Ireland v Poland, International Friendly. SS2 KO 7:45pm.

Max Power

Giovanni Trapattoni will be keen to avoid a home defeat for the third successive match as his Republic of Ireland team take on Poland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

The Republic were trounced 6-1 on their own park by Germany in October, sparking concerted calls for the 73-year-old's head, but he won a reprieve as his side bounced back four days later to beat the Faroe Islands in Torshavn.

However, after going down to a single goal defeat against Greece at home in a November friendly the Italian has turned to youth in the shape of James McCarthy, Robbie Brady and James McClean in a new-look squad as they prepare for their next World Cup qualifers against Sweden in Gothenburg on March 22 and then the home clash with Austria four days later.

Derby striker Conor Sammon will be handed his senior debut. He will partner West Brom's Shane Long in attack as Trapattoni takes a look at some of the new men he has drafted into his squad with club-mates Richard Keogh and Jeff Hendrick likely to be among the substitutes.

Millwall stopper David Forde, as expected, will take over from Keiren Westwood in goal with Ciaran Clark partnering skipper John O'Shea in central defence and Paul McShane and Greg Cunningham lining up at full back.

Hull youngster Robbie Brady will start on the right side of midfield with Sunderland's James McClean on the right, and James McCarthy will join Glenn Whelan in the middle.

A crowd of in excess of 40,000 is anticipated for the game at the Aviva with Ireland's Polish community expected to turn out in force for the clash.

Poland arrived with a full-strength squad, but are without Hoffenheim midfielder Eugen Polanski as he prepares to serve a ban in their World Cup qualifier with Ukraine next month. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski is set to captain the visitors with Borussia Dortmund team-mate Robert Lewandowski set to win his 51st cap.

Polish head coach Waldemar Fornalik is hopeful of producing a solid display, although he has hinted at experimenting with his starting line-up.

He said: "Results are always important. In Dublin, we want to play a good game, but also check out some options and realise certain assumptions. We are chasing a positive result."

ROI team: Forde; McShane, O'Shea (Capt), Clark, Cunningham; Brady, McCarthy, Whelan, McClean; Sammon, Long.

1-0 Ireland with a goal from Shane Long.

Joekers

Ireland 2-3 Poland

History has a way of repeating itself....

gustafo

A nill all draw written all over it, same old boring crap as usual, ill be watching the brits against the brazilian should be a good one.

Max Power

gustafo wrote: »

A nill all draw written all over it, same old boring crap as usual, ill be watching the brits against the brazilian should be a good one.

How patriotic of you.

BhoscaCapall

What a hilariously shíte team. It's as if Trappatoni has embraced the fact international football (let alone friendlies) are a complete waste of time.

ScummyMan

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

What a hilariously shíte team. It's as if Trappatoni has embraced the fact international football (let alone friendlies) are a complete waste of time.

Why so? I'd have Hoolihan in instead of Sammon, but apart from that I'm happy enough with it. Its about as strong a team as he could have fielded with the injuries we have, and its a good oppurtunity to see the new young lads coming up.

What would you pick instead so?

GLaDOS

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

What a hilariously shíte team. It's as if Trappatoni has embraced the fact international football (let alone friendlies) are a complete waste of time.

As far as I see it, friendlies are a chance to try new players. He'd be lambasted if he played our strongest team as well.

The_Kew_Tour

gustafo wrote: »

A nill all draw written all over it, same old boring crap as usual, ill be watching the brits against the brazilian should be a good one.

Have England, Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron joined together for the night?

SantryRed

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Have England, Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron joined together for the night?

44 vs. 11. Brazil will still have more possession at the end of the game

The_Kew_Tour

SantryRed wrote: »

44 vs. 11. Brazil will still have more possession at the end of the game

I wont argue with you there.

BhoscaCapall

To be fair I'm not aware of the injury situation but if we're talking about trying new players surely there are better options than a 33 and 27 year old (Forde and McShane, both of which are crap).

Connor Sammon is rubbish as well.

On a brighter note the U21s thrashed Holland today.

gustafo

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

To be fair I'm not aware of the injury situation but if we're talking about trying new players surely there are better options than a 33 and 27 year old (Forde and McShane, both of which are crap).

Connor Sammon is rubbish as well.

On a brighter note the U21s thrashed Holland today.

i would think the dutch didn't have there strongest side for that one.

SirDelboy18

An okay team - Wes should be playing this, he hasn't had enough game time for Ireland yet and needs more exposure to the rest of the team. Also Alex Pearce should 100 percent be starting at centre half, no reason for him not to be in a friendly.

Otherwise not a whole lot that can be done with Wilson and Pilko injured and Gibson correctly refusing to play.

Stevecw

Agree with most, would have preferred to see Wes starting and a 4-4-1-1 thing being tried out. But also happy that Trap went with Cunningham instead of Ward. Good to see Long get a start too.

BhoscaCapall

gustafo wrote: »

i would think the dutch didn't have there strongest side for that one.

Why not?

Stevecw

Polish team is:
Artur Boruc - Sebastian Boenisch, Damien Perquis, Kamil Glik, Jakub Wawrzyniak - Grzegorz Krychowiak, Daniel Łukasik - Jakub Błaszczykowski, Ludovic Obraniak, Szymon Pawłowski - Robert Lewandowski

BhoscaCapall

Didn't know Boruc was back in the squad. Go on yersel' big man!

roanoke

Looks like Poland have a half-first-team half-squad selection. Piszczek, Wasilewski, Polanski, Murawski and Tytoń the notable absences.

Amirani

SirDelboy18 wrote: »

Also Alex Pearce should 100 percent be starting at centre half, no reason for him not to be in a friendly.

I think Pearce and Clark are perhaps our future at centre-back. I'd like to see them play a bit together.

Sin City

Come On Ireland

BobbyPropane

Going for 1 - 1

With this thread pretty much summed up with:

Whelan is shocking.
Is Sammon on the pitch?
****ing O'Shea nearly cost us again
Brady has been poor
Cunningham has been class
Forde should not be our goalkeeper
McClean is a one season wonder
What a ball from McCarthy
Clark ....
McShane is slow
Love how fast long is!

BRING ON WES

BhoscaCapall

Sin City wrote: »

Come On Ireland

Where's yer wan in the middle from, Jupiter?

[Jackass]

2 - 0 Poland, with a late enough goal as the Irish chase the game like headless chickens.

roanoke

2nd from the right must be a big football fan.

[Jackass]

Sin City wrote: »

Come On Ireland

Shame they couldn't find a 3rd hot Irish girl to put in the picture (or a second one for that matter....)

JaMarcus Hustle

Clearly the soccer forum is frequented by Russell Brand-like lotharios. Or, more accurately....

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

roanoke

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

Clearly the soccer forum is frequented by Russell Brand-like lotharios. Or, more accurately....

homer simpson

For the love of god .... I really hope Niall Quinn isn't commentating!

oldyouth

Did the commentator just say "Back on the mainland"?

niallo27

Sin City wrote: »

Come On Ireland

What the ginger one hiding in her pants.

IamtheWalrus

O'Shea et al pretending they know the anthem lol

markie29

Starstreams only have Arabic commentary for the game....might make it more interesting :P

BobbyPropane

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

O'Shea et al pretending they know the anthem lol

I'm sure he knows it.

tayto lover

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

O'Shea et al pretending they know the anthem lol

Hope O'Shea doesn't have his regular lapse which usually ends in a goal conceded.

IamtheWalrus

BobbyPropane wrote: »

I'm sure he knows it.

Seriously, have a look at it again if you get a chance. He clearly doesn't!

Red Crow

McShane is so useless

SantryRed

Brilliant start for Paul McShane :rolleyes:

GLaDOS

1 second in, lose possession

narfsnonsense

markie29 wrote: »

Starstreams only have Arabic commentary for the game....might make it more interesting :P

Im in Saudi watching and can't bloody believe that! Wheres the mute button?!

dorkacle

McShane straight away looking a weakness...

dorkacle

narfsnonsense wrote: »

Im in Saudi watching and can't bloody believe that! Wheres the mute button?!

Link 3 is in english!

Guy:Incognito

Whats the story with the pitch? It hasnt been played in since leinster played clermont in december has it?

Stevecw

Stop giving it back McShane

Max Power

Pitch looks terrible.

ballsymchugh

polish stream from the opposite side of the pitch. am putting up with peter collins on his night out

Francie Barrett

Lack of comments on this thread shows just how depressing this match looks even at this stage.

dorkacle

ballsymchugh wrote: »

polish stream from the opposite side of the pitch. am putting up with peter collins on his night out

he really is awful...

franglan

Is it just me or is the pitch really heavy tonight?

franglan

The pitch looks like it's wet and too long.

Stevecw

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Lack of comments on this thread shows just how depressing this match looks even at this stage.

To be fair, a few of the regulars usually here are prob freezing their balls off in the West Upper right now