Re: Euro 2012 Thread

**patrique** Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:29 pm

Peter Solan the Great wrote:
Jayo Cluxton wrote:Armenia could have won too - 2 goals in injury time, the second for the Macedonians (Alexander the Great would be pleased I imagine!)

A bit like the Scottish game maybe where the stadium announcer apparently announced 'additional time will be ... until we get the winner (turned out to be 7 minutes! - better than our 0-0 draw against Leich though!).

Still the more draws in the group (not involving us, the better).

Alexander the Great had nothing to do with Modern Macdonia. The Greeks were quite pissed off that they took the name Macedonia and have been campaigning for some years to get them to change it. Hence they are called the Former yougoslav republic of Macedonia.

Patrique Timor Leste borders Indonesia. Its a former Portugese Colony which explains their techinacl style of play.

Ah, thank you Peter, that has set my mind at rest, and explainss why they are ranked above Andora.

I note Portugal have just sacked their manager.........

**Jayo Cluxton** Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:40 pm

patrique wrote:I note Portugal have just sacked their manager.........

Seems to have had an attitude when his players were asked for drug testing and was downright rude. Working too long with Alex I expect ....

**Jayo Cluxton** Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:27 am

I see the Russians are targetting Zinedine Kilbane. Teams always give the star player extra treatment I suppose!

**RMDrive** Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:33 am

I predict a bore-fest. I'll still watch it mind but I expect to be disheartened.

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:42 am

Reckon we will do alright tonight...Advocaat is no Hiddink...As long as we don't give away an early goal we will get something out of the game....A point is a decent result for us in relation to the group.....Bystrov the right winger is lightening alright, McGeady will have to put in a serious shift on the left for us

**Jayo Cluxton** Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:47 am

If we have any pretensions to win the group we need the 3 points.

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:05 pm

Jayo Cluxton wrote:If we have any pretensions to win the group we need the 3 points.

No we don't..two draws in the next two games and a home win against Slovakia would get us top of the group....Three points would be a huge boost but don't be getting carried away a draw tonight will be a good result in the grand scheme of things and it will put the Russians under plenty of pressure....If we were to win tonight I wouldn't be surprised to see Advocaat get the road

**Jayo Cluxton** Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:11 pm

Nah - you gotta win your home games as it gives you breathing space away. Especially as only one qualifies automatically now. I don't think we have a good team and would be surprised if we won but thats what is needed.

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:17 pm

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Nah - you gotta win your home games as it gives you breathing space away. Especially as only one qualifies automatically now. I don't think we have a good team and would be surprised if we won but thats what is needed.

Would disagree with you, avoiding defeat against the othe big two will put us in a strong position...If Slovakia were to drop points in Armenia this evening, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did and we to to draw then it would put us in a great position in the group...

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:36 pm

Armenia 2 Slovakia 1 with 10 minutes to go....

**rich dublin** Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:42 pm

armenia won so that leaves us with a huge game now if we win we go 3 clear of slovakia and 6 clear of russia knowing the way we play tho id say 1-1 will be the best we will do

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:59 pm

rich dublin wrote:armenia won so that leaves us with a huge game now if we win we go 3 clear of slovakia and 6 clear of russia knowing the way we play tho id say 1-1 will be the best we will do

What does that mean?????

Can't remember seeing this Irish side under Trap going out and ever playing for a draw....It has nothing to do with the way we play and more to do with the fact that we don't have enough top class players, we are doing as well as we can at the moment with the players we have and we are probably better than the sum of our parts.....

**Loyal2TheRoyal** Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:05 pm

I lumped on Russia at 2/1.

Smiling now. Love the gung-ho attacking brand that they play with Arshavin at the heart of it all, a magician.

Could be a few goals in this though, Russia are all out for maximum points but look vulnerable at the back.

**Grenvile** Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:02 pm

Ah well.. Being given a lesson by a far superior team. We can't really have any complaints. Point to prove against Slovakia now..

Guest Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:22 pm

Jaysuz

Game On!

**Grenvile** Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:23 pm

Go on Ireland!!!! Pride restored on the scoreboard, now don't leave this as a moral victory..

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:54 pm

Jonsmith wrote:Ah well.. Being given a lesson by a far superior team. We can't really have any complaints. Point to prove against Slovakia now..

Russia in terms of technical ability were light years ahead of us....At least we had a go and got a few goals to put a bit of gloss on the scoreline....The much maligned Kilbane along with O'Shea, McGeady at times and Long were the only ones to come out of the game with credit in my opinion...The likes of Dunne, Lawrence and the two central midfielders looked miles off the pace

**Grenvile** Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:02 pm

Green and Lawrence were terrible tonight. We really missed Duff I thought. McGeady is unconvincing. We could have snatched a draw tonight but it would have been a robbery, Keane looked like he dived for the penalty. RTE still didn't think to show us the last second penalty appeal..

**The Puke** Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:09 pm

Jonsmith wrote:Green and Lawrence were terrible tonight. We really missed Duff I thought. McGeady is unconvincing. We could have snatched a draw tonight but it would have been a robbery, Keane looked like he dived for the penalty. RTE still didn't think to show us the last second penalty appeal..

Russia were easily 2 or 3 goals the better team...The early goal had a huge bearing in that they really grew into the game after that looked very dangerous but in saying that defensively they look weak enough, only we hadn't the players to exploit it....

Duff is a loss alright, as is Hunt and even Andrews athleticism in midfield have been a would be a help but wouldn't have made much of a difference....Even more important that we get something out of the game Tuesday

**patrique** Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:21 pm

My team and my other team shared a 0-0 draw, obviously because it suited my main team.

**Loyal2TheRoyal** Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:49 pm

Yep Ireland are a fairly limited outfit as proved tonight but a couple of people were getting way ahead of themselves before this game. Russia are on a par with the likes of Argentina, Spain and Holland, so we shouldn't be too upset by the manner of the result, we are still by some way the second best team in this group. Anyone who reckoned we'd get anything more than a draw from this game are clearly not familiar with Russian football.

I suspect we'll have too much for the even more limited Slovaks who lost early today on Tuesday which should be enough to tame the Trap bashers for now. But a few of the lads are clearly short of the level required and there's far better in the Premiership, Trap needs to be less stubborn and pick them.

**Jayo Cluxton** Sat Oct 09, 2010 1:32 am

Agreed Loyal.

It was an accident waiting to happen. Green and Whelan as your central midfielders - do me a favour. Killer is just pure ***** - sorry! 4-0 would have been accurate but the late 2 goals etc put a stupid gloss on a match where we were hammered. Even our throw-ins (knock it on) were Phoenix Park. The best 'football' we have played in the last 20 years was under MickMc. Premiership greed has sunk us. Wake up and smell the coffee .. we are getting as bad as ITV. Bring back the old chant 'We're ***** and we know we are ..........' etc

**The Puke** Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:25 am

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Agreed Loyal.

It was an accident waiting to happen. Green and Whelan as your central midfielders - do me a favour. Killer is just pure ***** - sorry! 4-0 would have been accurate but the late 2 goals etc put a stupid gloss on a match where we were hammered. Even our throw-ins (knock it on) were Phoenix Park. The best 'football' we have played in the last 20 years was under MickMc. Premiership greed has sunk us. Wake up and smell the coffee .. we are getting as bad as ITV. Bring back the old chant 'We're ***** and we know we are ..........' etc

Wouldn't disagree with you here but McCarthy have far better raw materials to work with in his time in charge....The vast majority of the squad were playing regular premier league football...The fact of the matter is that we have been boxing above our weight under trap and we will continue to do so.....Last night isn't the end of the world but I ain't surprised by the overreaction, when you hear lads saying we need three points etc or on about topping the group it shows you peoples expectations about this team are far too high

**rich dublin** Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:21 pm

would have to agree with most being said on here as i said earlier i thought the best we could get was a draw i mean look at our squad which was selected for last nites game,

our golie while class is second choise at his club
kilbane is past his best and he was never that good anyway
dunnea leader hard man love the man
O'Shea is a top player playing for a top club regularly the only one of our squad which is
St Ledger who???
Lawrence journeyman who works hard and can do a limited job
Long championship player playing in the championship
Whelan a donk, grafter whatever you want to call him
Gibson could be come good but as of yet is a bit part player
Green poor
McGeady talented but unreal fustrating
Doyle work horse who id hate to slag off but doesnt score enough
Fahey whatever
Keane was the best we have prob still is but a 4th choice player at his club
Westwood never gonna reallly see what he is like till given hangs up the gloves
McShane oh my dear god think boxty should be in ahead of him
Keogh poor player
Cunningham. young good but a bit part player

now the reason im saying all this is like ye lot said if we are realistic we would know that the very best this limited but honest team are capable of is second place, they work hard for each other and will be difficult to beat thats the best we can do

**clash-of-da-ash** Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:09 pm

Russia were way better than us, I don't know how they lost to Slovakia. The pace they played at was too much for us and their passing was excellent and accurate. I don't think Ireland have the players to be able to play it on the ground against the likes of Russia. If they are going to keep it tight then maybe 5 in midfield is the answer. Keith Fahey should be a starter and the game last night showed that.

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