Ireland vs. Slovakia

Dampsquid

Given,

O'Shea, Dunne, McShane, Finnan,

Duff, Carsley, Kilbane, McGeady, Ireland,

Doyle

_blank_

I'd say it's 4-5-1 tbh.

shane86

Wouldnt play Stokes at all yet (well, wouldnt start him anyway), he has only scored once since arriving at Sunderland (though tbh im not aware of how his general form has been). And in Keanes criticism of the lack of Sunderland selections, while he specifically mentioned Connolly and Miller I dont think he mentioned Stokes, which would seem to say he doesnt think he is ready yet.

I still say we can take the Slovaks. It might be another poor 1-0 situation but Im quietly confident. What has Doyles form been like lately for Reading?

_blank_

shane86 wrote:

What has Doyles form been like lately for Reading?

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=41354

Last goal on New Years Day for Reading. Scored twice in a 6-0 against West Ham.

Games after that.

14-01-2007 English Premier Everton 1-1 Reading 0
27-02-2007 English FA Cup Reading 2-3 Man Utd 0
03-03-2007 English Premier Arsenal 2-1 Reading 0
17-03-2007 English Premier Reading 0-0 Portsmouth 0
24-03-2007 European Championships Ireland 1-0 Wales 0

Rollo Tamasi

Given

  Finnan  Dunne  McShane  O'Shea 

McGeady Ireland Carsley Kilbane Duff

              Doyle

4-5-1 at home is too negative for this oppisiton :mad:
Stan doesn't have the confidence to play two strikers. What a joke.
I just hope that McGeady and Duff play in really advanced roles and we take on a 4-3-3 while in posession and 4-5-1 while defending.

And the two full backs better be playing in their proper positions. Hopefully Finann and McGeady will get up those flanks a lot too.

The Rooster

I think it'll be McGeady on the right, Killer on the left, and Duff behind Doyle.

I'm very surprised that McGeady is ahead of Hunt in the pecking order, but presumably he's been showing very well in training.

eirebhoy

Stan names the team early for a reason, to confuse the opposition even more, so none of us will probably predict how they'll line out. Judging by his comments about Duff and McGeady being key I'd say they'll be playing just off Doyle. I don't agree that 4-5-1 is negative. That team is far from negative.

Duff and McGeady will be switching throughout the game. Carsley doing his usual role. Kilbane hopefully supporting Carsley in the position he won Ireland player of the year. Ask Pavel Nedved what Kilbane's like to play against. S.Ireland playing the role he plays for Man City.

Delighted with that team. Then again, Duff will probably play left back...

The1337_Stephen

Now thats more like it, Stan may actually be listening to us, Hunt should be in instead of Kilbane, but i'd say he'll bring him on 2nd half to draw in a few free kicks :P

_blank_

McGeady.

Is it McG-eddy
or
McG-eedy
?

The1337_Stephen

McG-eedy AFAIK

PHB

I'm pretty happy with that team, assuming that Finnan is on the right and O'Shea on the left, assuming!!

Pighead

psi wrote:

Watched some of the Slovakia-Cyprus game - Slovakia are a very good team. They happered Wales 5-1 and Cyprus were fairly much put to the sword.

I don't fancy a win - I'll take a draw and be happy.

Love the selective memory posts. 4 or 5 lads regaling us of the Slovaks wonderful 5-1 away drubbing of Wales and not one mention of two 3 goal losses at home by both Germany and the Czechs.

gucci

i reckon he didnt select hunt exclusively based on how much almost everyone actually wants him to start, "stans the gaffer, he wont be swayed by the fans/press" type of thing.
will be interesting to see how we play without keane after all the recent negativity about his ability when playing for ireland.

redspider

Before I discuss the team ..... I caught a few seconds of the press conference where Staunton was talking about Shay Given. Shay's body language wasnt happy at all and I thought "oh-oh, something's up", but that was before I had heard about what Roy 'the boy' had been saying. So, maybe, all is okay within the camp.

---

As for the team selection, I hate seeing Kilbane in it, and believe me there are few things in life that I hate. Why is he an ever-present? It defies logic.

As for other choices, it will be interesting to see if Finnan and O'Shea switch sides of the pitch. If they do, will that be a recognition that Staunton got it wrong v Wales?

> I think it'll be McGeady on the right, Killer on the left, and Duff behind Doyle.

Yeah, I think it will be something similar to that - I think Duff will be switching flanks, and generally getting into wide positions and playing with either McGeady or Kilbane depending on which side he is on. Lets hope Doyle can stay in the centre more than Robbie did. There's an opportunity for S.Ireland to come through and try a shot as well and we may need that as Carsley doest do it and can stay back for more defensive duties.

With the omission of Douglas, is that a signal that Staunton accepts that playing him was a mistake on Sat? Or has he got a 'niggle' ......

Its good for McGeady to get a start. However, I would be surprised if he can metamorphose into 'being brilliant' on the night. He is a so-so player at the moment and whilst the romantic in me might like to see him create wizardry, scoring cances and/or score one himself, the practical side of the brain is telling me that it wont be the case, that there will be many close efforts, what if's, if only he would have shot harder, got the cross over further, etc. I could be wrong of course ......

As for Slovakia, they are tough opposition but have had varying results:

Slovakia 6 - 1 Cyprus
Slovakia 0 - 3 Czech Republic
Wales 1 - 5 Slovakia
Slovakia 1 - 4 Germany
Cyprus 1 - 3 Slovakia

As they are our main competitor for 3rd place, its vital that we beat them here in Croker and come away with 3 pts. Wales may have been an ugly win, but I would take an ugly win against Slovakia tomorrow evening. The begrudgers know what they can do to themselves .... ;-)

Redspider

BaZmO*

mickith wrote:

Given

Finnan Dunne McShane

Carsley

McGeady Ireland Hunt

Duff
Stokes

think i would prefer something like this. three at the back cause dont think there is room for oshea in there and no way should harte be there. maybe have kilbane in centre mid instead of ireland. cant see stan changin too much from the last game unfortunately. hunt should start and either stokes or long up front, maybe the two.

Is that you Steve?

redspider

seansouth wrote:

McGeady.
Is it McG-eddy
or
McG-eedy

Its ma-gee-dee
(where gee is a you-know-what and is not pronounced jee)

all-tho bray-dee thinks its mac-ee-dee or eevin mac-ed-ee

eirebhoy

seansouth wrote:

McGeady.

Is it McG-eddy
or
McG-eedy
?

The latter.

This is a good clip from a DVD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSS61Deu8t8

BaZmO*

The1337_Stephen wrote:

Now thats more like it, Stan may actually be listening to us

That actually seems to be Stan's problem. He seems to make a mess out of a team selection, then listens to all the criticisms and then makes the changes for the next match. By then it's too late because the tactics no longer suit the opposition. I just get the impression that there's no forward thinking strategy when it comes to Stan.

emc2

redspider wrote:

As for the team selection, I hate seeing Kilbane in it, and believe me there are few things in life that I hate. Why is he an ever-present? It defies logic.
Redspider

I recokon he is picked because of his heading ability. Almost every kickout in the last match was aimed at his big head.

gucci

emc2 wrote:

I recokon he is picked because of his heading ability. Almost every kickout in the last match was aimed at his big head.

christ almost 100 caps for ireland based on the "target man" for kickouts technique....its shocking. with about 30 mins left on saturday the poor fella was out on his feet,considering the 60 mins previously the ball had been kicked over his head in opposite directions it was no wonder

patmac

redspider wrote:

As for other choices, it will be interesting to see if Finnan and O'Shea switch sides of the pitch. If they do, will that be a recognition that Staunton got it wrong v Wales?

I believe that the reason they were played out of position was because Finnan was marking his team mate Bellamy and O'Shea his team mate Giggs, so that could be the reason for it. Slovakia aren't world beaters very hot and cold a well organised, tactically aware, confident Ireland team should beat them. Slovakia to win.

eirebhoy

patmac wrote:

I believe that the reason they were played out of position was because Finnan was marking his team mate Bellamy and O'Shea his team mate Giggs, so that could be the reason for it.

That's exactly it and they did well imo.

As for Kilbane, it was a choice between him, Douglas or Quinn really. Slovakia play on the break. There's no way we could play Stephen Ireland in central midfield against them. Kilbane usually plays beside a holding midfielder.

BaZmO*

redspider wrote:

As they are our main competitor for 3rd place

Why do you keep on saying that they are our main competitors for 3rd place? What have the Czechs done that would make you think that they are gonna walk away with second place. Granted that we haven't exactly been setting the world alight as of late but we're still in the shake up for second place.

_blank_

eirebhoy wrote:

The latter.

This is a good clip from a DVD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSS61Deu8t8

Cool, then why is the NewsTalk sports guy saying the former?

McG-eddy?

Bounty Hunter

smemon wrote:

it's not so long ago we we're holding our own against the likes of holland, portugal, france, spain etc..

granted, we were captained by the world class keane, but one man doesn't make a team and if those 10 players were good enough WITH roy keane on the pitch, what has changed since? 3 have gone, the majority (6) remain.

just like with chelsea when John Terry was out, we now have no leader on the pitch. Robbie can lead by example but we need someone willing to roar his head off at the most experienced Irish players and tell the Kilbane's and O'Shea's when they are not doing good enough. We need a motivational leader, there was talk that McShane began doing this on Sat. but we cant expect one of our newest additions to the national set-up to lead. At times like this when leadership is in question the manager would usually take it on himself to fire the team up. However he himself is only new to the managerial set-up and a quiet man at that. What Ireland need is someone to mature right now, grow some balls and be honest with his team-mates i.e tell them when their not good enough. doesent need to be captain keane wasnt when he came back, twas cunningham didnt stop him leading though.

redspider

BaZmO* wrote:

Why do you keep on saying that they are our main competitors for 3rd place? What have the Czechs done that would make you think that they are gonna walk away with second place.

Its true that CZ's loss v DE at home reduces the gap, but there is still a sizeable gap. Their key results compared with us are:

Germany 1 - 0 Republic of Ireland
Slovakia 0 - 3 Czech Republic
Cyprus 5 - 2 Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Czech Republic
Czech Republic 1 - 2 Germany

CZ are likely to get 3 pts in Cyprus, we didnt. They may beat us in Prague (getting 4pts in that head to head compared with our 1pt), and they won in Slovakia which will be a tough one for us. They are likely to beat Slovakia in Prague but as it is a derby match anything could happen in that one.

I think all things considered it will be a DE-CZ 1-2 finish. Sure, it is possible that we could catch them but we will need more favours from DE and others and we will need to win most of our winnables. It is possible but at this moment in time it is not probable. And I wish it were the opposite.

Redspider

BaZmO*

redspider wrote:

CZ are likely to get 3 pts in Cyprus, we didnt.

Nor did Germany.

eirebhoy

And Slovakia only scored against them when their keeper got sent off. Plus they were missing Constantinou and Okkas. Switzerland really struggled to beat them twice in the last group. It'll be a tough game for the Czechs. They also have to travel to Germany. It's not impossible.

~Rebel~

Having seen that team, im cautiously optimistic..i agree with Eirebhoy, and am praying for something like this

---

Given
Finnan---Dunne---mcShane---O Shea

---

Carsley

---

Ireland

---

Kilbane

---

Duff

---

McGeady

---

Doyle

With McGeady and Duff given license to roam around, switching with each other, drifting wide, and also back in, almost up supporting Doyle, like wingforwards.

Kilbane, as much as i dont want him near the 1st team, can at least just hare around the place and try and harry the Slovaks, and then give the ball to better players.

herbieflowers

what the hell was with O'Shea on the right and Finnan on the left?! I hope that bloody changes! Besides O'Shea kept cutting in to use his left anyway, and Finnan has said before that he can't play left-back at all! I'd be delighted with a draw and I think that's a possibility, can't really see us scoring many goals tbh

Fanny Cradock

Desperate for the points, Stan decides to go for broke and play a daring 4-5-1 formation.

I can see it now: like a surging tilde wave, Kilbane and Carsely will link up throughout the game, crashing through the Slovak defence in one amazing burst after another. Bewildered, the Slovaks can only watch on as their flailing limbs cut through the air in vain attempts to stop the two. Using their natural skill, flair, creativity, vision, passing ability and ball control, Kilbane and Carsley will ghost past the Slovaks, flowing by them like water down a drain. They inspire their team to a stunning victory. As Stan looks on from the sideline, we all realise that his ineptitude was a ploy and part of his master 4-year plan.

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

Given

  Finnan  Dunne  McShane  O'Shea 

McGeady Ireland Carsley Kilbane Duff

              Doyle

There's a major mistake there:

You neglected to play Finnan and O'Shea out of their positions.

I'd imaging that Stan will have Duff play some sort of floating roll or Ireland as an out-and-out AM to support Doyle. Whatever he decides, with a 4-5-1 formation, I'd imagine that Doyle will cut a lonely figure on the field.

Why he persists with someone like Kilbane in a must win game is dumbfounding. Prudence is of coarse the easy answer, but I really don't see much happening in term of goals with that line up. Setting your team up so defensively at home and in such an important match is setting yourself up for a fall.

Although he is not proven, I think that Stokes would offer a little more up front.

Given

Finnan  Dunne  McShane  O'Shea 

McGeady Ireland Carsley Duff

                 Stokes
         Doyle 

Keane was one yellow away from suspension - knowing this and failing to name an experienced replacement (Connelly perhaps) just in cast Keane did get suspended (it 'ill never happen:eek:) shows Stans lack of foresight when considering his options upfront.

eirebhoy

We'd be destroyed against Slovakia with that team. Ireland isn't a central midfielder. It's a choice between Kilbane, Douglas and Quinn to partner Carsley. Ireland plays for Man City along with Barton and Hamann or another holding midfielder. He isn't required to play a box to box role. He may have played 1 cup game for City in the centre of a 4-4-2 but that's about it.

He doesn't have the positional sense to play there at the moment imo. He'd be caught out of position just as much as he was against Cyprus. Kilbane isn't the most intelligient guy either but he's proven as a supporting midfielder for us. If Ireland was to play there he'd have to play a role like A.Reid did at home to San Marino and just sit in midfield spraying it around. That's not really his style. He spends too much time supporting the attack and Carsley would be left on his own against a team that play on the break. We're going to have to do with Kilbane until the 2 Reid's get fit. There's enough creativity on the pitch in the 4 players ahead.

I'm in an optimistic mood and will say Ireland 2, Slovakia 1.

Time Magazine

Fanny Cradock wrote:

                      Given

    Finnan      Dunne       McShane  O'Shea 

McGeady   Ireland   Carsley   Kilbane   Duff

                      Doyle

Setting your team up so defensively at home and in such an important match is setting yourself up for a fall.

In fairness that can turn into a 4-3-3 very, very quickly. As a 4-3-3 you have Carsley as a holding midfielder, Ireland on the right, Kilbane on the left (which he has done) with McGeady, Doyle and Duff up front and Stokes on the bench.

Good call, Stan.

The lads usually react well to the big games after a bit of a backlash (think a decent performance against Germany after Holland and nearly taking the Czechs after Cyprus.) On the other hand when things go well they seem to take it handy after a good result, the away San Marino game after a 5-0 thrashing being a case in point. There's been a bit of a backlash against Wales; Toshack described it as "embarrassing" and even Stan admitted it was a poor performance.... so maybe there's a good performance scheduled for Jones's Road on Wednesday?

I'm going for 2-1 win.

Fanny Cradock

Ibid wrote:

Good call, Stan.

Only time will tell I'm hoping for a win, but if we do lose I hope it's in spectacular style, thus confirming the doubt about Stan inability.

Its a fair point about that being easily reshuffled into a 4-3-3. I've not seen Slovakia play, but if they are half as good as people say in counter attack I wonder would it leave us exposed. I alos wonder about Ireland's suitability in such a role.

eirebhoy

Info on the Slovakian team thanks to another guy on a betting forum.

Possible starting eleven for Slovakia:

---

Čontofalský

---

Šinglár----Škrtel---Ľ. Michalík---Greško

---

Borbély

---

Žofčák

---

Sapara

---

Švento

---

Vittek

---

---

Jakubko

---

Čontofalský - very prone to mistakes but can be good on his day
Šinglár - relatively new RB in the team, hasn't been too convincing so far - possibly a weak spot in the team
Škrtel - European if not world class (the likes of Liverpool are rumoured to be after him), scores quite often for a defender
Ľ. Michalík - replacement for the suspended Durica, tall fecker but might lack experience at this level... a recent Bolton acquisition, currently on loan to Leeds
Greško - sucks imho
Borbély - decent, honest and hard-working player imho
Žofčák - replacement for the suspended Krajčík, might be a blessing in disguise for Slovakia... created 6 goals in last 3 games for Slovakia whenever he came on
Sapara - playmaker, extremely gifted player but might lack match sharpness as the Norwegian league hasn't started yet
Švento - a very fast winger with decent dribbling, can get past players but tends to lack calmness in certain situations... very lightweight and might struggle against physical opposition
Vittek - another classy player in the team apart from Škrtel, plays "in the hole" and scores quite often
Jakubko - excellent in the air but that's about it, not sure why he is in the team

Alternatives:
J. Kozák in the creative midfielder role instead of Sapara - I pray that this will not happen as Kozak is slow, lazy and needs acres of space for his lethal passes (which is the only thing he is good at but it only works if he gets space which won't happen tomorrow)
M. Čech - Porto regular, I'd play him at LB instead of Greško who is pap

---

Good to see they're weak at full back with McGeady and Duff in our team.

Kingp35

eirebhoy wrote:

Ľ. Michalík - replacement for the suspended Durica, tall fecker but might lack experience at this level... a recent Bolton acquisition, currently on loan to Leeds

Solid enough player. Has only played twice but has been very good both times. very tall and wins everything in the air. Good with the ball at his feet as well. As I have said though only seen him twice so dont know an awful lot about him. Lets hope he ****s up

leninbenjamin

i really hope it ends up a 4 - 3 - 3 with both Ireland and Kilbane playing central roles. I think that would be our most penetrating formation, letting Duff and McGeady switch at will, and Ireland advanced enough to offer support to Doyle. however i wouldn't be surpised if it ends up a 4-4-2, with Ireland out in the periphery again. although, after last saturday i'd be happy if there was any kind of structure up front, instead of the free for all against Wales.

county

Myth wrote:

I'm in an optimistic mood and will say Ireland 2, Slovakia 1.

agreed,

7-1 if you`re a betting man

cson

Myth wrote:

I'm in an optimistic mood and will say Ireland 2, Slovakia 1.

Myth, A ficticious story, person or thing

BaZmO*

Fanny Cradock wrote:

I can see it now: like a surging tilde wave, Kilbane and Carsely will link up throughout the game, crashing through the Slovak defence in one amazing burst after another. Bewildered, the Slovaks can only watch on as their flailing limbs cut through the air in vain attempts to stop the two. Using their natural skill, flair, creativity, vision, passing ability and ball control, Kilbane and Carsley will ghost past the Slovaks, flowing by them like water down a drain. They inspire their team to a stunning victory. As Stan looks on from the sideline, we all realise that his ineptitude was a ploy and part of his master 4-year plan.

Carlsberg don't do 4 year plans but if they did....

Ibid wrote:

The lads usually react well to the big games after a bit of a backlash (think a decent performance against Germany after Holland and nearly taking the Czechs after Cyprus.)

Huh? Did you see the game on Saturday? Games don't come much bigger than that and it was off the back off one hell of a backlash

tetsujin1979

posted this on another forum. A Slovakian poster listed their games since 2004, so I checked it out

Slovak wrote:

Slovakia international matches since 18.08.2004 :

30 international matches: 15 wins, 11 ties, 4 losses, score 50:33

Wins:

24.03.2007.......................Cyprus - Slovakia 1-3
10.12.2006..........................UAE - Slovakia 1-2
15.11.2006.....................Slovakia - Bulgaria 3-1
07.10.2006........................Wales - Slovakia 1-5
02.09.2006.....................Slovakia - Cyprus 6-1
15.08.2006.....................Slovakia - Malta 3-0
01.03.2006.......................France - Slovakia 1-2
08.10.2005.....................Slovakia - Estonia 1-0
03.09.2005.....................Slovakia - Germany 2-0
08.06.2005...................Luxembourg - Slovakia 0-4
26.03.2005......................Estonia - Slovakia 1-2
09.10.2004.....................Slovakia - Latvia 4-1
08.09.2004.....................Slovakia - Lichtenstein 7:0
18.08.2004.....................Slovakia - Luxembourg 3:1

All fairly low ranked sides there, apart for the obvious wins over France and Germany, although these were not competitive games.
To score 5 in the Millenium Stadium is no mean feat
7 away wins, 8 home wins.
Quick look at the FIFA ranking shows after France and Germany, no home wins over team ranked higher than 39 (Bulgaria) and no competitive away wins over teams ranked higher than Cyprus in 68th. And even then Cyprus were 1-0 up until their goalkeeper was sent off.

Slovak wrote:

Ties:

07.02.2006.......................Poland - Slovakia 2-2
20.05.2006.....................Slovakia - Belgium 1-1
16.11.2005.....................Slovakia - Spain 1-1
12.10.2005.....................Slovakia - Russia 0-0
07.09.2005.......................Latvia - Slovakia 1-1
17.08.2005........... .....Lichtenstein - Slovakia 0-0
30.03.2005.....................Slovakia - Portugal 1-1
09.02.2005......................Romania - Slovakia 2-2
02.12.2004.....................Thailand - Slovakia 1-1
17.11.2004.....................Slovakia - Slovenia 0-0
04.09.2004.......................Russia - Slovakia 1-1

Thailand?? Liechtenstein?
Poland, Russia away is pretty good going, always tough to get a result there.
5 home draws, 6 away draws

Slovak wrote:

Losses:

11.10.2006.....................Slovakia - Germany 1-4
06.09.2006.....................Slovakia - Czech rep. 0-3
12.11.2005........................Spain - Slovakia 5-1
04.06.2005.....................Portugal - Slovakia 2-0
30.11.2004......................Hungary - Slovakia 1-0

2 home losses, 2 away losses, although none is anything to be ashamed of, all sides in the top 10
The 4-1 to Germany came 13 months after you beat them 2-0 at home
The 5-1 to Spain came a week before they drew 1-1 in Slovakia - was this the playoff game?

Ah, stats. Tell you all you need to know about absolutly nothing.

The most obvious one there to me is that Slovakia have not lost to a team outside the top 10 ranked sides in the World since 2004

Colour me cautiously optimistic. A draw or an Irish win is the most likely result

GuanYin

BEfore you get all optiomistic, do you have the same stats for the Irish team? I'd be surprised if they were significantly better.

redspider

There's talk that the formation could be something like this:

---

Given

---

Finnan -McShane - Dunne - O'Shea

---

Carsley ---- Kilbane

---

---

S.Ireland

---

McGeady

---

Duff

---

Doyle

---

So, 4-5-1 when the opposition have the ball and 4-3-3 when we have the ball. Chelsea 2006-like except with two 'holding midfielders' rather than one (Makelele).

I think given the fact that we dont have a 2nd recognised central stiker, its a reasonable formation. Hunt's ommission doesn't make any significant difference in my opinion and there is too much being made of that in some places. This line-up puts less defensive duties on McGeady and Duff, their weakest facets.

As for Slovakia, a very detailed analysis there eirebhoy. In terms of their Liechenstein draw, I see the date was 16th Aug. Was that a friendly match? If so, who knows what type of team was played in that early season game, and even if it was the first team, they probably weren't trying very hard.

I expect a 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 victory tonight. (or maybe that's a hope).
A 1-1 or a 2-2 would be a disaster in my opinion. And whilst it wouldnt necessarily mean a calling for the head of Staunton, as that would depend on how the players played, etc, it would mean in the long-term less of a chance of finishing 3rd ..... and would be a factor in his exit.

Redspider

LoBo

eirebhoy wrote:

---

Čontofalský

---

Šinglár----Škrtel---Ľ. Michalík---Greško

---

Borbély

---

Žofčák

---

Sapara

---

Švento

---

Vittek

---

---

Jakubko

---

Čontofalský - very prone to mistakes but can be good on his day
Šinglár - relatively new RB in the team, hasn't been too convincing so far - possibly a weak spot in the team
Škrtel - European if not world class (the likes of Liverpool are rumoured to be after him), scores quite often for a defender
Ľ. Michalík - replacement for the suspended Durica, tall fecker but might lack experience at this level... a recent Bolton acquisition, currently on loan to Leeds
Greško - sucks imho
Borbély - decent, honest and hard-working player imho
Žofčák - replacement for the suspended Krajčík, might be a blessing in disguise for Slovakia... created 6 goals in last 3 games for Slovakia whenever he came on
Sapara - playmaker, extremely gifted player but might lack match sharpness as the Norwegian league hasn't started yet
Švento - a very fast winger with decent dribbling, can get past players but tends to lack calmness in certain situations... very lightweight and might struggle against physical opposition
Vittek - another classy player in the team apart from Škrtel, plays "in the hole" and scores quite often
Jakubko - excellent in the air but that's about it, not sure why he is in the team

Alternatives:
J. Kozák in the creative midfielder role instead of Sapara - I pray that this will not happen as Kozak is slow, lazy and needs acres of space for his lethal passes (which is the only thing he is good at but it only works if he gets space which won't happen tomorrow)
M. Čech - Porto regular, I'd play him at LB instead of Greško who is pap

This is excellent, thanks. Going to the match tonight and really had no idea of what to expect from their players. Now know who to watch out for.

Mark

Cheers eirebhoy. Anyone know why Marek Mintal isn't in the Slovak squad, he got 20+ goals in the Bundesliga a few years ago.

tetsujin1979

Mark wrote:

Cheers eirebhoy. Anyone know why Marek Mintal isn't in the Slovak squad, he got 20+ goals in the Bundesliga a few years ago.

According to today's Indo, he's after breaking his metatarsal for the third time in 18 months

tetsujin1979

psi wrote:

BEfore you get all optiomistic, do you have the same stats for the Irish team? I'd be surprised if they were significantly better.

to be honest, no they're not.
The highest ranked side we've beaten at home in competitive games in the same period is Cyprus (3-0 under Brian Kerr), and away from home it's also Cyprus (1-0 under Brian Kerr).
On the other hand, we've only lost one competitive home game in the same period - 1-0 against France.

padser

BaZmO* wrote:

I just get the impression that there's no ... thinking .... when it comes to Stan.

Edited for clarity

Nalz

has 1-1 draw written all over it IMO