Northern Ireland won putting them on 16 points. We are at 9. Northern Ireland have to play us, Germany, and Norway still. If we somehow win all three of our remaining matches, we are on 18 points. We still have to play Northern Ireland, San Marino, and Azerbaijan. Those are 3 winnable matches. We need Northern Ireland at minimum to lose to us, Germany, and tie Norway. If N. Ireland manages to pick up 3 points in these 3 matches, they are automatically 2nd.
Even if Northern Ireland drew with Germany and Norway, you would still finish above them if you could win all three of your remaining games. Tonight was a missed opportunity though because it was only a combination of slack defending and poor decision-making and a lack of composure in attack that prevented getting a point against Germany and possibly more. Team-for-team, do you consider Northern Ireland superior? I ask because I consider Serbia superior to the Republic of Ireland yet the two teams are neck-and-neck in their group, so I wondered whether there was a similarly strange thing go on between the yourselves and the Northern Irish.
I think our current squad is about equal with Northern Ireland. Maybe our fully fit XI could for sure beat them. We have no reason to lose to Northern Ireland though. We need to beat them or else it's all over. Northern Ireland can lock the 2nd place spot with a win against us though, so they will give it their all.
Well game is tonight. Anything other than a win, and all hopes of going to the world cup are done. I hope to see our best side for this one. I also kind of liked the 5-2-3. It gave Darida a bit more freedom. I wonder what we will go with, but I guarantee I will be disappointed.
-------Krejci-------Krmencik------- --------------Jankto---------------- -----Darida----------Dockal-------- --------------Soucek----------------- -Boril--Suchy----Kalas--Selassie- ----------------Vaclik------------------- If it were up to me, I'd lineup in a 4-4-2 like this. Given our lack of a dominant winger (and no real first choice right winger), I think this suits us better. Krejci can actively press alongside Krmencik, while Jankto plays in his more familiar central role, and Darida + Dockal can run the midfield. I thought Boril had a nice debut against Germany and the Suchy/Kalas pair were solid, though admittedly not really tested that often. I'm not opposed to using 3 CBs in the future either. Regardless of the result, our World Cup hopes were tarnished with those three draws. We had to win at least two of those games, and really should've won all three.
I don't see the need for five defenders here. Wasn't convinced with Novak at CB last game and we need to go for it.
Seems like we are playing a 4-4-2 sort of. Selassie is so far forward that he looks more like a winger. Novak also seems to be playing left back. We just can't break down their defense. Need more people in the box.
Pathetic, we have enough of the ball that someone should have an idea, but no. Jarolim is done, but the problems run much deeper. We overachieved enough 2012-2015 that a lot of problems could be ignored but now we are terrible. We either need a manager that can make an average squad overachieve or we need to start from scratch. Hard to build a squad though when most of our players that go abroad and come back within a couple of years complaining about how hard training in a top league is.
Jarolim was completely out managed today. He has been in a lot of matches. Our tactics every match has been get it wide, then hope we connect on a cross, or let Darida hit some screamers. We suck tactically, and it's so easy to defend against. I liked Jarolim's appointment, but we need a manager who doesn't resort to pump balls deep into the box and hope for the best. Look at Slovakia. They actually play with pace, and power. They are doing well in their group, and I'd say their group was more difficult than ours. Hopefully we can sort our nation out before euro qualifying late next year. Oh also Vaclik is pretty subpar. I guess there is a reason he never left Basel. At this point I'd rather give Pavlenka a chance.
I think Koubek>Pavelka, otherwise, yeah. I felt, that while not a great manager, that Lavicka would've been good for motivation and been attack minded. Now, I'm not sure, because this feels more like a complete rebuild. Our FA is crap though, so the rebuild has to start there.
Pavlenka seems to be Werder's #1 at the moment, and he has Drobny behind him there so I'd rather have the guy starting in the bundesliga in our net. Koubek will be the clear number 2 behind Costil at Rennes.
I think Koubek will be #1 at Rennes, he was signed partly because Costil went to Bordeaux and Diallo has never really materialized for Rennes. Still the difference between backup goalkeepers is hardly our biggest problem (neither is the Petr Cech of the early 2000s).
Oh I didn't know Costil left. Good for Koubek then. We have two keepers starting in top leagues. They should be taking over Vaclik. We need to build our future around Schick, Darida, Barak, Krejci, Jankto, Kalas, Kadeřábek, and one of the keepers. They are our future at the moment.
Games don't mean much, so I hope we see Pavlenka, Barak, and Jankto starting. Barak and Jankto have been playing for Udinese of late. Pavlenka is also the #1 keeper for Werder now and doing well. It's unfortunate that Schick got hurt. That means Krmencik is our starting striker.
2-1 win in Azerbaijan. Not a hugely great result, but a win is a win. Glad to see the guys I mentioned all starting. Plus Barak got himself a goal. Unshockingly, Northern Ireland is losing to Germany. If only we beat Northern Ireland. We could have had a chance at the world cup.
Didn't watch, but good to see a result. Away fixtures in peripheral UEFA countries like Azerbaijan can be a bit tricky. Doesn't mean anything for this cycle, but it salvages some momentum.
Definitely a good result away from home. I thought it was a fairly solid performance. We absolutely dominated in terms of chances created (28 to 4 I read) and probably should've scored a few more. The "penalty" was utter bullshit as well. Such a blatant dive from the Azeri player. Interesting to see if Jarolim remains after today's game. I can't really fault his player selections throughout his tenure. Though from a tactical standpoint, he really seems out of his element at this level.
We of course did beat San Marino to close out this underwhelming campaign on a high-note. I still suspect Jarolim is out.
What is even more disappointing was seeing Northern Ireland lose to Norway. If we managed to beat Northern Ireland at home, we would've finished 2nd.
http://isport.blesk.cz/clanek/fotba...-chybela-sebereflexe-vadil-i-vliv-agentu.html Not exactly a ringing endorsement to keep someone while proceeding to list almost exlcusively negative aspects... I do feel that manager is not the biggest problem, but was still hoping for a change. It sort of seems like we are a bit stuck at the moment because of issues originating with the scandals surrounding the FAČR (which is part of the larger problems).
We have 6 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses with Jarolim in charge. That is not that great of a record. Just about a 42% win percentage. His only competitive wins came against Norway, San Marino (twice), and Azerbaijan. Actually now that I am seeing the bigger picture, Jarolim is pretty awful. Our only victories were against tiny non-footballing nations barring a narrow 2-1 win against Norway at home.