Good man Stephen Ireland... (1 Viewer)

[ratmonkey]

Whatever happened to that O'Halloran lad who used to be at Villa? He looked decent the one time I saw him.

 

[Richie]

O'Halloran had a couple of lengthy injury layoffs I believe that seem to have stymied his progress at Villa.. was on loan at Swansea for a while, not sure if he's still there.

Just read now that FIFA goons have decided that the second place playoff draw will be seeded based on FIFA rankings:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/29/world-cup-play-offs-seeded-sepp-blatter

So if we get there, we'll be in the 2nd pot and the likelihood is we'll be playing one of Russia\Germany, France, Greece or Croatia. Thanks a lot, FIFA. At least France and Croatia seem to not be in the best shape at the moment. Not sure what our chances would be against Greece. Russia\Germany would be a killer..

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Yeah, this seeding thing is a massive blow. I just can't see things working out for us now.

 

[Cormcolash]

Fucking wankers! How can they just make this shit up a month before the fucking matches? FOCK FOCK FOCK FOCK FOCK FOCKING PRAWNNNNSSS!!!
Have to stick 100 euro on us getting to the play offs and drawing Russia or Germany. These focking draws are always focking fixed, it's guaranteed.

 

[washingcattle]

McGeady before Andy Reid. He's a better player.
Lee Carsley can take a hike. I think the lads we have playing at the moment are about as effective as the guy who single-handedly knocked us out of Euro 2000.

it was a group effort not getting to euro 2000 and Carsley didn't mature as a player until he joined Everton, David Moyes has that effect on players. McGeady has no work rate and runs blindly into corners. he has liminted vision to pick a pass dwells on the ball to long takes too many touches and can't cross a ball to save his fucking life.

We played pretty good football under Captain Fantastic.
Actually seem like halcyon days now, even if we did screw up whenever it came to the crunch. The Euro 2000 qualifiers were good craic.

I remember agreeing with me dad at that time that it was the worst squad of players we'd had in a long time. Little did we know how bad it would get...

See, we have tons of players at a certain level nowadays: just below being really good, effective top-level players. They all gather at that point. I'm sure the ascendancy of the English game with all the imports has something to do with it, restricting chances to improve and gain experience. You know, Liverpool can send a whole internationally-recruited team of guys nobody has ever heard of to play in Dunmanway. The hoarding of players is a problem on two fronts - making it harder to break through at the top teams and lowering the standard elsewhere, so that good performances give a false impression.

This is all true. For the record I second the assertion that we played good ball under McCarthy.


Seeding wise. It's better for the world cup as a whole with France, Germany and Croatia in it they were never going to let these lads knock each other out before the tournement proper even started plenty of countries have it too easy in qualifying though. Ireland could have easily got to the world cup if they were playing in the asian or north american regions this fact troubles me more than the seeded european play offs.

No one said it was going to be easy.

So who do we want. If we get Greece it'll be the worst match of all time. France have made a balls of qualifying before but they'll beat us and croatia have had the misfortune of running into england who are on fire at the moment personally i think the old conception that if you can get the first one against the russians you'll win is still there to be tested that said Arshavin and co deserve to be at the world cup before we do. Over all I'll go for Greece. I admire them more than I enjoy them and thats just not going to cut it at the top level.

 

[Cormcolash]

I want revenge on those Swiss pricks

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

Maybe I am wrong here, but usually when any form of play off is needed the teams are ranked/seeded based on their points from their group and not their World Ranking?

 

[Cormcolash]

Maybe I am wrong here, but usually when FIFA introduce systems like this, it is because they want to fix it so that certain teams are pretty much guaranteed to get through and other teams are automatically fucked.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

It was mentioned before that FIFA had yet to decide how the competition was to play out and like you said cormcolash they were waiting to see how the tournament panned out.

i mean if you play pool with mates the first thing anyone says is "pick a pocket" or "no carry shots".

FIFA are a disgrace as usual.
The we had idiot Sepp Blatter saying the other day how he used to dive???

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

We could have got any of these teams anyway.

Can't see us beating anyone of any quality over two legs.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

it was a group effort not getting to euro 2000 and Carsley didn't mature as a player until he joined Everton, David Moyes has that effect on players. McGeady has no work rate and runs blindly into corners. he has liminted vision to pick a pass dwells on the ball to long takes too many touches and can't cross a ball to save his fucking life.

I was joking a little bit about Euro 2000.
I'm not a Carsley fan at all though. I don't think he brings a lot to a team.

McGeady has flaws galore but I don't think you can seriously say Andy Reid's workrate gives him the nod over Aido. Like, it's Andy Reid, who recently was about 2 stone overweight.

 

[washingcattle]

We could have got any of these teams anyway.

Can't see us beating anyone of any quality over two legs.

It's possible we could get an away goal like in italy and hold out at home. Probably better off getting some arrogant bunch like France and catching them cold in the away leg. Better that than someone like Turkey (or Greece actually fuck there's that scuppered) who are practically unbeatable at home.
Are away goals even counted in this? in fairness the likelyhood of a handy draw was pretty slim to begin with.


Oh I Fucking hate everything about Swiss Football.
Insert Kevin Keegan style rant here

 

[washingcattle]

I was joking a little bit about Euro 2000.
I'm not a Carsley fan at all though. I don't think he brings a lot to a team.

McGeady has flaws galore but I don't think you can seriously say Andy Reid's workrate gives him the nod over Aido. Like, it's Andy Reid, who recently was about 2 stone overweight.

True but He's trying. He's had his detractors and seems determined to get a run in the team, McGeady's been told he was exceptional since he was a kid and plays like he believes it. I'll take a determined fat lad with a bit of vision and who reads the game well over a thouroughbred shitehawk like McGeady any day.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Ah no, Reid is not a "determined fat lad"! He's a talented guy with a terrible attitude who has squandered his potential. He's snapped out of it recently - let's see if he can keep that up or if he lapses back, as form would suggest.
McGeady needs a move away from Celtic, I reckon, to get out of his comfort zone and probably to play with and against better players all the time. He's frustrating, a bit brain dead and inconsistent. But he's actually done pretty well in this campaign.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Oh I Fucking hate everything about Swiss Football.
Insert Kevin Keegan style rant here

I think the first time I noticed Switzerland was when Neuchatel Xamax tonked Liam Brady's Celtic in the UEFA Cup in 1991. Things didn't improve much from there. I never want to visit the place. I went on a date with a Swiss girl once and gave her the death stare all evening, grunting periodically. Suisse fuck off.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

Are away goals even counted in this?

FIFA will probably wait until after the games are played to decide.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Everyone liked Stephane Chapuisat in his Borussia Dortmund heyday. Ciriaco Sforza had a bit of class too.

But they're horrid. Horrid for beating us and being smug and rich beyond belief.

 

[Jerry Twig]

Hakin Yakin!

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

Hakin Yakin!

ha ha Hakin Yakin!!!
He got the looks and the skills.
Poor old Murat looked like an elephant and played like one.

Ah Switzerland are brilliant - Think of Turkyilmaz (sp?) getting that penalty at Wembley.

Zuberbuhler and and his trackie bottoms ("dodgy keeper").

the 1954 World Cup

having a player called Wicky

the least is endless....

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Every boy who owned the Subbuteo scoreboard or catalogue of teams, or indeed read Shoot, grew up loving Grasshoppers of Zurich.