"What happened with russia and switzerland was just a blip" & match predictions

Tellox

'What happened in Russia and Switzerland was just a blip' was the emphatic message from the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of Saturday's crunch European Championship Qualification Group Ten clash against Georgia in the Locomotiv Stadium, Tbilisi (Kick off 7:00 pm, 3:00 pm Irish time).

Assistant manager Chris Hughton and midfield dynamo Mark Kinsella were both confident in their convictions that the quality the team showed in the 2002 World Cup has not vanished in a disappointing start to the qualifiers as Ireland lost 4-2 against Russia and 2-1 at home to Switzerland.

"We didn't turn up against Russia or Switzerland and made it easy for them," Kinsella said. "Normally you'd have two or three players who would play bad but those games it was eight or nine.

"But we played well against Scotland and are focused on getting the points on Saturday."

Hughton's opinions of the squad were almost identical. "This squad has grown up together and there is an excellent team spirit. The squad that qualified for the World Cup is largely intact and a very talented bunch.

"We are well prepared for Georgia and the team management have watched three or four videos of the teams. We've done a lot of work in training and will be well prepared for Saturday."

The squad will also have to be prepared for snow after reports of several inches of snow falling in Tbilisi. The FAI's liaison officer in Georgia reported that temperatures were as low as three degrees Celsius with sleet and snow falling and Hughton was not unduly concerned.

"Well we have to be adaptive every week. Sometimes you play on pitches like bowling greens and the next week pitches which are poor, so a change in the weather will not be a problem."

Gary Doherty was the only member of the squad not to train on Wednesday after complaining of a stiff back after playing for his club Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night and Hughton confirmed that Brighton's Graham Barrett and Wimbledon's David Connolly were fit and well after games for their clubs on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Jeff Kenna of Birmingham City has been called into the squad as Brian Kerr adds to his options on the right side of his team following the withdrawals of Steven Reid (Millwall), Jason McAteer (Sunderland), Gary Kelly (Leeds United) and Steve Finnan (Fulham).

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Keane is still on the line-up, but I dont think its too likely he'll make the georgia match...I wouldnt count him out of the albania match though..


Georgia -
Ireland 4 - 0 Georgia (Connolly - 2, Holland, Quinn)

Albania -
Ireland 2 - 1 Albania (Keane, Duff)

Samba

lol, wan quinn, wonder what odds you would get in the bookies

Tellox

Before Im flamed, Im of course reffering to Alan Quinn.

jonno

Im not worried about having sucha depleted squad against Georgia. But i'd be hoping that there are a few back for the Albania game.

As for predictions I'd say we'l have a handy victory over Georgia - bout 3/4 - 0 and maybe a tighter scoreline against Albania.

Waylander

As far as Iremember Georgia are not a bad side at all. I certainly thought they are a better team then Albania. I hope we would beat them by one goal, or two at most, and I would expect us to beat Albania by three or four.

Pigman II

Originally posted by Tizlox

Ireland 4 - 0 Georgia

I wouldn't write off Georgia so quickly. As their competitive home results over the past decade proves they're more than capable of getting the right result on any given day. Noteable results include a 5-0 win over Wales in 1994, a 2-1 over Bulgaria in 1995 a 0-0 draw with Italy and a 3-0 win over Poland both in 1997. Couple this with the fact that Ireland have never had a good record in Eastern Europe and you will see that victory is in no wayy assured. Granted recent results for Georgia in Tblishi haven't been so impressive but I'll still be happy if Ireland can get out of there with a one goal win.

07/09/1994 Georgia 0 - 1 Moldova
16/11/1994 Georgia 5 - 0 Wales
29/03/1995 Georgia 0 - 2 Germany
26/04/1995 Georgia 2 - 0 Albania
11/10/1995 Georgia 2 - 1 Bulgaria

09/11/1996 Georgia 0 - 2 England
07/06/1997 Georgia 2 - 0 Moldova
10/09/1997 Georgia 0 - 0 Italy
11/10/1997 Georgia 3 - 0 Poland

05/09/1998 Georgia 1 - 0 Albania
27/03/1999 Georgia 1 - 1 Slovenia
28/04/1999 Georgia 1 - 4 Norway
05/06/1999 Georgia 1 - 2 Greece
08/09/1999 Georgia 2 - 2 Latvia

28/03/2001 Georgia 0 - 2 Romania
02/06/2001 Georgia 1 - 2 Italy
01/09/2001 Georgia 3 - 1 Hungary
05/09/2001 Georgia 2 - 0 Lithuania

Space Coyote

Jebus, give the Georgians some credit lads. The squads first proper game together and half of them are missing. And Jeffrey Kenna's probably playing right-back (maybe).
I'll be very happy if we scrape a 2-1 win in Tblisi and maybe 3-1 in Tirana. I'm great at me capital's ament I

Kone

Georgia will be a tough one alright, but I am cofident the lads can do it. We will miss Reid though.

the fnj

If we don't win these two games ( I personally think we will win them both) Brian Kerr could be the fastest fired Irish manager in the history of the FAI. Although if they fired him they would have no choice but to install Roy Keane.

Tellox

Apart from the fact that Roy Keane is retired internationally.
Hi,And welcome to 9months on.

BKtje

tizlox i think he meant that they'd have no choice but to install Roy Keane as manager

Johnny_the_fox

Georgia -
Ireland 2 - 0 Georgia (Connolly - 2)

Albania -
Ireland 2 - 0 Albania (Holland, Kilbane)

knobbles

i'll take a one-goal win over georgia.

the results from the last campaign show they're no whipping boys. Some familiar names:
Kinkladze, rangers Arveladze and ex-Newcastle Ketsbaia

also remember they held russia 0-0 for one half before the game was abandoned but the biggest factor has to be no keane, morrison or reid for us. here's hoping duff and connoly can save us.

2-1 ireland

knobbles

well done space coyote ( and me:D ),
great day with albania winning as well.
but i still think we should beat albania next wednesday.
lookin good again, we can still win this group, might have to save for portugal yet!

parasite

how come you're all so confident in connolly, he's pathetic, weak, bad touch, just plain blaaargh...

how come kilbane's still playing, i though it was just cos Mick loved him too much

knobbles

kilbane has been playing ok recently, i thought he had a good game, it's when he's playing against class full-backs that he looks ****e but he's more consistent than mark kennedy imo.
he might start again against albania with duff maybe going up front with keane.

my confidence in connolly?
-cause he's averaged around a goal a game in the nationwide.
nationwide isn't much you say?
well neither are teams like georgia.
if we we're playing against class defences i'd have no confidence in him whatsoever.

BKtje

Georgia defence was well dodgy and tbh we shoulda put em to bed well before they equalised.
Any one else get kinda irritated in first half with constant whistle blowing by the ref and geogias diving? Got better in 2nd half when ref didnt give as many free kicks for players looking at each other badly.

I feel sorry for the Georgia FA, they gonna get fined for all the crap being thrown on the pitch when they aint all that rich. What i can't undertstand is how someone got a knife in , if what the commentators was true, and everyone went through a metal detector.