... If you think Ireland will easily hammer Switzerland, you could have a very very disappointing anti-climax. They're no top of the world, they're certainly amongst the better European teams (of course well behind Spain, Italy, Czech, Holland)
We won't hammer them but they are "hammerable". Look at their sh!tty performance's in Portugal last summer FFS. Not seeing us qualify for those Championships was bad, but to see how the two teams that beat us there performed - well, that was just sickening...
Like Israel, the Swiss are due a tankin' - they're punching WAY above their weight, and will be found out this time around before they get the chance to qualify. Havin' said that - we have ALOT to work on.
Yeah but somehow they raise their game against us. Also you forgot Senderos who is no slouch at Arsenal. We should beat the Swiss. But we also should have beaten Israel.
Anything other than a win against the Swiss and Cyprus means we'll all be watching the telly next June.
"Jacques Santini...will be greeted in every dugout of the country by "one-nil, one-nil" - Clive Tyldsley, 89th minute of France-England June 13, 2004.
"Ooooohhhh Nooooooo" Bobby Robson 91st minute.
More a case that we lower our game against them I think, we've been shocking every time we've played them.
Absolutely. If you look at the results alone, they would clearly have the edge on us. The first time we played them, the team was sick after Saipan. The next time we played them, we were just terrible, Saipan or no Saipan. The last time we played them, we gave them a way back into the game and never really went at them. I remember them each time being terrible in defence, a mouthy bunch and pretty good upfront but with a weak midfield. We never exploited their midfield or defence.
They should get a comprehensive beating in September.
Gerrit thats a load of bollócks. the swiss are second rate with one or 2 good players. We can beat them and France. I dont see Switzerland beating the israeli either
I hope so. I have no affection with Switzerland and France has been seen so often yet. I have stated before and stay with my statement: I hope Ireland and Israel both reach the WC finals.
But, the only thing I say, it won't be as easy as it looks. Even Liechtenstein and Andorra get hammered very rarely (except for the 8-1 in Czech last weekend Andorra rarely gets in more than 2 or 3) let alone Switzerland. I hope Ireland and Israel will overcome CH and FR, but I just say: don't think it will be an easy job.
I wouldn't say that. They drew with a decent Croatia team, they absolutely slaughtered England until Haas got sent off on the hour mark and they held France until the last 15 minutes. There were a few teams who performed worse imo, not least Bulgaria.
Gerrit, don't be saying things like "you don't know what you're talking about" unless you actually know I don't. I bet on European football most days of the week. The Swiss league is rubbish. I read the thoughts of people from all over Europe (a betting site with over 10,000 members) on their league and nobody rates Basel any more. They were good a few years ago but now they're nowhere near as good. Holland? Portugal? Ha. You follow European football, I know that, but don't assume you know more than everyone else in Ireland.
And btw, 3 Swiss teams could only manage 2 draws between them in 6 qualifying matches. The 2 UEFA cup qualifiers were against non-seeded weak teams.
And I'm far from arrogant. People were over optimistic against Israel and I was posting all sort of reasons why we'll have a hard time. Irish people give the Swiss more credit than they deserve imo.
Liechtenstein - are in a poor group - bar Portugal (who they drew at home with), and Slovakia. Latvia put 3 past them, Slovakia put 7 past them, and i'd expect Portugal to inflict a similar defeat on them in Lisbon. Andorra, conceded 4 and 8 against the Czechs, conceded 4 at home to the Netherlands, conceded 5 at home to Romania, and conceded 3 away to the mighty Finland.
why is it all of a sudden the swiss are a threat to ur qualification hopes? not so long ago (euro 2004) they were probably the worst team in the tournament! they are over-rated like the david beckhams of this world. there all big headed players, bring them to landsdowne and we will see the real swiss, there 1 of those teams that wrecks all our heads, lets be realistic we are 3 times as good as them. and i hope we beat the F*ckers.
"liverpool havent a hope, it could end up 5 or 6 to milan" Eamon Dunphy
p.s Fu*k u Dunphy
European Champions 2005:LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB
I don't think I ever pretended to know more than others... Though you're right, when re-reading my previous post it seems I chose the wrong words. Apologies if it sounded like I doubted your fanatism or knowledge, that was not the intention.
All I'm saying is that the Swiss league is not that bad. It's not the Serie A or the Primera, but also don't compare it to the leagues or Albania and Bosnia... Grasshoppers and Basel (and even the now bankrupt Servette Geneve) have had some very decent campaigns in Europe the last decade, and the Swiss may have played a bad Euro 2004 - they were there. Switzerland never got far in a tournament, but check the participators for every World Cup and European Cup since USA 1994: Switzerland was often there, which means they were always managing to get through qualifying stages. Even if you stuff up at the tournament itself, being there means you already left many other nations behind you.
I have often seen Swiss football on Eurosport and a friend of mine has been to some Swiss league games in the past two seasons. The games attract decent crowds similar to the leagues of Belgium and Portugal (two examples where only the top-3 teams would attract really more than the Swiss teams) and apart from a few clubs the teams are decently run. Switzerland's not really having a football culture, my friend who's been there often has never seen many signs of football fanatism outside of the stadiums, but apart from a few big countries many domestic leagues are struggeling...
Ireland should be better and probably is, but that doesn't mean Switzerland is coming to Dublin like a hopeless mouse in a cat's claws...
.Beat the Swiss 3 or 4 goals, you have got to be joking.We wont beat them by that much simple as that, maybe 1 goal with a struggle.When was the last time we scored more than 2 goals apart from the Cyprus result.whether you like to admit it or not,there is fcuk all difference quality wise between us and the Swiss apart from R Keane,D Duff ,Given and to a lesser extend Robbie and A Reid.Based on results in Euro 2004 the Swiss appeared to be quite a bad team when in actual fact they were better than their final position reflected and the England result was a freak one.Christ i would love to see us hammer them but you have to be realisticQuote Jollyrodge rWe should beat them 3 or 4 nill
exactly my point. Switzerland qualified for :
- World Cup 1994 (and reached the 2nd round)
- Euro 1996
- Euro 2004
and also WC 2002 or Euro 2000, I am not too sure which of both...
That's not a bad record, they were at most of the recent big tournaments. Maybe they did not glitter there, but being there means they had already overcome some serious opposition before the actual tournament.
Basel reached the second round of the Champions League three years ago, eliminating Bayern Munich.
Grasshoppers booked a sensational win at Ajax a few seasons before that.
Some Swiss players play in the Bundesliga, one in England, and some with the best domestic sides.
We're not talking about a crap team here. Given the home advantage and the few star players Ireland has they are better, but that's theory. Once on the field they'll have to dismantle a very good collective, and it's definitely Ireland as favourite for the win but it won't be simple.
I think for Israel a draw in Switzerland would be a very good result, though if they really want to set themselves (and maybe even Ireland) in a pole position for the top two spots, they have to win in CH.
To be honest I think France, Ireland and Switzerland are all pretty ordinary at the moment - we really have not played to our potential since the last World Cup. Only Israel are currently playing to their potential. The real question is can Brian Kerr allow this current team to realize it's potential - he is the key factor. We have solid players ( current players better than those available in last World Cup ) . Eirebhoy poited out on paper we are better than the Swiss but on the field of play we have yet to prove that. If you watched the last game in Basel - the Swiss looked like they would walk the ball through our defense at will.
I think our problems are in midfield and not the back 4 per se but I would like to see the Honey Monster in there as a big physical center half is something we lack, O'Brien, Cunningham and O'Shea are all a bit lightweight - and such very nice chaps. I often think we have a team of 1 man and 10 boys ( no prizes who guessing who the man is ).
I think France and Switzerland know that the best game plan for Lansdowne road is to put 10 men behind the ball and hit Ireland on the counter attack. I think 3 wins is a tall order for this team - but the bright news is we pretty much score in every game so if we can tighten up in midfield & full-back in particular and reduce our slopiness we can do it.
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