It seems likely that the four seeded teams in the playoffs will be: Russia, France, Portugal, and Greece. So, who would you like to draw? Who can we beat? Who can't we beat?
Re: The Playoffs Is it going to be an open draw of seeds versus non-seeds? Or will it be fixed with 1st seed playing 8th seed, 2nd playing 7th etc? If its open then I suppose Greece really must be viewed as the weakest of the seeds on paper. France, Russia and Portugal, despite their poor form, have much stronger players pools than we have and would be heavy favourites if we were to play any one of them - and given our inability to beat 'top tier' teams in the last few years I would worry for our prospects. Against Greece I would be more confident. I really hope that we see a bit more positivity from Ireland if we do manage to take the lead whoever we are up against. We seem to be very quick to surrender our initiative if we score a goal and I would hope that if we do manage an early goal against whoever we play against - that we don't simply sit back and invite pressure until we inevitably concede. I know this is likely down to Trap but I don't think our players have the organisation or talent to shut up shop against top level players. There always seems to be an air of inevitability that we will concede against a decent team if we take the lead in the first place and we need to work out why this happens.
Re: The Playoffs And there are some practical improvements that can be made in the way we play. - First of all, it would be fantastic if Steven Reid can get fit and back in form for these playoff games. Although Andrews and Whelan have plugged the holes in midfield I think we are dangerously lacking in this area - especially when the pressure builds. I lost count of how many times Andrews gave the ball away in the second half against Italy. Having Reid there will just bring so much more to the table - he's very similar in technical characteristics to both Whelan and Andrews, but I feel he's just slightly better in every area. We have missed him. I was never a fan of Neil Lennon at Celtic but sometimes these two manage to make Lennon look like Michel Platini. I dont want to be hyper-critical as they have performed reasonably well for us but the deficiencies are obvious and it won't be difficult for an astute coach to exploit our weakness there. I also think they are both dangerously prone to dropping ever deeper and inviting prolonged periods of pressure. I quake in my boots at the thought of us playing against someone like Cristiano Ronaldo in a central attacking midfield role with Andrews and Whelan so profligate with basic possession. - Secondly, and this relates to the first point above, we need to be more miserly with ball possession. I also lost count of how many times, when in possession, we ended up contriving to get the ball to Kevin Kilbane at left back who then proceeded to hoof the ball 70-80 yards in the air towards Robbie Keane - who will win 1 in 10 of these balls on a good day (and that's not his fault). If we still had Niall Quinn up there then maybe this would be a partially fruitful tactic, but he's not and against France/Portugal we will certainly be punished if we give the ball away so cheaply like this. I know its not really Kilbane's fault as when he gets the ball, he usually doesn't have an alternative but we need to be more willing to just stroke the ball along the back four or even get it back to Given. Any coach worth their salt will have seen Italy create this situation where we are repeatedly almost forced to hoof it up towards our comparatively small strikers, and will likely attempt to emulate this in the playoff. Its a great way for any team to force us to relinquish possession. We need to find a way to stop this from happening - or at least find alternative outlets when we have the ball.
Re: The Playoffs Kyrgiakos the mainstay at the heart of the Greek defense is out for a few months with an ACL. All the more reason to see Greece as the weakest of the 4 top seeds.
Re: The Playoffs Good post. Keane is world class in his ability to drop back and get open constantly. Our CM's need to be better passers and we need to get the ball to Duff and McGeady earlier to let them run at the defense.
Re: The Playoffs All the problems in this team stem from a basic lack of technical ability in the centre of midfield. I think if we're going to beat anyone over two legs we need a fit Steven Reid, spraying the passes around like he did against Georgia a year ago. Russia are the team I want to avoid at all costs. A plastic pitch in Moscow in November would be absolutely brutal, and I could see us getting badly beaten out there. Perhaps they lack the footballing pedigree of France or Portugal, but there is still the Arshavin factor and the have plenty more strength and depth. We would be massive underdogs vs either France or Portugal. Both have had dodgy campaigns, but look to be coming back to form since September. Their players are better than ours, of course, but we are a well drilled side, and I belive our defensive style of play could work quite well against them, as it did against the Italians. We have played in Paris and Lisbon before, and they don't seem quite so daunting as Moscow in November. Being at home 2nd leg would be essential - I can't see any of these sides winning at Croke Park. Greece are the only opponent against whom I woudl actually fancy our chances. The matches would be tight - possibly two draws. Scoring away from home would be key. Another question: Do you think the seeded sides involved will want to draw us?
Re: The Playoffs I think the order is Greece, France/Portugal and Russia. Now if France are on the top of their game, something they really haven't been since 2006, then they would need to be avoided at all costs; Portugal are a decent side, but there's perhaps a soft underbelly there. But Russia, for PMannion's reasons above should be avoided at all costs. Their loss to Germany in the penultimate game was one of their very few in a competitive international. Most dangerous of the teams left, plus there's the Hiddink factor. Think the draw is seeded that whoever we draw plays at home in the second leg.
Re: The Playoffs I'm with most everybody, I want to avoid Russia as much as we can. Russia now are probably the best they've been since the old soviet days and the Hiddink factor certainly helps. Stay away Ruskies. That being said, if we draw them, Keane will score 15 goals against them and we'd advance. Portugal ran the table and earned their playoff berth, but can they focus now that they're out of the woods? this isn't the same Portugal of the Figo/Costa era, but still not to be disrespected. I think we could take them in a series. France play very well under pressure, but have left alot to be desired during the campaign. Is time for a bit of revenge from our 2006 qualifying group?. And finally, Greece is who I hope we draw, for the reason that it's not diffcult to beat fat people at football. All hail Ireland!
Re: The Playoffs We got France, Croker first leg. RTE, in typically useless fashion, went to another story as the draw began and missed out on our draw. Portugal get Bosnia Greece gets the Ukraine Russia gets Slovenia Hold on... is this draw rigged so the top seed gets to play at home in the second leg by default!? The wretched cheating bastards!
Re: The Playoffs Think Portugal and Greece both have to play at home first. Terrible draw... Will be a massive occasion, and the FAI will make a fortune, but thihk they will have just too much for us at the Stade de France. With the Greek drawing the Ukraine, the draw does smell rather funny.
Re: The Playoffs Yeah, seems I misread it as they were drawing the first seeds before the second seeds. Well feck it then.
Re: The Playoffs Not too bad at all to be honest. As others have already said, I think this is about the second best outcome for us. The real problem lies in how we approach the game given that we play at home first. There is a real possibility, in my mind, that Trap will play the Croker game very conservatively, with the intention of going into the second leg with a draw (and preferably no away goals conceded) to up the pressure on the French on their patch. Gonna be very tight and nerve-jangling but I suppose we would all have taken an all or nothing game versus France to decide qualification at the beginning of the group. Just really hope Reid gets match fit and that our 4/5 dangerous attackers stay in good shape. Oh and could someone please tell Aiden McGeady to learn how to cross the ball so he can take his place amongst the world's elite wingers in time for the match too.
Re: The Playoffs France went 6-3-1 in a relatively easy group. Losing to Austria in Austria. They've only managed to draw their only two challenging qualifying games this year (Serbia & Romania). Even their friendlies were ugly. The only beat the Faroe Islands 1-0 on the road. I'd rather have drawn France than Portugal (CR will be back). I'm most worried about France's fire power. If they get up by 2, I don't know that we have the strength to pull even. But we can win this boys.
Re: The Playoffs Agreed Gents, FIFA's seeding games definitely rank them as horse********ers of the highest caliber, but this is no time to be pessimistic. I reckon we can beat France, and the first round of drinks in former Rhodesia will be on me next June.
Re: The Playoffs france is going to beat ireland on both legs check out our firepower: Karim Benzema Samir Nasri André-Pierre Gignac Thierry Henry Franck Ribéry Yoann Gourcuff Nicholas Anelka try a stop us!!!!!!!!!
Re: The Playoffs Here we go again. Anyone remember the Iranian trolls sprouting up here like weeds during the '02 WC playoffs?
Re: The Playoffs Yes indeed. StarrMatthieu, you list some great individuals. But with Domenech at the helm, any team would fancy their chances. So happy we draw France instead of Russia or Portugal. Also, with Dunne, O'Shea, etc in such fine form, I doubt the french attackers will get a kick at goal.
Re: The Playoffs France have been playing only reasonably - better than Ireland mind you - but are a far cry from Zidane and the WC Final in '06; they were awful at Euro '08 with only a 0-0 with Romania draw to their credit. They Dutch whumped 'em 4-1. They are definitely takeable but I suspect they'll come out of this encounter on the upside, possibly on away goals.