Is Martin O'Neill expected to lead Ireland to Euro 2016

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Poll to follow.

It's a yes for me. I see us as having players of similar standard to Poland and Scotland. If he does his job right in regards squad selection, starting team, formation, tactics and substitutions, I think we will qualify.

Yes, the quality isn't half as good as in the 90's, but he will still be expected to get the job done with it being a 24 team competition this time

Strachan vs O'Neill should be fascinating. Surely our Martin won't be tactically outclassed?

Demosthenese

Wouldn't go as far as saying he should get the sack if he doesn't - as it will depend on the manner in which we do/do NOT qualify. We could have a good campaign but narrowly miss out depending on how the other teams of our standard (Everyone except Germany) gets on.

I think having watched the World Cup and seen so many of the lesser teams do well like Costa Rica by being really well diciplined and having superb attutudes we are all thinking hey why can't Ireland be like that. We all basically want us to play more purposeful football than we did under Trap and be a little more expressive while being realistic about our abilities. If we should qualify then it would of course be nice not to make a complete show of ourselves like the last time

Too much to ask?

Eathrin

2nd seeds and 24 teams, it would be a disaster not to qualify or at the very least get to the play off round.

Lovely Bloke

Yeah, with 24 teams there he should be expected to get the team there, maybe even win some points at the tournament.

martyos121

I think a third place finish in the group is a fairly safe bet, but I don't think we have a hope of making it out of the playoffs. We could be looking at a tie against Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia or Serbia, and we'd be well beaten by any of those unless we were blessed with luck.

GavRedKing

If we can win our first 2 games against Georgia and Gibraltar it'll put us in a great spot before we play Germany.

Any thing against the Germans in this group is a bonus butthey wont drop many points to anyone in the group.

prettyboy81

A simple Yes from me!

major bill

He should be expected to qualify considering Scotland haven't qualified for a major tournament since 1998 and Poland are not world beaters. It won't be easy but 3rd place should be achievable.

geeky

Yes - depending of course on the circumstances.

If we perform to a reasonable standard - for example, losing to Germany and beating Georgia and Girbraltar, while winning at home and drawing away v Scotland and Poland - we can reasonably expect to qualify. However, some freak event like scotland taking 6 points of Germany against the run of play shouldn't cost Martin O'Neill his job.

On the face of it, we have all the talent required to achieve qualification. Whether MON and Keane have the necessary tactical acumen to deliver - and I'd argue that great organisation and tactics played as big a part as 'team spirit' in Costa Rica's success this summer - remains to be seen. The friendly results don't give much cause for optimism, but should of course be taken with a pinch of salt.

erkifino

Got sidetracked by the thread title voted yes. I don't think he should get the boot though.
So yes, I expect him to lead Ireland to Euro 2016 but No he shouldn't get his P45.

iDave

I was fairly confident when the draw was made but over time I'm not so sure. I'd rank Poland ahead of us and the derby element to Scotland leaves no guarantees.

Richard Hillman

Yes.

He has 2 requirements. The first is qualification and the second half is to make us more entertaining to watch.

Laois_Man

martyos121 wrote: »

I think a third place finish in the group is a fairly safe bet, but I don't think we have a hope of making it out of the playoffs. We could be looking at a tie against Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia or Serbia, and we'd be well beaten by any of those unless we were blessed with luck.

And we could also be faced with playoffs against Estonia (again), Isreal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria or Norway

Anybody who finishes 3rd in any of these groups really won't be all that. And the best 3rd place team (discounting the results against any 6th placed teams) qualifies automatically - so even if there is an exceptional 3rd placed team, we wouldn't have to worry about them anyway!

LuckyLloyd

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Yes.

He has 2 requirements. The first is qualification and the second half is to make us more entertaining to watch.

Don't give a **** about the second part. Just win games and get us to France. Any football accepted.

Aenaes

Winning is both entertaing and attractive, let's have some of that.

How anyone is voting "yes" in the poll above is bewildering. There's just too many unforseen circumstances that could happen.

O'Neill's main job is to get this Irish team really competing in every game they play, especially against the bigger nations. Hopefully a good campaign where the team has challenged for qualification, shown purpose, desire and improvement. Then he should be judged on the merits of what he's achieved and done right/wrong.

No doubt, if Ireland do qualify but get beaten easily by Germany in the two games there will be people saying the team shouldn't bother going to the tournament, they will be embarrassed and O'Neill should get the sack anyway.

Washington Irving

Asking different questions in the title and in the poll leads to confusion and mistaken answers.

elefant

I answered the thread question.

The poll question is different I noticed afterwards. I demand a recount!

roanoke

Hard question to answer based on the way it's phrased. I guess for what he's paid then yes he should be expected to at least get to the finals.

However, I personally don't expect us to qualify based on the seven games I've watched so far.

LuckyLloyd

roanoke wrote: »

Hard question to answer based on the way it's phrased. I guess for what he's paid then yes he should be expected to at least get to the finals.

However, I personally don't expect us to qualify based on the seven games I've watched so far.

He's had a very poor start it must be said.

Unearthly

Probably the worst Irish team since I've been born, but with 24 teams qualifying there is a good chance in doing it.

If it was the World Cup then absolutely no chance

keane2097

Poll is useless without "It depends, obv" option

Ferris_Bueller

I think he should be expected to get a playoff spot (assuming every 3rd team gets playoffs?). It's a pretty fair group to judge him on I think, Germany will finish first, but then we have Poland and Scotland who are of similar level to ourselves, if we perform well it's possible we will get 2nd, if we perform poorly it's possible we will finish 4th (or worse!). Then qualification obviously depends on who we get in the playoffs but because it is now the third team in each group I'd imagine playoff opponents won't be as tough as previous years.

brianregan09

No he shouldn't get the sack if we don't qualify , but saying that we probably should qualify Scotland and Poland aren't the mugs people are making them out to be , Also we should have a go at Germany in both games if Algeria can take them to extra time why shouldn't we be able to have a proper swing at them instead of just bending over like we did the last time at the Aviva

McGrath5

I think this qualifying campaign is going to be a lot tougher than what people expect it to be.

Scotland and Poland will also fancy their chances of qualifying.

I am pie

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Yes.

He has 2 requirements. The first is qualification and the second half is to make us more entertaining to watch.

Contradictory requirements!

Ireland dont have the players across the board to be entertaining to watch! Should aim to be a compact side, hard to score against, pass well and counter attack efficiently and qiuckly.

Defeinitely do not want to be a possession team playing the ball about. Got to defend, be tight, hard working and extremely clinical with the opportunities that come.

brianregan09

Trap is that you

I am pie

McGrath5 wrote: »

I think this qualifying campaign is going to be a lot tougher than what people expect it to be.

Scotland and Poland will also fancy their chances of qualifying.

I'd fancy Ireland against Scotland, I reckon Poland will be a stiffer challenge.

In this respect the FIFA rankings are nuts, Scotland in 27 position puts too much value on the historical form. Poland are 61st and Ireland 70th.

No way Scotland are significantly ahead!

I am pie

brianregan09 wrote: »

Trap is that you

Under trap Ireland were not clinical and too slow on the counter because the midfield base was too defensive.

However, his plan was not too far off. Just needed to be quicker on the counter.

Anyway, it's qualify or play entertaining football. You choose.

brianregan09

there doesn't have to be a choice when we can do both , and yes we may not have the players that we had before , But neither do Scotland, Georgia, Gibralter even Poland who have Lewandowski, Kuba and Woj

paulbok

elefant wrote: »

I answered the thread question.

The poll question is different I noticed afterwards. I demand a recount!

So did i but my answer is the same, yes.

Half the teams in UEFA will qualify for the finals, if he can't make the 23 qualifying teams, then goodbye.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Washington Irving wrote: »

Asking different questions in the title and in the poll leads to confusion and mistaken answers.

The word 'expect' was enough to make both sentences interchangeable, I feel

If you 'expect' MON to lead us to Euro 2016 qualification and he doesn't deliver, well, that's a massive disappointment, isn't it?

LuckyLloyd

brianregan09 wrote: »

there doesn't have to be a choice when we can do both , and yes we may not have the players that we had before , But neither do Scotland, Georgia, Gibralter even Poland who have Lewandowski, Kuba and Woj

We can't do both. You'll learn.

thelad95

If MO'N tries to play possession football we will finish 4th. We simply don't have the players. Trappatoni's ultra-cautious long ball is not the way but we should make ourselves compact and look to attack on the counter. This will work well with players like McCarthy and McGeady but as I said if we go for possession football, we could get crucified.

Dempsey

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Don't give a **** about the second part. Just win games and get us to France. Any football accepted.

Bring back Trap!!

Mushy

I thought the poll question was the thread title, so I voted Yes. I don't actually think he should be sacked unless its a disastrous campaign.

But yeah, with the extra teams, he should be getting the team there. Don't expect it to be comfortable anyway.