Subject: Ireland Vs...

With Nin as assistant U can´t miss this... I would say it´s a very easy draw for Ireland and anything except first spot would be a failure :D

it´s a very easy draw for Ireland

Are you sure you wanted to write Ireland and not Iceland?? ;-)
I completely disagree! It's one of the toughest group we're in, there are no easy opponents, especially with Israel and Hellas I'm not happy at all!

same as I. it isnt good group:(

I was a little bit sarcastic... one of the hardest group for sure.

Opponent: Scotland
Ranking: 21 (34)
Users: 88 (70)
Season: 12 (10)
Coach: Auldreekie1874


Scotland was the big surprise last WC, this was the final standing of their group:
1. Scotland 3 3 0 0 7-2 9
2. Italia 3 1 1 1 9-4 4
3. Eesti 3 0 2 1 6-8 2
4. USA 3 0 1 2 5-13 1

Ally, their manager, is in my eyes one of the best managers here in SK, I saw some other matches where he had great tactics aswell.
Therefore it's gonna be really tough to beat them!

1 Derek Reidy GK
2 Matthew Kukureka DEF
3 Derek Docherty DEF
4 Richard Hanrahan DEF
5 William Brunton DEF
6 Kieran MacKeamish DEF
7 Steven Dean MID
8 Christian Coyne MID
9 Terry Matthews ATT
10 Gerard Crossley MID
11 Aaron Lizrraga MID


12 Philip Cryan GK
13 Andrew McCauley DEF
14 Christian Colbert MID
15 Dave Donegan MID
16 Corey Curley ATT

The first and the last 20 minutes were awful, between we looked pretty good ...
1:1 would have been a fair result in my eyes.

It's often the same story, we're playing good, we miss good chances and in the end we receive goals ...

Our substitutes are much weaker than the line-up players, but I need to do substitutions because some players have to move a lot. Maybe all players are moving too much in my system, so that the formidable stamina isn't good enough anyway ...


@NT candidates: That's a good opportunity to critizise the tactics! How did you see the match?
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I won't criticise the tactics; I use something like that a lot at club level and its pretty much what I would have gone with :) The only thing I might have changed would be sacrificing Coyne to have another striker up front. I don't think the 2 forward midfielders contributed enough between them to justify having 2 of them. Crossley was pretty interesting in that position, his passing to Lizragga was superb but obviously going backwards he was useless.

I actually kind of agree with you on this one. The fact that the 3 teams below us are strong could work in our favour if we pick up 3 wins against them. They have enough about them to give the top two a scare and hopefully take some points off them. Also with Argentina and Česká republika able to take points off each other we might not have a clear group leader which might allow us to sneak through between them.

I know there are a lot of ifs and buts in that but I think we should go in pretty positively to the group.
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I'm not saying the teams below us are easy but we should pick up 6 points off each of them. Then you come to the teams above and i think we got lucky. They're both beatable

Looking at the stats you'd think they were the better team but i didnt get that impression watching the game. I thought we looked rock solid after the first 20 minutes but once Dean came off we lost the midfield and the defence was exposed.
I dont like Crossley in that position. As Shane says he's useless going backwards. He cant defend or win the ball but his passing was excellent as always which is why i think he'd be better in the Lizrraga position. God knows Lizrragas choice of pass wasn't very good.

Personally I'd go for Crossley there as I tend to think in percentages. Crossley might get fewer crosses in in a game but they're more likely to be effective. I have always liked Lizragga though :) His speed and technique will always worry a defence. It's a real heads or tails choice.

but once Dean came off we lost the midfield and the defence was exposed.
Don't know why that happened. Dean had to move a lot, that's why Colbert came. And Colbert isn't much weaker ...


i think he'd be better in the Lizrraga position
Crossley has the better playmaker-passing combination and the worse technique-pace combination.
I tried it at the beginning of the season with Crossley or Coyne (who're similar) as wingers, but they mostly got tackled from behind. Lizrraga won't get tackled but his passes are weak.

Well, it's a discussion which is going on in every forum I'm in. Some managers prefer passing-playmaker, the reason is that if the winger gets through his pass will often be accurate, others (like me) think that it's more important to pass the defender (pace-technique is more important) and that few of the possible passing chances are accurate.

In the end we can't say what strategy is better, it's probably more or less the same ...

The draw is very easy for Czech Republic. This season in Czech Rep., after many years, all the best managers candidate, so whoever wins will be a seasoned tactitian and manager. Anything but all wins would be seen as major disappointment.

As to compare Irish squad to Czech Republic level, Matthews would be an average striker in 3rd division.

Anyway i agree with the fact that the stronger teams means more competition and more possibility they steal points from each other and Irelands needs to make the most of it. With shane behind the wheel, im sure that will be the scenario. Good luck ! It will be a fascinating group for sure.
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I think maybe it depends on where you're playing the wingers. You'd take pace and technique over passing if the winger is far forward which might benefit Lizrraga. Watching Crossley over the last season, dropping him deeper seems to give him the space to destroy teams. The guy had 17 assists in the last season when he didnt even play all of it.

Is that the Czech team that just lost 5-2 to Australia? ;)
There's no doubt you've got the stronger squad but you're far from untouchable.