Why are we so optimistic

[paul_oshea]

why are we so optimistic about beating france. poor perfomances in switzerland and in israel, and a poor second half against israel at home, where is the optimism coming from? just because we beleive we have a decent performance in us, is no cause or grounding for such optimism.

[tiktok]

Because after Israel, it couldn't possibly be any worse?

[Reality Bites]

i for one can barely see us scraping a draw.. get real this is france and they are a wounded animal.. expect a french win 2-1

[paul_oshea]

ya reality bites, going on all our previous displays under brian kerr, that is how i feel, however that isnt reflected by the majority of members of foot.ie that contribute to the ireland forum.

all im saying is what seems to be the basis/foundation of this new found optimism is that we are due a good performance from a good team.

[Metrostars]

Who have France beaten in this group? Enough said.

[tonycuna]

why are we so optimistic about beating france. poor perfomances in switzerland and in israel, and a poor second half against israel at home, where is the optimism coming from? just because we beleive we have a decent performance in us, is no cause or grounding for such optimism.

Tonight is The Night for us. With both vs Israel and with Switz, we had to win yes, but it was not as important as it is tonight. We were in the middle of the campaign and there wasn't the message "Win or out".
Today is a must-win game, we are at home, this is the match we can put one of our two feet in Germany, or we can know "ok, maybe we'll not go through".
Perhaps they're just psycological things, but I think at this stage they're very important to be better in a match, and I think that from the mental side, we can be stronger than France.
That's why I'm optimistic, in my opinion. Anyone agree?

[Dublin12]

i for one can barely see us scraping a draw.. get real this is france and they are a wounded animal.. expect a french win 2-1

Ah come on will ya,is this the same wounded animal that put 3 past the Faroes ,if there's animal wounded animal it's us after the Israel game,if we can get stuck in for the first half hour and intimidate the bejaysus out of them they won't like that at all.

[zinedineontour]

why are we so optimistic about beating france. poor perfomances in switzerland and in israel, and a poor second half against israel at home, where is the optimism coming from? just because we beleive we have a decent performance in us, is no cause or grounding for such optimism.

why shouldnt we be ? what have france done in the group ? we outplayed them in paris and were very unlucky not to win .. they might have a few players back in the team now but thuram is a bit of a liability with boumsong at the back imo .... We have a great chance tonight and hopefully we can act like at 12th man tonight ..

[BaZmO*]

Who have France beaten in this group? Enough said.

Well said!!!

I can't understand why people are constantly saying that "we had our chances" and "we messed up" etc.
But look at the rest of the group FFS! Why haven't "they" missed their chances and messed up? At least we have to play the 2 important games at home.

It'll be tough tonight but I can definitely see good cause for optimism.

B.

[eirebhoy]

Because we've lost 1 competitive match in Lansdowne in the last decade. And that was because McCarthy was doing everything for the win.

[lofty9]

Look at it from a French perspective:

why are we so optimistic about beating Ireland. poor perfomances v switzerland, faroes, cyprus and Ireland and both games v israel, , where is the optimism coming from? just because we beleive we have a decent performance in us, is no cause or grounding for such optimism.


PS Paul O Shea disagree with you about our second half v Israel at home - I thought the team could not have displayed anymore passion than they did - they were very unlucky not to score a winner, I couldn't fault anything about the 2nd half - even when Doherty came on - he caused them serious problems and was unlucky.

Be optimistic. Ireland should beat this team tonight no excuses. we have the team, the dodgy pitch, the fans. Get behind them. I'm sure Roy Keane will be telling each and everyone of those guys tonight that this French team is for the taking.

They were rubbish at the world cup, rubbish in the euros, and rubbish in this qualifying group so far. There is your optimism! If Greece can beat them so can we. End of.

[tonycuna]

Yeah Lofty, I'm agree with u

And Andy Reid says more about this optimism (from fai.ie)

..."The last time one of the footballing superpowers visited Lansdowne they were left in no doubt of the type of game to expect when Roy Keane crunched into Holland's Mark Overmars in the first minute, and Reid says French playmaker Zinedine Zidane might be waiting for something similar.

"There are moments like that which have an effect on the rest of the squad and everybody in our squad is capable of one of those moments," said Reid"...

We have the match at home, we have the crowd back the team, and we have players that can load the crowd and his team-mates to put down France mentally from the first minutes.
We'll have to battle maybe, but we're Ireland, and on a green pitch we are more capable to battle than zz and co

[Colie]

Optimism is half the battle.

If everyone in Lansdown was sh1tting a brick it'd get to the players & fcuk up the performance. We need to go in there with the cocaine attitude coz it's a mental thing, ye know, it's in the head. Look at Roy Keane for example. He thinks he's gonna win everything & he's done pretty well as a result. Now he obviously does have talent too, but it's whats in yer head that gets you there. So thats why we're optimistic, coz it's all part of the fight for victory. "Winners....."

[thejollyrodger]

why dont we have a [SIZE=5]why are we so pesimistic[/SIZE] thread ??

Ireland can certainly lose 3-0 tonight but the fact that we have only lost 1 competitive game in 10 years does say a lot about the way we play (and the crap Mac Carthy management) and how difficult teams find it here.

France are going to find it very very difficult to come over here and beat us. It will take magic from their best player. We only need a draw and as long as we dont try to throw the kitchen sink at them we should be ok.

France are certainly not the team they were. Certainly they have some better footballing players than us but whether they perform to 100% of their capability remainds to be seen. A lot of them wont, it will be all about ZiZu. The French players certainly wont be up for 90 minutes of high tempo Irish pressure. We can at least get a draw out of it. I hope Kerr is looking for the win and we dont go to peices if we do fall behind.

oh ...
I think we face a middle eastern country in the play offs, should we end up there, can someone clarify this ?

[Baker]

i for one can barely see us scraping a draw.. get real this is france and they are a wounded animal.. expect a french win 2-1

Wounded animals are put down more often than not

2-1 Home win.
I expect this game to more like the Yugoslavia game in '99 than Holland '01, the French are not as good as the Dutch were back then.

[thejollyrodger]

and btw,,,if we play like we did against the israelis in the second half we will defintely beat the french, they are C R A P with high balls coming into the box.

[tetsujin1979]

why are we so optimistic about beating france. poor perfomances in switzerland and in israel, and a poor second half against israel at home, where is the optimism coming from? just because we beleive we have a decent performance in us, is no cause or grounding for such optimism.

Why am I so optimistic? Because it's all I have left, I've tried women, religion, drink, sacrifices, money, work, and none of these have told me the result for tonights game. So Optimism it is!! On another note, its reminds me of Optimus Prime!

[Giuly]

according to Domenech's interview today, they'll try not to give away the ball like they did in Paris last year, but to keep it as much as possible.
and by the way Zidane said today that he thinks Thuram will be fit for tonight.

Here are my latest news translated from lequipe.fr

[geysir]

I definitely would be feeling a lot more anxious if we were 3 points ahead of the French then I know we would blow it I don't think we know how to play that game yet.
The French are not overconfident, they are reservedly confident, they will be happy with a draw and have real fears of a loss.
I am optimistic but not delusional. This is one of the great contests, where we are still in the hunt, meeting a top notch team at home and the prize for the winner is likely qualification for the WC. I have been looking forward to this game since the group was drawn. At this time of the day, match day, 6 1/2 hours to go, its all about building up for the match, whats the team? what way will we play? are going to be tetchy, composed or gung ho?
I attended all the 3 previous Qualifying home games against quality French teams, we won all 3 but still the French qualified every time so we won nothing, zilch.
That use to be our fate.
This is the national team on the biggest match day in years. There is plenty of time afterwards to take in what happens on the pitch.

[youngirish]

I'm optimisitc because it looks like Boumsoung will start. Also if Thuram doesn't shake off that ankle problem then maybe Silvestre will partner Boumsoung in what will surely be the s**test central defence pairing in world football.

Duff, Keane et all should have a field day if this happens.