Lawro says Forget It!

[bwagner]

way to derail a good thread there boys.
Who give a poo what he says he is a british man like it or not.
HE DID MAKE THE COMMENT ON THE FA CUP HE CUDNT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT ROONEY CASE CLOSED ,now can we get back to how crap Ireland are please :O)

[Stuttgart88]

The statement is daft. Never say never and all that...

We actually did have the talent to get to Germany. I don't care what anyone says, we were definitely good enough to take sufficient points from Israel to get at least second this time around, if not first. If you're good enough to be winning 1-0 after 90 minutes you're good enough to be winning after 94. If you're good enough to be 2-0 up & totally bombard the opposition goal for a further 40 minutes, you're good enough to win.

What a wasted opportunity. ****ing scandalous. I point the finger at players and management alike.

Euro 2008 group is interesting. Plenty of scope for teams to take points off each other. I think we're as likely to come second as come 5th, with 3rd or 4th more likely. I think we'll be a better team 15 months from now & I hope we can get a decent start to build on. If we're playing catch up at any stage I think we'll suffer.

Anyway, with the Charleroi case etc., who knows what international football will look like in 5 years from now?

[NeilMcD]

Great Post Stuttgart esp about the 5th or 2nd. I think we will come 2nd or 3rd but thats me been optimistic.


Also can anyone provide us with the exact quotes that Lawro said and were they qualified.

[youngirish]

I don't understand all the pessimistic comments about Ireland. We have and nearly always have had a number of top players. How many Czech (or even German players) are playing at higher levels in better leagues than our first 11?

We didn't qualify last time because Kerr was a joke and was far out of his depth and even then it was close.

My only worry is Staunton. He might turn out to be a worse spoon than Kerr but I'm willing to give him a go and Robson behind him can only be a good thing.

We should have a better team during the upcoming qualifying campaign than we did for the majority of the last qualifying campaign with the emergence of O'Brien, Ireland, Garvan, Mc Geady, Doyle and Elliot (remember the campaign doesn't start until August and will last for more than a year so it's likely a number of these players will be viable starters during that time.

I do worry about donkeys like O'Shea though continuing to get a game but surely that's more the managers fault than a lack of resources (anyone else would be better anyway).

Our first 11 by the end of the qualifying (a year and a half away) could be:

Given
J O'Brien Dunne A O'Brien Finnan ( surely better than Harte or O'Shea at LB)

Mc Geady (A Reid maybe?) S Reid Ireland Duff

Keane Doyle

Unless the German and the Czechs have some serious young talent coming through themselves that should be good enough for a second place finish bar injury problems in certain positions and to certain unreplaceable players (Given, Duff, Keane).

[Stuttgart88]

My only worry about youngirish's arguement (which is one I support, though partly out of wishful thinking rather than pure conviction) is that there are still big "ifs" surrounding the likes of Ireland, McGeady and Joey O'Brien. I just wish they were further along in their development so we could be certain they're up to it at the level we require. I've seen enough, albeit through my green tinted glasses, that each can be a real star, but equally we've been let down so often with the likes of Sadlier, McPhail, Sean Thornton etc. who promised so much but did **** all for a variety of reasons.

I think the comment about Robson is spot on. If Staunton does get some mad tactical idea into his mind I'm sure Robson will be able to dissaude him early enough. I suspect Stan is acting almost like an off-field captain / motivator, with the finer strategic points being determined by Robson. This is certainly how I'd like it to be.

[John83]

Maybe, but if so, why did Ireland play a 3-4-3 formation as preparation for an away game in Germany? Personally, I'm still stunned by the absurdity of this decision.

There's still the Holland game to come, so it's not like that was the last oppertunity to prepare. The experiment playing three up front is quite reasonable, given the players we have, and the three at the back might have been influenced at least somewhat by the number of defenders we had injured.

It wouldn't have been an absurdity if it had worked, either.

[shakermaker1982]

I'm confident we can qualify. The Czechs are an ageing team and Nedved will not feature after the WC. The Germans could be on a high after world cup success or in the process of hiring a new manager if Jurgen cocks up their home advantage. Maybe I am too optimistic but I'd rather be that way than Lawro's slit my wrist attitude.

To qualify =

We have to win our home games, we had plenty of chances to nail Israel but let them off the hook. That was the night I was going to see Hatton-Kostya at the MEN.......never so gutted in my life as I walked up to the MEN doors.

A point in Stuggart would be the perfect start as well!

[gustavo]

He said not 5 minutes ago "They havent really got going yet , England , have They"

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well if the G14 backed court case in Europe goes against FIFA, the FAI will not be able to afford to pay the Premiership players wages and we will again have an entirely domestic based International squad playing in the Eircom League. That is the case that John Delaney was making to the government anyhow , and if that comes to pass and we remain 4th seeds or worse then it is true we will never again qualify for anything until the European Championships Final stages are expanded to 24 teams !

[thejollyrodger]

Lawero is incredibly cheeky but he may not be too far off the mark. Most of our players are crap now. it was Roy keane who dragged the standard higher

[as_i_say]

agree with stuttgart-it WAS nothing short of scandalous the way we played in the last campaign (save for a decent away performance against the french where if we had any real balls we would have won). Kerr and players were to blame.

you'd have to worry for the next campaign. personally ill be happy if we give it a right go and play positive, attacking football. its the only chance we have of getting through. maybe we should play like the israelis did last season??!

[Stuttgart88]

One change I'd like to see staright away is the binning of this outdated "win at home, draw away" notion. If you look at the teams that qualify regularly they tend to win enough games to allow for the odd slip up. I think this is true even of the second tier teams that make it.

Not contradicting myself, but right now I'd happily buy a draw in Germany & Czech Republic. But I'd happily take our chances in Slovakia and Wales (where Toshack is shaping a very young side and with half-decent results recently). Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe some more away friendlies will be of help.

[Real ale Madrid]

Is this the same Mark Lawrenson who said that you will never win the title with kids

Listen - lets be honest he's entitled to his opininon but he has been wrong before....

one point about our apparent disgraceful performances in qualifying. i hope that hindsight will show our last qualifying group to be one of the toughest ever. Dont be surprised to see France AND Switzerland in the quarter finals of the world cup and i expect Isreal to go close in thier qualifying group also next time around. We were guilty of poor performances against Isreal twice - France and Switzerland were both excellent sides and while we didnt play well in some of those games we were not far away from qualifying. The group we have next is not a good as the last one.

[Dodge]

Is this the same Mark Lawrenson who said that you will never win the title with kids

That was Hanson

[Real ale Madrid]

That was Hanson

Tom at toe / Tom aa toe

[as_i_say]

The group we have next is not a good as the last one.

youre having a laugh surely! France are a quality side but switzerland, israel are poor-though we made them look good.

a group with germany, slovakia and czechs to get out of (not to mention wales who will be dodge) is easier than the group kerr had??

No way

[Stuttgart88]

We were guilty of poor performances against Isreal twice - France and Switzerland were both excellent sides and while we didnt play well in some of those games we were not far away from qualifying. The group we have next is not a good as the last one.

My point was largely directed at the Israel performances, and at players and management alike. But equally, although a draw against Switzerland may be seen as a respectable result if taken in isolation, the manner of the 0-0 draw in the context of a must win game was shocking. Having virtually no efforts at goal was inexcusable, though Harte did miss a sitter early on.

I also accept that Markus Merck (spelling?) ruined the flow of the game, that Robbie, Andy Reid and others were only barely match fit & Duff was injured, but despite all this where was our renowned spirit? The limp nature of our exit left a very sour taste.

[Real ale Madrid]

youre having a laugh surely! France are a quality side but switzerland, israel are poor-though we made them look good.

a group with germany, slovakia and czechs to get out of (not to mention wales who will be dodge) is easier than the group kerr had??

No way

Have to Disagree. Switzerland are an excellent young side who i remember rightly did very well at the European U-21 championships a few years ago. Isreal you forget to mention also got Draws in Switzerland and Fance so again a decent side. In my post earlier i said that hindsight will hopefully prove me right but it's only my own opininon.

As for the crop we are going to be playing. Germany - Ballack aside have zilch we should worry about.Decent side but hardly world class like France. They will also have new manager as they are going to die at the world cup. Czechs are a decent side who despite ageing are still a force. Slovakia are average - certainly not as good as Isreal IMO. While Wales - well if we dont beat Wales twice we may as well forget it anyway. Wales are absolutly rubbish. They didnt play well once during the last qualifying and got Murdered at home by Poland and Austria. Thier defence is just so weak

[Stuttgart88]

Slovenia are average - certainly not as good as Isreal IMO.

Maybe so, but we're playing Slovakia who are a lot better. Got to a play-off in last campaign.

[CraftyToePoke]

The limp nature of our exit left a very sour taste.

thats what got to me the most about it as well, soul destroying to see us just concede chance of qualifying so tamely.

so how concerned are you about the half-arsed display the other night v chile then stutt? was Stan not meant to be the antidote to the ill-spirit in the camp etc, and yet the men he selected let him down badly, i.m.o.. they treated the game as an end of season inconvienence, which it may be to them, (and possibly with some justification) but to the man who just took them off to portugal, it was important id imagine. id expected a bit more from them for Stans sake if nothing else, you know?