Now before i'm shouted down here by the Ireland fans let me explain.
I have looked at many Football forums over the past week and to a man every NIreland fan is convinced that they would have got better results than we did at the Euro Finals. Now i know that they are famous for their sense of humour and rapier like wit but bear with me here.
I believe they actually have a point!!
NIreland unlike Ireland didn't qualify for the Euro Finals. In fact they were the victims of a lot of misfortune in their qualifying matches and ended up finishing second last with only two wins out of a total of 10 matches.
Italy H 0-0 A 0-3. Dominated both games and should really have won at Windsor Park. Very unlucky also to be tanked 3-0 out in Italy
Estonia H 1-2 A 1-4. Again misfortune contributed to both these humbling defeats. That said Estonia are a very good side as the ROI found out when we were very fortunate to beat them 4-0 away in the Play offs
Serbia H0-1 A 1-2. You know the story by now. Again very unlucky not to win both these matches.
Slovenia H0-0 A 1-0. True to form they travelled to Slovenia and came away with 3 points. Unlucky not to win at Windsor after totally outclassing the Slovenians for 90 minutes.
Faroe Islands H 4-1 A 1-1. Again they showed their world class pedigree by stuffing the butchers, bakers and candlestickmakers of the Faroes. Unfortunately their luck was out in the away match. NIreland had 100 shots on target while the plucky Faroes had only one!!
This type of form would have ensured that NIreland would have probably picked up at least 7 points out of our Euro Group.
Croatia- the mighty Northerners would probably have won this one about 2 or 3 nil. With the formidable Healy and Lafferty helping themselves to the goals.
Spain- more than likely a draw. The Spanish would have been up for this and with 10 men behind the ball would have just about managed to repel the relentless Northern attacks
Italy- easy peasy for our Ulster cousins. Icing on the cake . More than likely a 3 goal victory.
Discuss!!
NIreland would have done better!!
posted on 20/6/12
They are both good solid CB in the PL nothing between them.
posted on 20/6/12
Out of curiosity how old is Aron Hughes now? And surely O'Neill is not going to persist with Fleetwood Town bound Healy! They sound like a team out of Roy of the Rovers!
posted on 20/6/12
32 i think. hope healy is out. Should have been dropped a long long time ago. Had his time but must step aside now.
posted on 20/6/12
I'm just hoping Trapps doesn't mistake the same mistake with Robbie Keane.
To be honest i don't like crticising Keane but his time is up
posted on 20/6/12
But who do we have better than him? its harsh saying his time is up when the three games we were dominated, therefore he got no service at all and Robbie is one of those strikers who performs best when he is getting good service from midfield.
posted on 20/6/12
COLEMAN,CLARK,etc:
They say a good team starts with a good defence, so just one question: "Which defence would you rather have?"
TAYLOR (ex Birmingham/EPL)
BAIRD (Fulham regular/EPL)
HUGHES (Fulham regular/EPL)
JONNY EVANS (Man Utd regular/EPL)
FERGUSON (Newcastle regular/EPL)
OR
GIVEN
O'SHEA
DUNNE
St LEDGER
WARD
Honest answer! No porkies, now.
posted on 20/6/12
But Shen thats traps defence, not the best defence. The best defence would be
Coleman
O Shea
Dunne
Clark
posted on 20/6/12
Well, I did say against a "Trapped" ROI. !m surprised you're still going for O'Shea and Dunne. Both have been loyal and impressive servants for the ROI, but are now just a couple of yards too slow. Dunne's impressive positional sense has allowed him to get away with it for a while, but against the up and coming young Kelts of OWC hes sure to be found out!
I DO rate Coleman. The jury's still out on Clark, though he is better than Ward. O'Shea and Richard(hes a favourite of mine), sorry times up, though Richard could probably carry it off for a couple of more seasons, depending on the opposition.
posted on 20/6/12
Impressed with McGirven(Man City, utility) recently. May play him instead of Fergie at left defender. Whatever, either are much better than Ward.
posted on 20/6/12
"Trapped Roi" i like it reiver! Maybe the Irish fans should start singing Suspicious Minds instead of the Fields of Athenry! Thank you very muuuch!