Ireland vs Germany - 08/10/2015 - 19:45 - RTE2/SS1

Alex Meier

The German national team in Frankfurt about 20 mins ago. .

Alex Meier

Lukas Podolski is out of the German squad.

Alex Meier

How do posters feel about Shay Given in goal?

Personally it makes me even more nervous as he's well passed it. . . He was three years ago.

NIMAN

Yeah shay makes me nervous these days.

But he's not the only one on the team that does that, I honestly can't see anything but a German win on Thurs, hopefully I am wrong.

Father Hernandez

Alex Meier wrote: »

How do posters feel about Shay Given in goal?

Personally it makes me even more nervous as he's well passed it. . . He was three years ago.

It's a tough one but unfortunately, we're not exactly gifted in this department with young keepers.

Shay Given is a hero but he's only had two competitive games since February, I know he's a keeper but that's hardly 'match fit'.

Forde isn't much younger but starting for Millwall at least.

Shay has been Prem standard but match situations are completely different to training matches, etc never mind against zee Germans.

Alex Meier

hogey143 wrote: »

It's a tough one but unfortunately, we're not exactly gifted in this department with young keepers.

Shay Given is a hero but he's only had two competitive games since February, I know he's a keeper but that's hardly 'match fit'.

Forde isn't much younger but starting for Millwall at least.

Shay has been Prem standard but match situations are completely different to training matches, etc never mind against zee Germans.

Forde should be in goal as, quite frankly, he's a better keeper who is playing regularly for his club. The last time I remember Given playing was in the FA cup final and he was woeful.

My understanding is that when Given came back from retirement he went straight to O'Neill to demand that he be placed back in goal.

Father Hernandez

Alex Meier wrote: »

Forde should be in goal as, quite frankly, he's a better keeper who is playing regularly for his club. The last time I remember Given playing was in the FA cup final and he was woeful.

My understanding is that when Given came back from retirement he went straight to O'Neill to demand that he be placed back in goal.

Forgot about the FA Cup but yeah I do agree, if Forde is playing regularly he has a better case to be starting ahead of Shay.

Maybe O'Neill is opting for Given as he sees him having more experience at this level and Premiership standard than Forde.

It's worrying altogether though, we've gone from having a team of Top-Middle (ish) table Premiership footballers to Bottom of the Prem-Championship in 10 years.

Strumms

Yeah i agree with the Given situation. How many club games has the guy started in the last 12 months. Coupled with the fact that he is a bit passed it and also looks to be carrying a few kgs extra his best days afe behind him. A great keeper in his day though but i fear he is a liability or potentially at least.

Id rather Forde... solid keeper playing regularly.

briany

Alex Meier wrote: »

My understanding is that when Given came back from retirement he went straight to O'Neill to demand that he be placed back in goal.

This makes him sound like a bit of a diva. I thought the reason he retired was because he knew he wasn't exactly getting any younger. While it's true that the talent in line behind are no great shakes either, they're not going to get much experience if he's hogging the spot until age forces him to retire absolutely.

Father Hernandez

briany wrote: »

This makes him sound like a bit of a diva. I thought the reason he retired was because he knew he wasn't exactly getting any younger. While it's true that the talent in line behind are no great shakes either, they're not going to get much experience if he's hogging the spot until age forces him to retire absolutely.

Very true, here's to hoping the Cork youngster Caoimhin Kelleher will live up to the hype at Liverpool

Alex Meier

briany wrote: »

This makes him sound like a bit of a diva. I thought the reason he retired was because he knew he wasn't exactly getting any younger.

He came back when he could no command the GK spot at Villa.

Strumms

Its BS that Given got back near the squad never mind as first choice.. the fact that Forde has been dropped recently is neither here nor there.. he is still a lot younger then Given.. more agile and at this point in time a better keeper who until recently had been playing regualr first team football consistently... i was impresed with Randolph when he stood in for Adrian at West Ham recently and by all accounts as has been mentioned Westwood is doing well and there is Hemderson.. there are options but none of them should be Given... thanks for the memories but see ya later... the likes of Randolph id hope should be looking away as well for first team football.. dont see the point in bench warming.. Adrian seems quite established and solid as the Hammers number 1.

Father Hernandez

Strumms wrote: »

Its BS that Given got back near the squad never mind as first choice.. the fact that Forde has been dropped recently is neither here nor there.. he is still a lot younger then Given.. more agile and at this point in time a better keeper who until recently had been playing regualr first team football consistently... i was impresed with Randolph when he stood in for Adrian at West Ham recently and by all accounts as has been mentioned Westwood is doing well and there is Hemderson.. there are options but none of them should be Given... thanks for the memories but see ya later... the likes of Randolph id hope should be looking away as well for first team football.. dont see the point in bench warming.. Adrian seems quite established and solid as the Hammers number 1.

Noone likes a GKing benchwarmer..

Gringo180

Alex Meier wrote: »

He came back when he could no command the GK spot at Villa.

And that is saying something. Guzan has to be the worst goalkeeper I have seen in a long time in the Prem Lge.

briany

hogey143 wrote: »

Very true, here's to hoping the Cork youngster Caoimhin Kelleher will live up to the hype at Liverpool

Oh I await the day he gets in the squad, if for nothing else than to hear the Sky Sports commentators clumsily mangle his name. They even used to get Keogh wrong.

"Key-oh!"

Alex Meier

My issue with Given is that his reactions are now extremely slow. Indeed we all remember how slow he was getting down to Mandzukic's header v Croatia in Euro2012 which eventually crept in. There were issues then as well as I seem to remember Dunphy accusing Given of selfishness for playing with an injury then.

He's been a fantastic GK for us for many years but, being 40 next April, the ageing process has caught up with him.

It's like he cannot step off the stage now that the curtain has clearly fallen on his career.

We need every player on top of their game (especially for the Poland match) and I'd genuinely hate to see his career tainted in some final match.

Then again . . It's not his fault he's getting picked.

tayto lover

So if Poland beat the Scots we're third. That will do as I don't expect us to get anything from the Germans.

Kirby

tayto lover wrote: »

So if Poland beat the Scots we're third. That will do as I don't expect us to get anything from the Germans.

Yes but if we both beat Poland we finish 2nd!

cson

Shay shouldn't be anywhere near the squad to be honest.

Very much going to be one eye on the Scottish game during the match on Thursday - just looking at their tournament appearances; if they don't qualify this year it'll be 20 years since they last had a finals appearance. :eek:

We're not great ourselves but at least we get the spin out at least once every 10 years!

As Renton said it must be ****e being Scottish. :pac:

sky88

hogey143 wrote: »

Noone likes a GKing benchwarmer..

75 games in almost 20 years that's horrendous

keeponhurling

TheCitizen wrote: »

He will be missed. Gibson hasn't played much recently. Meyler and Hendrick the other options with Quinn out injured.

Yes Whelan will be missed. Germany only scored in the away game when he went off, of course Whelan was also injured for the 1-6 German game.
If Quinn is also injured then we're in bother, and Artur.

Looks like a starting midfield of Hendrick and McCarthy, which wouldn't fill me with confidence.

Germany will dominate possession in this one

Johner

Tickets all sold out?

keeponhurling

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Is Cyrus Christie still injured as well? With coleman looking like he might not make it, it could be McShane at right back. Possible team of:

Given
McShane-O'Shea-Keogh-Brady
Walters-Meyler-McCarthy-Henrick
Hoolahan
Long

???

It won't come to needing to use McShane.
One of Coleman or Christie will be fit enough, if not Meyler can also fill in right-back

Is Wilson injured as well?
We're certainly struggling a bit here for a decent starting 11

keeponhurling

sky88 wrote: »

75 games in almost 20 years that's horrendous

Liam O

keeponhurling wrote: »

Yes Whelan will be missed. Germany only scored in the away game when he went off, of course Whelan was also injured for the 1-6 German game.
If Quinn is also injured then we're in bother, and Artur.

Looks like a starting midfield of Hendrick and McCarthy, which wouldn't fill me with confidence.

Germany will dominate possession in this one

We could line up with Roy Keane, John Giles and Liam Brady in their prime in midfield and Germany would probable dominate possession in this one to be fair

monkey9

Tony O' Donoghue was saying on the Six One News that Bastian Schweinsteiger today met with some friends and family of Nicolai Schuster, the Bayern Munich fan who died in the Berkeley tragedy. Gave some signed jerseys etc. Lovely gesture.

magma69

monkey9 wrote: »

Tony O' Donoghue was saying on the Six One News that Bastian Schweinsteiger today met with some friends and family of Nicolai Schuster, the Bayern Munich fan who died in the Berkeley tragedy. Gave some signed jerseys etc. Lovely gesture.

He's a class act. No doubt about it.

stiffler123

We will be soundly beaten by Germany. Poland though I'm hopeful about. There's not much difference between the two of us(Lewandowski aside), we can beat them on our day.

KungPao

My predictions are:

Poland to beat Scotland by a few, with Robbie Lewandowski grabbing a couple.

Germany beat us 3-0 after Ireland hold on for 45 mins.

We draw with Poland.

Depressed Scots labour to a meaningless 2-0 win over Gibraltar.

tayto lover

I think Scotland might draw at home to Poland.
We will lose to Germany.
That then leaves us to get at least a point in Poland which I wouldn't be too confident about.

keeponhurling

magma69 wrote: »

He's a class act. No doubt about it.

To be honest I find his interviews cringeworthy at times, don't think the last few Ireland managers are fans either.

By the way, nice touch by Schweinsteger

monkey9

keeponhurling wrote: »

To be honest I find his interviews cringeworthy at times, don't think the last few Ireland managers are fans either.

By the way, nice touch by Schweinsteger

I assume you're talking about Tony O' Donoghue. I really like him as an interviewer and he asks the difficult questions when needed.

He knows his football domestically and internationally.

Bowlardo

Johner wrote: »

Tickets all sold out?

they're be plenty around tomorrow

Paul Tergat

tayto lover wrote: »

I think Scotland might draw at home to Poland.
We will lose to Germany.
That then leaves us to get at least a point in Poland which I wouldn't be too confident about.

Exactly this for me too

Thecon21

hogey143 wrote: »

Noone likes a GKing benchwarmer..

Ha does this chancer have a PL medal?

massdebater

Anyone know where's good for watching the game for free online? I'm in Australia at the minute so it's a 5.45am kickoff here and I don't have any sports channels to watch it on. Is there a website that's normally good for this kinda thing? I'll be looking to do the same for the poland match in a few days too. Thanks

Added bonus: I'm living with a german guy and polish girl

RayCon

massdebater wrote: »

Added bonus: I'm living with a german guy and polish girl

So many jokes ........

kfallon

Thecon21 wrote: »

Ha does this chancer have a PL medal?

Unless the club paid for it he wouldn't have enough appearances in any one title winning season I would imagine!

circadian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIexE4B1GHY

A repeat of this would be dandy.

LeeJM

kfallon wrote: »

Unless the club paid for it he wouldn't have enough appearances in any one title winning season I would imagine!

Im pretty sure GoalKeepers are different to out field players re minimum appearances needed for a medal. I think as most teams will have an undisputed no1. GK the backup GK/GKs dont need to make any appearances to get their medal

Father Hernandez

I know it's wikipedia but LeeJM, you're right he's received one PL winners medal 01-02 season.

That's sickening..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_footballers_with_a_Premier_League_winner%27s_medal

munchkin_utd

massdebater wrote: »

Anyone know where's good for watching the game for free online? I'm in Australia at the minute so it's a 5.45am kickoff here and I don't have any sports channels to watch it on. Is there a website that's normally good for this kinda thing? I'll be looking to do the same for the poland match in a few days too. Thanks

Added bonus: I'm living with a german guy and polish girl

RTE 2 is showing it but no proxy/VPN will get round their blocking
RTL is showing it online in Germany but they require payment up front (which is a joke for the useless channel that it is)

zattoo is a legal streaming service which I believe has RTL for free in Germany and Switzerland.
Ive the paid version and its savage. But the free version is actually very good, abeit theres 30seconds of ads before the stream starts.

otherwise there'll be a myriad of dodgy streams showing it as its also on sky sports 1, but thats way out of what we can go into detail about here, if I even knew where to look any more anyhow.

fryup

is robbie keane playing tonight??

GLaDOS

fryup wrote: »

is robbie keane playing tonight??

Hopefully not, we need energy up front tonight. Should be Long. Bring Keane off the bench fro 10 minutes if we're losing.

TheCitizen

Robbie Keane won't start tonight, not after the last day when he started v Georgia and was hooked at half time as we struggled to get in front. That was Georgia, I doubt we'll see Robbie v Germany unless we're a goal down with 10 minutes left and he's a last throw of the dice. It won't come to that hopefully.

Wilberto

hogey143 wrote: »

I know it's wikipedia but LeeJM, you're right he's received one PL winners medal 01-02 season.

That's sickening..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_footballers_with_a_Premier_League_winner%27s_medal

Just to add to this, I think he actually does need ten appearances to get a medal. From wikipedia also (here):

Taylor was on nine appearances but Richard Wright started the game. Wenger substituted him for Taylor on 85 minutes so that he was entitled to a winners' medal.

Kingp35

tayto lover wrote: »

I think Scotland might draw at home to Poland.
We will lose to Germany.
That then leaves us to get at least a point in Poland which I wouldn't be too confident about.

This is the most likely outcome. Even with a full strength team I would still expect us to lose to Germany so tonight is going to be very tough. With Scotland being at home I think they will get a draw with Poland.

That would mean that all three outcomes would still be a possibility for us; Lose to Poland and we are out, draw with Poland and we get a play off place and beat Poland and we qualify automatically.

It will make for such a huge game on Sunday which I wouldn't be against since I'll be in Warsaw

TheDoc

Can't see past Germany scoring at least three. Muller, Gotze, Ozil and Kroos all in fine form.

Paully D

tayto lover wrote: »

I think Scotland might draw at home to Poland.
We will lose to Germany.
That then leaves us to get at least a point in Poland which I wouldn't be too confident about.

That's my thoughts too. Scotland draw with Poland, we lose to Germany and we lose in Poland.

Hopefully we're wrong though!

TheCitizen

Paully D wrote: »

That's my thoughts too. Scotland draw with Poland, we lose to Germany and we lose in Poland.

Hopefully we're wrong though!

Well there's a surprise, you're predicting doom and gloom for MON and his team.

I predict we'll qualify, like I've always predicted.