@Rocko assured me on Saturday second place would be fine for play-off.
Weâll have a better idea after Wednesday, but weâll be under pressure if the other second place teams around us pick up points.
Some stones that we are talking now about maybe a 2nd place finish. We should be winning this group ffs sake!
Our team is pretty shit though mate, weâre still depending on the likes of Wes or Aiden for a spark of creativity, and Kevin fucking Doyle is still in the squad. Its a little depressing the lack of talent coming through. Second place would be an achievement at this rate.
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You home bro?
Might reignite Thursday night football in your honour
Heading to Pittodrie this season?
Locke thinks we should win this group because he is an epl loving bogger
No not home just back in Ireland for a few weeks.
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In Group H, Bosnia play Belgium at home next, while Greece go to Cyprus in their final match against another top 5 team.
The Irish need really need Bosnia to lose or at least not win, and Greece to drop points.
If Greece win, they go to 13 points in the second place league and theyâre currently one goal ahead of the Irish on goal difference, and itâll mean that whoever finishes second in Group H will have a minimum of 13 points.
Group F is the other one to watch.
Slovakiaâs trip to Scotland is their final match against top 5 opposition. The Irish need the Scots to win this as that would leave Slovakia on 12 points with a best case goal difference of +5.
But then Scotland would need to fail to win in Slovenia and let Slovakia overtake them again, as a win for the Scots there would bring them to a second place finish on 14 points and almost certainly out of the reach of the Irish.
In all cases, at least one win for the Irish against Serbia or Wales is the absolute minimum requirement - there is pretty much no scenario in which two draws will be enough, and the balance of probabilities says a win and a defeat from those two matches would not be enough.
So a defeat tonight and and itâs probably curtains.
Correction. There is one scenario where two draws would be enough for a play off.
Greece fail to beat Cyprus away.
Bosnia lose at home to Belgium or mess up in Estonia but still finish second in Group H on 11 second place points.
Wales fail to win in Georgia.
But all that happening is a long shot.
It probably wonât make any difference but the final matches in the Bosnia group (H) are the night after the final matches in the Irish group (D).
Given that the possibility exists for one team to have an unfair advantage in terms of knowing what they have to do to overhaul a team in a different group, the final matches in all groups really should take place simultaneously.
Ireland need to get in to these cunts with controlled aggression and high tempo football . These cunts for all their brilliance are flaky and tempestuous .
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I predict those horrible Serbian cunts will cause trouble at some stage this evening.(The fans not the team)
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All trouble should be directed towards this gentleman
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Eire have a very good record in competitive home matches against Balkan teams.
Wins over Bosnia (2015), Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (1999), Croatia (1998) and Macedonia (1996, 1999 and 2011). The draw with Montenegro in 2009 was a dead rubber.
From that general geographical area you can also throw in wins over Bulgaria (1987), Albania (1992 and 2003) and Hungary (1989).
I donât recall a competitive home loss to any team from that general part of the world in my time watching.
Russia 2010 is the only one I can think of if you want to extend it to the whole of eastern Europe.
simpleton alert
And you better believe it . Fucking controlled , manic aggression . GAA spirit . All these boys need to discover their GAA roots .
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stay of football threads if you are going to come out with this simplistic nonsense
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We need someone to land in with a softener on that Matic cunt, Glen Whelan will fuck him right up. Thatâll learn the Serbian bastards. They wonât want to fucking know about it.
Raw fucking manic aggression .
I hope our boys put the fear of God in them.
Ireland have been unlucky with injuries, especially McCarthy, Coleman and now Hendrick. I get the impression OâNeill sometimes uses this as an excuse, whether consciously or not. No manager should do this, every team has players injured or suspended. The skill is in having a squad and being able to name a team set up for a game, not just based on whoâs not available. OâNeill has failed miserably in this context. Apart from Harry Arter, he hasnât brought anyone into midfield in recent times in games that mean something. Christieâs come in because if Colemanâs injury and this will give us some great options in the future
Clark and Duffy at Cbâs again is the result of circumstance.
But nothing up front and fuck all in midfield. Itâs just back to building a team around Glenn Whelan.
It surprises me, as I would have thought OâNeills conservative outlook would be tempered somewhat by a more aggressive approach a la Keane. Doesnât seem to be.
Weâre fucked if we donât win this game. We canât set out our stall like weâre scared shitless of anything other than a 0-0 draw. We have to take risks, get on the ball, pick Was, fuck it, pick McGeady, play Slab and Long. That would shock the shit out Serbia and probably all of us. We have to start looking like a team that wants to score goals instead of a team scared shitless of conceding them and not doing a very good job of achieving that objective.
Iâm distinctly pessimistic about this game.