Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Agree 100%, being able to grind out a win is hugely important. In some ways a dogged 0-1 win might be to our advantage.
There's an obvious concern now regarding who can step up to the mark if Robinson is unavailable but by the same token good to have someone who has set the bar high for others to try to match.
Last edited by zero; 13/10/2021 at 2:44 PM.
Jaysus.
I have to say, one thing which struck me from watching that match is that I think there's still an imbalance in the ratings across confederations. And it's hard to get that right as inter-confed games are relatively rare. Eloratings has us and Qatar within 12 points of each other (which is negligible), although we caught up 30 points on them yesterday. But the group suggests they're probably little better than Luxembourg, who are 250 points below us.
All part of what makes yesterday hard to analyse. But it was fun to watch!
Last edited by pineapple stu; 13/10/2021 at 12:30 PM.
The 55 is accurate in terms of currently active internationals. The 95 is my own personal list and includes guys who are in the conversation like Coventry, Kilkenny, Ronan, Gallagher along with the likes of Taylor, Smodzic, Keane who have received call ups or were in provisional squads but not appeared yet...
I feel cautiously optimistic after that. Qatar are ****e, but we've been losing to such teams recently and were never great at putting them to the sword. Sterner tests await, and I feel like the league table - which sees us 1 point behind Luxembourg albeit with much better goal difference hinting at some bad luck - is still the litmus test Kenny is failing. The game against Luxembourg next window will be critical in assessing whether Kenny has really found his feet.
I liked Ogbene yesterday. Some technical deficiencies, but his movement and pace are a big advantage. He is the only right forward we've played other than Robinson that I can recall being much of a goal threat from that position. And Robinson is happy centrally or on the left, as I understand it.
Hendrick - a player I've defended here from some pretty savage attacks - had a great game, full of energy, probing passes and offering some goal threat himself.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Such perfection in a post is a rare thing.
yes, but if they are not in the team then they are not influencing the result where we are "rolling over" the opposition.
we did it with vast majority of our players coming from higher than L1
But they were in the team - five of the 15 players who played in Azerbaijan were third tier. 4 of 13 if you want to discount 90th minute subs. Either way, around one third of the players.
So it is correct to say that we have a team with a lot of L1 players in it.
Hendrick and many Newcastle Players may soon be needing new clubs. it will be interesting to see how many of them find some form.
I read somewhere that they had their strongest team out in their previous game v Portugal.
Regardless of the current merits of Azerbajan and Qatar, fans usually sense when something clicks in a team. However, the next two games will be the real deal and the measure of the campaign.
Qatar are not a team of builders and plumbers, they are the current Asian Champions. What the hell have we ever won? Yeah they looked terrible last night but how much of that was down to how aggressive we were from the start?
I think the last 2 games were brilliant. We've been miserable to watch for so long. Yes we need to build on it in the next window, but if you didnt enjoy these 2 games Im not sure why you even watch the Ireland team.
Last edited by Razors left peg; 13/10/2021 at 4:34 PM.
Gonna be interesting to see where Hendrick ends up. He's got two and a half years left on a 40k a week contract. No team is going to cover that, whether it's on loan or a transfer so Newcastle will probably need to cover half his wages if they want him out.
Clark is on 35k a week and only has a year and a half left on his contract.
Ahem, we are the reigning Icelandic Triangular tournament and Carling Nation's cup champions.
They're Asian champions alright, but they're not exactly setting this group alight, even allowing for no home games in it. Narrow neutral wins against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan, a draw away to Luxembourg, and easily beaten three times by Serbia/Portugal. They've Serbia and Azerbaijan as their last two games, both away.
I don't know was it a surprise that they won the Asian Cup or what. They're the number 6 ranked team in Asia at the moment, which means they'd be struggling to make it to the World Cup ordinarily, and be making up the numbers at it if they got there. But probably their form in the group this year is a better indicator of how good they are. And they seem to be not great, which is how you'd view last night's game by any objective view too
Last edited by pineapple stu; 13/10/2021 at 5:03 PM.
No they arent great, but we havent been either and we drew with them a few months ago. My point is that there is clear progress being made and the last two games have been as enjoyable as I can remember in years regardless of the opposition
Oh for sure; I made that point during the game alright.
I was surprised at how bad they were all things considered. They had even seemed vaguely handy earlier in the year in the 1-1 draw. I think some of that was us playing better but the basic errors were their fault
But recent improvements set the Portugal game up nicely. So watch as we get brought down to earth with a 4-1 defeat of course...
Haha probably. God I hope not though. I was in Portugal 2 weeks ago with all the wifes family and they were tormenting me about Ronaldos 2 goals
Great Money = = Pity I am passed my peak.
We may well lose to Portugal, but I don’t think they’ll hammer us. I think we have a chance of getting a point. Luxembourg away I’d be cautiously optimistic that we can win. Its been a long road, but I think the team is starting to look like it’s turned a corner. The recent emergence of Robinson as a serious goal threat has played no small part in that.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Probably on Portugal, but we have to remember it's only a month since Serbia battered us in Lansdowne and we were blessed not to lose by 3 or 4.
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