Ireland vrs Armenia and Andorra

surely 6 points is a must here,anything less is a disaster,but i see tomorrow game being a struggle,mainly cause its 40 degree's,sud get the job done though,fancy 1-0 tomorrow and 4-0 on tuesday night,what ye all think???

I think the Armenian game is going to be very tough and not a definate 3 pointer. I agree we should be winning if we hope to qualify but these guys beat Belgium at home recently and only lost 2-1 to Spain as well.

Their u-21's thumped us 4-1 last year and some of those guys are playing. I think their better players play with the likes of Shaktar Donestk so it will be tough.

1 nil would be a great result.

We should beat Andorra on Tuesday by at least 2 goals.

Remember a lot of our big names are warming benches at the moment as well!

Great call on the 1-0 there lads.. Thought it was a good away performance by us. They are a tricky side and will take points off other teams in our group.

Just shows what a well organised team can acheive with a shrewd manager at the helm. With Stan in charge, we would have blown that last night..

bricktamland wrote:

Great call on the 1-0 there lads.. Thought it was a good away performance by us. They are a tricky side and will take points off other teams in our group.

Just shows what a well organised team can acheive with a shrewd manager at the helm. With Stan in charge, we would have blown that last night..

still think giles,dunphy and o'leary not to mention the worst of all kenny cunningham were way over the top in their appraisal of that irish performance, if armenia were a bit more ambitious earlier we might have ended up with a draw at best, we were hanging on for dear life defending desperately for the last 15 minutes i couldn't wait for the final whistle if they played another 5 or 10 mins they almost certainly would have equalised, a workmanlike performance nothing more nothing less, strange thing all our best chances seemed to come from long balls or hoofs from the goalkeeper, if thats an outstanding performance well i simply give up!

Yep it was backs to the walls cat for the last few minutes and there were some harem scarem moments in the second half, never thought it was an outstanding performance, certainly not.

But a good performance nonetheless, i think we will improve as the campaign goes on. As we know from recent away trips to montenegro, cyprus etc, you rarely get things easy at any of the so called minnows anymore (barring maybe the handful of whipping boys, san marino andorra etc). I dont expect us to walk over any one away from home so ill take a 1-0 any day of the week.

I agree with you that they could easily have equalised, but sure listen Kildare could easily have won last week and records will show they didnt so three points however it comes by is a good day at the office for me... In saying that we'll prob mess up on tuesday

I thought we lacked creativity, particularly in midfield. Our best tactic appeared to be a long ball from the back with Doyle getting a flick on. Even the chance Keane had in the second half when he hit the post came all the way from the back with no touch at all.

Keane is a very frustrating player to watch. Throws all the shapes, is always looking for soft penalties, never contests the ball in the air, and yet he's our top scorer (by a country mile) and we'll be depending on him again on Tuesday. It's easy to see why so many managers want him, he's a proven goal scorer but it's equally understandable why so many managers have seen fit to move him on.

I thought Doyle led the line well. He competes for everything and is prepared to work his socks off for the team; probably to the detrement of his own chances of scoring.

The new lad Green looked well off the pace in the opening half but the longer the game went on the more settled he looked. I wouldn't write him off just yet.

Shay Given looked a little short on confidence to me. On a couple of occassions in the second half when Armenia sent long balls forward I though he could have come and taken them but he retreated to his line and the defenders wound up having to put the ball out for a corner. While he had a solid enough game I felt Dunphy was a little over the top in his praise of him.

All in all it's a good start to the campaign and they should win on Tuesday but looking at the overall performance on Friday you'd have to worry about their ability to qualify for the European Championships.

Any away win in international football these days is not to be sneezed at so I think this is a massive result. Forget the performance. International football in general is pretty poor to watch.

What do you expect when you gather lads together for 3 or 4 days at a time every couple of months or so.

In this game its results results results and Trap knows that and thats why he plays with the 2 holding midfielders.

Keane should have had a couple. Maybe he would if he was getting a few games at spurs. I think Andrews or Gibson will be an improvement on Green who improved as the game went on but look Trap will never put a creative player in the middle.

I think 2 of our most important players are Richard Dunne and Kevin Doyle and we need these 2 to stay fit and on form in this campaign.

We are set up nicely now for a decent crack at the 2 top seeds next month as we should be going into the Russia game with 6 points. We are certainly capable of beating them in lansdowne.

Slovakia got a 90th minute winner at home to Macedonia and Russia only put 2 past Andorra away.

Results lads!!! thats all that matters.

6 points from 6.. A good return. And with Slovakia squeaking a win against russia it sets the group up nicely for us. The big 2 coming up next month. 4 points would be a good return.

Yeah 4 points would be lovely. I wouldnt be surprised though if we picked up 2 draws in those games.

I just hope Given and Keane get a few games with their clubs and that Duffer is fit.

yeh 4 pts wud be super,i think if they beat russia at home,they cud nearly take 6 pts....thats wud be unreal

If we take 6 points lads we may start planning the day trips to Auscwitz and Chernobyl

yeh defo....anyone going slovakia!!!think i am!!

Fair play to ye. Its hard enough to get up to lansdowne never mind Zilnia!!!!

walsheman wrote:

yeh defo....anyone going slovakia!!!think i am!!

Have you seen the film Hostel, you better be careful who you get friendly with out there.

was there before,its a great aul spot

that green lad is useless we are bad enough with andrews and whelan but this chap takes the biscuit gibson had a good game for united last night its time to give him a steady run of games we could be so much better

green has a touch like a brick wall,just bounces off him,yeh gibson did ok,fairly weak centre mid,be seems to work cause they try so hard