2-0 Ireland, with a few lucky escapes.....so I'm not ruling out a 2-1! Another one of their strikers pulled out of the squad today.
The script is written for Keane, no doubt, to announce himself to Tottenham before he's even put their jersy on and he's on some form now, I think it's 9 in 12 counting the Hirioshima match? 10 or 11 in 13 would be very nice indeed Robbie. It all depends on the team we play, if Clinton plays the full 90 I back Keano to score and Morrison to bag his third goal and first competitive one in the green, Duff to set up both goals. The goal will come under pressure but Given, once again, is bang on form. I always hate to make predictions on Irish matches though but anything less then a win and Mick will come under even more pressure, espicially if we see the same mistakes he made at the world cup.
Does anyone think that there will be an audio webcast? RTE are usually doing sports on both AM and FM at that time on Saturday mornings, and they're not in the habit of turning off their stream all together.
predictions i've cast a cursory of the russian discussion forum and the consensus seems to be that they would be happy with a draw. considering the termoil in their camp right now and not to mention the withdrawal of some of their better players, we seem to be playing them at the right time. i think we'll win by 2 goals, can't see them scoring for some reason. their back line is still pretty good so i see at least one of our goals coming from mid-field.
Does anybody else really hate it when we go into a match 'expecting' to get at least a draw, and judging from people's comments above, probably a win. Maybe its just a glass half empty attitude, but to me this smacks of our 2-0 home win over Croatia at the start of the Euro 2000 qualifiers. They'd had a good world cup, were warm favourites and we had a low profile and a quiet build up. We clobbered them that day, and showed that a team riding on a wave of expectation can often be a soft opponent. I really hope we aren't getting carried away here...Russia rarely lose at home. And Ian Harte is our left back!
i'm afraid you have to 'expect' that when you are the perceived favourites. our days as the underdog are well and truely over. i think it's a sign of how things have changed under mccarthy, to his credit he goes out to win every game - regardless of who we are playing. when charlton was manager we played for a draw before we even set foot on the pitch, a win then was a wonderful bonus.
Are you sure? They still did MW commentary of all the friendlies, just not on FM. On Saturday, sports will be on on both AM and FM. What other sporting events could they cover other than the international?
Sure as long as I get to dress up as a leprechaun, wave my flag about and wind up legless, who really cares about the result? Seriously, nothing wrong with being favourites. Its a different kind of pressure and is usually a lot tougher to deal with. But if we want to continue improving, learning to cope with increased expectations and still achieve will be part of that progress. Look at the Aussies in so many sports. Its all a question of attitude and mental toughness (aka Roy Keane...). Just look at the rugby team and all its false dawns. They always seem to choke when they are expected to win a big game. Tell them they're useless though and they go out and win. However, how many Triple Crowns or Five Nations have Ireland won recently? We even managed to lose to the Argies in the last Rugby WC... Achieving as "underdogs" got Ireland to the second round of the WC. Believing that we are entitled to be there takes us beyond that again. We are favourites to qualify from this group. Now let us justify those expectations and deliver what we are capable of.
I'm still cautious, but I know that our team is good enough to win this game - I'm not saying that it's a sure thing, or that we'll walk over them, but we're definately capable of it. I'm not going to be intimidated by past experience into putting the team down so that we'll look on a draw, or victory here as a major happening that we were lucky to get - we'll have to face the tag of favourites at some stage, unless we want to be a team that's just happy to get onto the same pitch as "bigger" teams. It's just a different kind of mental strength.
I'm in for 2-2. Mick had better have plenty of oxygen tanks ready on the sidelines from the way it's sounding. At least they won't have to deal with Dmitri Sychev....
All I know is that if we don't win, or even worse, lose, we should axe McCarthy while the campaign is still repairable, get someone in who sees the stupidity in the partnership of Duff and Keane.
Russia 1 - 5 Ireland Rob Keane Roy keane O'Shea Thornton Reid And the manager O'leary is delighted with the impressive performance. But in reality 1 -1 Breen the scorer and the manager Mick is happy with the performance. Jonah
Hate to say it but I have a feeling that we will lose 1-0. You know, early in the season, a little over confident, and besides Duff and Keane, no really good creative talent.
True, but you're playing a Russian team that is in the middle of a changeover from older talent to younger talent and with a new manager to boot. Two countries that do well in drawing chaos from order? Call it a draw, I say.
Can't see it, who have Russia got? Holland's always a goal threat and McAteers got a great cross, Finnan and Harte are also very creative. I reckon everyones being very conservative because of past instances of loseing to lesser sides but we should win this, and if we don't, Mick will be under emmense pressure.
Well, not much for strikers anymore, since both Pimenov & Popov are now out as well -- Dmitri Sychev is pretty much blackballed from the squad untill he settles his contract woes with Spartak, and Lokomotiv's M Marat Ismailov is out, as well. One of the probable starters in the back line, Vyacheslav Dayev, was also scratched for injury. Pimenov & Popov would have started on the bench, but Titov, Imailov, Sychev and Dayev would have all started, if healthy. Not much to work with. Izmailov and Sychev are probably 2 of the best 3 players on the squad. However, this team has a recent history of disappointing when it is expected to do well, and surprising folks when it is expected to not do so well. Keys to the game for Russia 1. Speed -- All the injuries will mean a full dose of Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Zenit's youthful striker who leads the Russian top flight in goals scored. Gazzayev, the new coach, has abandoned the ponderous 4-5-1 favored by (deservedly) ex-coach Oleg Romanstev and played a very pacey lineup in the friendly vs Sweden, a 1:1 draw which the Russian team was unlucky to win (Kerzhakov the goal scorer). Sasha is fleet and has a gift for finishing even the most hopeful of chances, a real poacher; he should go all 90 minutes. Because of all the bangs & bruises, his most likely strikemate will be long-time National Team & Spartak F Vladimir Bestchastnykh, who was a goal scoring machine in WC qualifying but who completely disappeared in Japorea, missing numerous chances including what should have been the equalizer vs. Japan, a chance so easy even Cobi Jones could have put it away. Coming off the bench for Beschastnykh in case he sucks up the pitch will be Suwon's M/F Laktionov, who has ben burning up the K-League but is a bit of an unknown commodity; this will be his first cap for Russia, I believe. 2. Midfield -- Despite the absence of Izmailov and captain Yegor Titov of Spartak, the midfield is still the deepest part of the team. Again, all the injuries will probably mean some new faces; another Zenit young gun, Andrei Arshavin, & possibly Laktionov in an attacking mid role as well. Undeservedly spurned for WC 2002 by Romantsev, CSKA's Rolan Gusev and his teammate Sergei Semak will probably both get starts, and IMHO the loss of Titov is no big deal, as I'm no fan of his and would rather see Semak in his position with Gusev and Arshavin on the flanks. 3. Alexei Smertin and Ruslan Nigmatullin -- Bordeaux's DM Smertin is the most noticeable difference maker in the Russian lineup -- the back line is still the Achilles heel of the team, aging and slow, and Smertin will be expected to assume his usual role of a one-man show in blunting the attack and taking the heat off the back line. Never even close to 100% during the WC, I believe his lack of form was the biggest reason why Russia fared so poorly in Japorea. Verona's Nigmatullin (currently on loan to CSKA) never got the big chance to shine in Japorea & prompt his desire to move to a bigger club in Serie A or La Liga -- not that much of it was his fault, as the defending was awful, but he never had that blinder of a game which he is known for, He is one of those keepers, like Given, who can singlehandedly win your team a point even on its most dreadful of days...and he is due. He is the best keeper Russia has had in years, some say since the days of Lev Yashin, and.... ...this means real trouble for the Irish.... ...Allah is on his side With all the injuries, a draw would probably make the Russian faithful very happy. Romanstev would almost certainly have played for a draw from the get-go; thank God he is gone. Gazzayev is unorthodox, energetic, and even with all the key players missing I still think he will look to push the attack right away and try to surprise the Irish. Draw 2:2 in what should be a fun game to watch.
& here is a little smack from Nigmatullin, usually reserved but in the absence of self-anointed team bigmouth Yegor Titov probably felt the need to chat it up a bit: http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/L0/S22/sport_Lng0_Spo22_Sto327550.shtml Russia goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin set the tone for Saturday's European Championship home qualifier against Ireland on Tuesday when he accused the Irish of using "dirty tactics". "They are a dirty team," Nigmatullin, who played against Ireland in a friendly last February, told Russian reporters at his team's training camp outside Moscow. "They try to hit you in the back, hit you from behind, use their elbows, all that stuff, so we have to be careful," he said.
On a scale of 1-10 that rated a lowly 2 as a dig. It must have been a slow news day that it was even reported. To be honest, I laughed when I read it. Wonder what he would have made of us when Jack Chalrton managed the team...
I don't remember the recent friendly being dirty at all, however, Steven Reid is a bigger loss then most would say, he'd of been a candidate to get the right wing berth and the Russias saw first hand how he has the kind of shot that can win a match from nothing, I wonder will Healy play? Man of the match in the friendly before, despite only being on for 45 minutes. I would say if this was in Lansedown that it's a cast iron win, given the look of the two squads on paper, but Russia is a very difficult place to go to look for a win, no doubt, but it's still a must we get the three points to set the tone for the group. While last year playing our most trick fixutes first, Holland and Portugal away, payed dividence it could backfire this time, it's not the kind of thing the favoruties should be doing and we should have organized it to be in Lansedown, but I guess it's a pretty trivial matter anyway. I'm still pretty confident we'll get a win, if the tactics are right. It wasn't the dirty dig I noticed, but the Russia managers "They've no individuals they just work hard" press confrence, if the rest of the Russia team goes into the match with that arrogence then except a Duff man of the match and a Keane hat trick, somehow we manage to get an underdogs mentality as favourites, and that can only be a good thing.
MMmmm..... Maybe he will surprise us and play 4-5-1 with Keane up front.....he could then play: keane Duff Kinsella Holland Healy McAteer Harte Cunningham Breen Finnan Given that way you keep duff in his favoured position, drop out of form Kilbane and get Healy into the team.....healy could then be the player to get in the box for crosses from mcateer/duff...... I would not play it myself as I would be worried about keane not getting into the box enough....he floats around so when the crosses went in there would be no one there............... just a thought.....bet he trys it sometime though.......everyone else in the premiership is.........(to their failure)...... COME ON IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy the match lads closey
It'd work with any striker but Keane, for the reasons that you said, the same reasons that the Duff and Keane partnership doesn't work. Nice to have a bit of variety, mind, if Keane gets injured in an emergency we could revert to that and have Doherty, Morrison or Sadlier up front as the lone striker. I'd really love to see more of Healy, he played well enough in the warm up players and I thought, good player, great potential, but the Finland friendly showed another side of his play, showing him to be a perfect box to box player and the man we need to link defence to attack more then any of our mid fielders to, the perfect foil for either Holland or Kinsella too, though it wont be until the window re opens and he leaves Celtic that he holds down a regular place in the team imo.