Republic of Ireland -v- Bulgaria (WCQ) Group 8- 28/3/09 MATCH THREAD

Xavi6

only1stevo wrote: »

Anyone know if theyre showin this in australia?

Not on general tv.

SBS are showing the Italy game though.

eirebhoy

zAbbo wrote: »

Singing/Standing section in lower Davin, but seems to be more Smoking/Drinking section

You obviously weren't in it last month. Brilliant atmosphere from start to finish and the few hundred of us in the section can be heard throughout the match on the RTE feed (Full sound clip just after we conceded - what a difference we made to the atmosphere). Hopefully there's a lot more there this time.

mayordenis

I was working for the last match - how's this singing section malarky effected the rest of the stadium?

eirebhoy

mayordenis wrote: »

I was working for the last match - how's this singing section malarky effected the rest of the stadium?

Virtually every single chant that went around the stadium vs Georgia was started in the singing section. It's only the usual chants though. A couple of new songs are being sang loud and clear now in the singing section. Those ones aren't catching on around the stadium but hopefully they'll spread at home and away games.

This is one many LOI and Celtic fans will know:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7UfSbASyrQ

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Blackburn fans can't believe how well Keith Andrews has adapted to Premier League football, considering he was playing League 2 football less than a year ago. He was expected to be their worst signing in years. From what I've seen of him, he's a lot more athletic than Gibson and has a great knack of getting into goalscoring positions.

I don't rate Whelan at all, one of the worst players I've seen in an Irish shirt in central midfield I'm sorry to say. I'd actually choose Liam bloody Miller over him!

Xavi6

Shock horror - Bojinov has been ruled out of the game through injury. Tweaked a hammy apparently.

NaiveMelodies

Xavi6 wrote: »

Not on general tv.

SBS are showing the Italy game though.

Balls, espn are showin italy aswell on foxtel...
very dissapointing

mormank

only1stevo wrote: »

Anyone know if theyre showin this in australia?

afaik they are not showing this in oz. its gonna be another internet jobbie for me. however SBS are showing the irelnad italy game.

Mod request. perhaps ye can open another thread for discussion regarding disgusting fees for irish matches. this is a match thread and i just trawled through pages of ppl moaning about ticket prices...just proof imo that match threads should be closed until the actual match day!! threads get filled up with tripe otherwise

edit:xavi got there first

Xavi6

mormank wrote: »

afaik they are not showing this in oz. its gonna be another internet jobbie for me. however SBS are showing the irelnad italy game.

Mod request. perhaps ye can open another thread for discussion regarding disgusting fees for irish matches. this is a match thread and i just trawled through pages of ppl moaning about ticket prices...just proof imo that match threads should be closed until the actual match day!! threads get filled up with tripe otherwise

edit:xavi got there first

While you have a point about it cluttering the match thread, I'm not sure how much debate there will because I think we're all on the same side when it comes to the FAI and their ticket pricing!

Unless John Delaney is a boardsie which would be sweet.

But feel free to start one anyone and I'll move any relevant posts or whatever to get it going.

mormank

like u said it wont get going. i have only ever been to an ireland game once cos i could barely afford a ticket to dublin growing up never mind a ticket to a game also. was a luxury i simply never even considered possible. so to hear ppl who have been to countless games complaining about ticket prices in a mtach thread cheeses me off is all...carry on. my opinion is, if ye wanna go to the match go. if ye dont wanna go, dont go. dont worry about the ticket price if it is disposable income ye would be spending on it, it is disposable

Xavi6

I don't see it being unreasonable for people to complain about extortionate ticket prcies though as it's all take, take, take with the FAI, as evidenced by these ridiculous ten year or whatever they are tickets.

I read today that any Villareal season ticket holder who is unemployed by the start of next season will have their ticket paid for by the club until they get re-employed. How's that for customer service?

mormank

yes that is excellent service. however this is ireland. ireland has been a rip off to live in for so many years now. customer service in the country is also a thing of the past imo. living in oz has made me realise what a backward country ireland really is in so many ways..

and now im also guilty of the exact thing i was complaining about..:rolleyes:

noodler

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

I don't rate Whelan at all, one of the worst players I've seen in an Irish shirt in central midfield I'm sorry to say. I'd actually choose Liam bloody Miller over him!

If you are going by any type of Premier League form then I have no idea what you are talking about. Even I have to move on from bitching about Whelan and start judging him on performances which aren't Cyprus at home 6 months ago.

Were people this up in arms about the ticket prices for the last game?

Cos as far as I can remember they were the same. 50e

Nalz

so looks like Berbatov is defo out, despite O sheas claims
http://www.setanta.com/uk/Articles/Football/2009/03/25/Intl-Bulgaria-boss-dispels-Berbatov-conspiracy-theories/gnid-45878/

stovelid

Trilla wrote: »

so looks like Berbatov is defo out, despite O sheas claims

Good news, although I quite fancied watching him tomorrow. Even if it would have been 89 minutes of nada with me missing the inevitable single moment of sublimity while I was out at the jacks.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

noodler wrote: »

If you are going by any type of Premier League form then I have no idea what you are talking about. Even I have to move on from bitching about Whelan and start judging him on performances which aren't Cyprus at home 6 months ago.

Were people this up in arms about the ticket prices for the last game?

Cos as far as I can remember they were the same. 50e

Sorry, I should have made myself more clear...... Stoke's central midfield is awful, I watched them against Boro on the internet (not a pretty sight) and he was very poor. Yes, he did get an equaliser against Villa and two assists against Bolton (which were more luck than passing ability, the first was a hopeful header forward, the second was forcing a save from the keeper which was then tucked away). Admittedly, I haven't seen a terrible lot of him at club level, but enough to form an opinion about him.

el_tiddlero

my first post in soccer.. awww..

so what do we know about the opposition?
are their full-backs any use?
seen as Il Trap's plan is to attack out wide and get balls in the box it would be good to know what Duffer and McGeady are going to up against.

Of course, what with them having a new coach and all it'll be hard to predict what way they'll play, but i think they'll probably load the midfield and just play one up top. Do we possess the guile to break down a 5 man midfield? Can we pass the ball well enough to bring our wingers into the game?

The key to this could be Kevin Doyle, and whether he, and not Keane, is the one who drops off to help the midfield out. If that happens we should be able to get the ball wide quickly, where it will be up to the wingers to hold on to it, play smart, and let players get into the box before crossing.

How do we feel about right-full? Happy to let Kelly or McShane continue there, or are we itching to get Foley involved. I say get Foley in there.. McShane is a good utility back, bring him on if you get someone hurt. But i don't think he's good enough to start. Kelly, while he always had promise, just doesn't seem to have gone up to the required level. I know it's an important game, but some players can really shine when thrown in at the deep end. We're not only trying to qualify here, we're trying to build a team that has a chance of performing in a world cup.

noodler

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Sorry, I should have made myself more clear...... Stoke's central midfield is awful, I watched them against Boro on the internet (not a pretty sight) and he was very poor. Yes, he did get an equaliser against Villa and two assists against Bolton (which were more luck than passing ability, the first was a hopeful header forward, the second was forcing a save from the keeper which was then tucked away). Admittedly, I haven't seen a terrible lot of him at club level, but enough to form an opinion about him.

In fairness I don't think he is a player you can make an opinion on based on goals scored or assists.

kenco

Big game which is imo make or break for auto qual or playoff spot.

They need to up the performance from Cyprus but if they do I think they will do this 1 or 2 - 0. Will require patiance though as Bulgaria will set out from the first minute for a 0-0 draw. In this respect I would not be thrilled by the standard midfield. These guys know we will try to go down the wings so its key we have someone here who could unlock down the centre. Not sure we have that (in this squad) so it might be down to a peno or free kick. I think if we score in the first half then we should get a second (assuming we dont try the usual malarky of defending around our peno box)/

Hopefully a strond performance to set us up to get a result (very possible) against Italy

Rekop dog

Xavi6 wrote: »

Shock horror - Bojinov has been ruled out of the game through injury. Tweaked a hammy apparently.

lol, nice cable guy reference.

JerryHandbag

kenco wrote: »

Will require patiance though as Bulgaria will set out from the first minute for a 0-0 draw.

Will they really though? They havent won a game yet and I would've thought they wouldnt be really that happy with 4 draws from 4 games.

Spud83

I don't know about Bulgaria sitting back. They are seven points behind us(4 if they win their game in hand). Surely they will be thinking they will need to win this game.

Also they have been getting a lot of flack for their performances coming to Ireland and sitting back hoping for a 0-0 won't help them with that.

BaZmO*

kenco wrote: »

Will require patiance though as Bulgaria will set out from the first minute for a 0-0 draw.

If Bulgaria are happy with the draw they might as well not even turn up. They're 7 points behind us (with a game in hand). They really need to go for the win in this game.

everdead.ie

el_tiddlero wrote: »

my first post in soccer.. awww..

so what do we know about the opposition?
are their full-backs any use?
seen as Il Trap's plan is to attack out wide and get balls in the box it would be good to know what Duffer and McGeady are going to up against.

Of course, what with them having a new coach and all it'll be hard to predict what way they'll play, but i think they'll probably load the midfield and just play one up top. Do we possess the guile to break down a 5 man midfield? Can we pass the ball well enough to bring our wingers into the game?

The key to this could be Kevin Doyle, and whether he, and not Keane, is the one who drops off to help the midfield out. If that happens we should be able to get the ball wide quickly, where it will be up to the wingers to hold on to it, play smart, and let players get into the box before crossing.

How do we feel about right-full? Happy to let Kelly or McShane continue there, or are we itching to get Foley involved. I say get Foley in there.. McShane is a good utility back, bring him on if you get someone hurt. But i don't think he's good enough to start. Kelly, while he always had promise, just doesn't seem to have gone up to the required level. I know it's an important game, but some players can really shine when thrown in at the deep end. We're not only trying to qualify here, we're trying to build a team that has a chance of performing in a world cup.

I really think we should be playing o'shea on the right and fit o'Dea into the center i really think that would work better McShane and kelly are both quite mistake prone.

newballsplease

i think we should be well able to beat these without any major problems, my only concerns in center midfield and the full back positions. we need to sort these out. id go with Andrews and Gibson in CM. I havent seen much of Foley at wolves so i suppose mcshane at RB.
This bulgaria team who really depend on berbatov recently lost 6-1 to serbia. i know that might not say alot but, id be hoping for a 2-0 to Ireland.

el_tiddlero

newballsplease wrote: »

i think we should be well able to beat these without any major problems, my only concerns in center midfield and the full back positions. we need to sort these out. id go with Andrews and Gibson in CM. I havent seen much of Foley at wolves so i suppose mcshane at RB.
This bulgaria team who really depend on berbatov recently lost 6-1 to serbia. i know that might not say alot but, id be hoping for a 2-0 to Ireland.

probly going to be McShane at right-full alright, that's how they were lined up in training yesterday according to the times today. While Gibson is the better footballer (passing and whatnot) I think Whelan is the better bet. He's been in from the start with Trap and that kind of faith can only help a player. If the Bulgarians play as I imagine, with 5 in the middle, we're going to need a ball-winner/stopper rather than a passer (admittedly, we'd all love to see us playing nice football and holding onto the ball, but if we were to play that way, we probably wouldn't get the result..)

Apparently their first choice right-full (Milanov??) is out as well, although from what I've read about them he's rubbish anyway and only gets his game as he's dating/engaged to the daughter of their FA's chief exec. (according to a bulgarian lad commenting on a guardian blog on this game.) Stylian Petrov is apparently nursing a hamstring too, so he might not feature either. Does anyone know if he played for villa v stoke/blackburn and how andrews/whelan got on against him?

as for them not looking for a draw, well if you take it from their point of view, it's an away game, so not losing is key. If they take 4 points off us over the 2 games, and we lose to Italy away (which they will assume we will) then they would only be 4 points behind with a game in hand... that's not a bad position for them, especially given that we have to go away to cyprus.. overall, i don't think they'll view the draw as a bad result, certainly not as bad as we would consider it.

ScholesyIsGod

I dont see it being the most attractive game of football, if Bulgaria come out and possibly look for the draw then we'll struggle to break them down with the the quality of players we have in the middle, our best chance of getting something is off a set piece. If we're going to win i can see it being a one nil and us just about hanging on until full time to see it out.

carlop

I really hope people are not getting a bit too ahead of themselves and underestimating the potential difficulty of this match. We've started the qualifying campaign well, but none of the teams we have faced really come close to Bulgaria, and we hardly have a great history in matches against opposition of relatively equal ranking over the last few years.

We could win, but I don't really see a huge amount of evidence that suggests that we will.

Vokes

Bulgaria have a new manager, Stoilov, so there's a chance they are not too organized under him yet and are there for the taking.

Keep O'Shea at CB - he has been pretty steady this season for Utd, so reckon he'll be fine there.

PCros

I really see Ireland winning this one. Bulgaria nearly lost to Montenegro and only scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute I think and they've only been able to score twice in this campaign so I'm optimistic about this one.

Limerick91

What is the story with Duff after leaving the squad.

What ever about Bulgaria, he would be needed for Italy

allybhoy

limerickros wrote: »

What is the story with Duff after leaving the squad.

What ever about Bulgaria, he would be needed for Italy

Just heard that on the radio, wonder what the craic is, was it a bust up, injury or personal reasons? Anyone any further info?

tomred1

Did i hear that his misses is up the duff?

Pun intended.

Photi

Maybe his grannies died..

allybhoy

tomred1 wrote: »

Did i hear that his misses is up the duff?

I dunno, DID U?

Dolph Starbeam

Ye i just heard it at 4 on the radio, did it say he didn't tell the FAI???


Duffer wtf???

allybhoy

MOG7 wrote: »

Ye i just heard it at 4 on the radio, did it say he didn't tell the FAI???


Duffer wtf???

I doubt he didnt tell them, im just hoping that they he went home because he was not fit to play on Sat but they are hoping to send him back to Newcastle for treatment to try and get him ready for the Italy game....

PCros

limerickros wrote: »

What is the story with Duff after leaving the squad.

What ever about Bulgaria, he would be needed for Italy

Yes, but we still have Stephen Hunt to take his place, this will be a real boost to him getting a full game.

el_tiddlero

the FAI refused to comment, but whether that means he didn't tell them or not is another story..

Irish Times report here

would be a blow, especially if Aidihno doesn't recover in time.. we've got decent cover in the shape of Hunt and Keogh, and even Shane Long could do a job out on the wing for us either..

Xavi6

Photi wrote: »

Maybe his grannies died..

Bahahahahahaha fuckin hilarious you are.

:rolleyes:

Pighead

Jesus thats a big loss. I know he hasn't set the Premiership alight this season when he has actually managed to play for Newcastle but he's been consistently good for Ireland during the campaign. Perhaps not brilliant but never bad.

Still think Bulgaria rae there for the taking. They've had a shoddy campaign so far. Replacing their manager, scoring just one goal, no Berbatov, Bojinov, Petrov and some other Ov who's apparently one of their best defenders. Ireland to win 2-0.

Dolph Starbeam

allybhoy wrote: »

I doubt he didnt tell them, im just hoping that they he went home because he was not fit to play on Sat but they are hoping to send him back to Newcastle for treatment to try and get him ready for the Italy game....

Ah right i was trying to listen but couldn't hear it properly, it must have been just the FAI not commenting that put me off.

allybhoy

MOG7 wrote: »

Ah right i was trying to listen but couldn't hear it properly, it must have been just the FAI not commenting that put me off.

I know i only heard half it meself, was day dreaming away when I heard he was gone back to England.

I agree with Pighead, he hasnt been brilliant this season but he does pose a threat going forward, anybody who runs at full backs does, plus he always puts in a decent shift when in an Ireland jersey. I have a feeling he'll play Kilbane left wing and maybe stick O'dea at left full.

el_tiddlero

allybhoy wrote: »

I have a feeling he'll play Kilbane left wing and maybe stick O'dea at left full.

I doubt it. That's two changes where you only need to make one. Hunt or Keogh will come in. No way he'll take a chance on O'Dea at left-full.

allybhoy

el_tiddlero wrote: »

I doubt it. That's two changes where you only need to make one. Hunt or Keogh will come in. No way he'll take a chance on O'Dea at left-full.

What if Mcgeady is absent aswell though, play both Hunt and Keogh?

el_tiddlero

allybhoy wrote: »

What if Mcgeady is absent aswell though, play both Hunt and Keogh?

yeah i think he'll do that. If it was me I'd go for Long ahead of Keogh. He seems to prefer the blond though..

LuckyLloyd

Hmmm, Duff is a big loss for these games.

Nalz

allybhoy wrote: »

What if Mcgeady is absent aswell though, play both Hunt and Keogh?

sweet jesus

Hunt

---

Andrews

---

Gibson/Whelan

---

Keogh

:eek:

ScholesyIsGod

Just heard the news, big loss for Saturday night i dont think Hunt is the best cover, he's grand to come on for the last 15 or 20 minutes but i dont like the idea of him starting.

dubmick

allybhoy wrote: »

What if Mcgeady is absent aswell

We won't win :eek: