Ireland euro squad predictions (1 Viewer)

[Jerry Twig]

Only saw about 30 minutes of the Hungary game. Hard to take too much from a game in those conditions and with the players presumably at half-throttle and trying to avoid injury. Walters gets into good positions and ruffles defenders but he lacks a finishing touch, I can see why Stoke fans find him frustrating. Does the hold-up / contesting aerial balls thing well and probably carries more of a goal threat than Doyle at the moment but I think I prefer Long as a player overall.

Defence had a worrying number of holes, O'Shea looking very rusty, Ward never really inspires confidence although he has a knack for last ditch tackles, and St Ledger lost his footing badly a couple of times. Going to be an awful lot of these 3 matches watched through the fingers, you'd have to think.

Trap making noises about a last minute switch to playing 5 midfielders, which (assuming he's not just trying to mess with Slaven Bilic) is something I wish he'd explored more six months or a year ago. There was that brief experiment in one of the friendlies with Keane playing a deeper role, which I think he'll end up doing anyway seeing as he'll be seeing so little of the ball otherwise. We seem to be trying to play the ball to feet a bit more and hit fewer aimless long balls in recent games, which is slightly encouraging, but the midfield pairing are being bypassed as much as ever, Whelan and Andrews barely seemed to be involved last night.

I definitely prefer Long overall, but Walters over Doyle. I think the 4-5-1 was mind games only. When we did try that against Czech it didn't work - Keane was more anonymous than ever. Maybe it was just a bad day, but it wouldn't inspire me to try it now.

 

[Richie]

Yeah as far as I remember it wasn't a success in that Czech game.. I think it could work though, Keane played that sort of deep lying role when he was at Villa and did well. Very late in the day to be tinkering at this stage though, realistically we're stuck with 'the system' for better or worse.

This is gas - cheerleaders, the local mayor, balloons and a crowd of 15,000 for the first Ireland training session in Gdynia - fair play to the Poles:

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[Hector Grey]

Rio is making a fierce tit of himself, isn't he?

So excited now.

 

[Jerry Twig]

He sure is.

Have a listen to this, Jackie's Army, to get even more excited!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/5lfd#playepisode2

 

[Richie]

Was listening to that last night, great stuff. O'Leary is surprisingly tolerable when he's a bit more candid.

 

[Hector Grey]

Ah deadly.

Rio's attitude, that he should be walking into the team, is very much part of why they've suffered over the years. Wankers.

 

[Luther Blissett]

Can't wait now either - although the excitement is wreaking havoc on the amount of work I'm getting done this week! Is anyone lucky enough to be heading to Poland? I was offered tickets for both games in Poznan, but can't afford to take time away from my work. The Irish-owned bar up the road will have to do.

 

[Jerry Twig]

A week's work is more important than the Euros. Are you INSANE??!
I'll be there, and Unicron I think.

 

[ann post]

i met 4 lads in the pub lastnight in ireland jerseys who were

going to the pub in donegal to stay up late to get the night bus to catch the plane to poland from dublin. sounds like great craic.

 

[Luther Blissett]

A week's work is more important than the Euros. Are you INSANE??!
I'll be there, and Unicron I think.

I know, but it's college work that I need to hand in our else I'll be really screwed so needs must. Still gutted though. Have a great time and report back if you get the chance!

 

[dunderhead]

whats the story with Given? he barely trained today again apparently. tardelli claimed he was 100% fit recently which is obviously untrue. alan kelly when asked on bbc basically said you try and stop him from not playing against croatia - admitting he has had a few 'niggles'. while 100% commitment is all well and good, somethings up....have visions of him having to go off after 10 mins or something..

aaaahhh!!!!

 

[Jerry Twig]

I know, but it's college work that I need to hand in our else I'll be really screwed so needs must. Still gutted though. Have a great time and report back if you get the chance!

Fair enough, and very best of luck to you then in getting it done. I'll check in if I can!

 

[Luther Blissett]

Fair enough, and very best of luck to you then in getting it done. I'll check in if I can!

Cheers! Have a great time and COYBIG!

 

[Unicron]

I'll be there, and Unicron I think.

Yup, though I feel really sick and part of me is thinking of bailing on the endeavor. I think Moods For Mallards; had a 30+ hour layover in Luton en route to Berlin today and another thumpder (or ex, hasn't been back in a while I think) had his first ferry cancelled this morning and when he got to the replacement one they hadn't transferred his reservation over, so he stowed away on board in the back of a van.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Here we go.I predict a boring nil all for this first game.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Hmmm,should I have started a separate thread for general euro 2012 waffle?

 

[Jim Daniels]

I can't stop watching this!

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[dudley]

thats fecking amazing

 

[Jim Daniels]

I know! Possibly the best ever!

 

[ernesto]

I can't stop watching this!

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should someone tell them that thats the italy flag behind them, theyre wearing celtic jersies and theyve an Indian flag on their laps? No? ok so