Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

…………………………………………………………..Bazunu

............ Coleman – Molumby -Collins - Cullen - Knight - O'Dowda -Egan - O'Shea

................................................Smallbone

..................................................Ferguson

After putting four past the Netherlands I'm not sure a heavy defeat would get him the sack, what would even constitute heavy for us after last night's game, but will leave him standing on the edge of the plank come Greece in June.

Which is gonna be a tough game because you've gotta go back to the 2012 Euro qualifiers for the last time we beat the fourth seeded team home and away.

It's probably a positive that the French win was so emphatic. Takes any expectation off us to do anything other than not lose 5 nil.

Could also mean the French arrive thinking its a foregone conclusion (even if it is).

Mostly I'm clutching at straws though and a 2/3 goal loss is the hot favourite. But the heart always wants to believe in a miracle.

The games against Greece and the Netherlands are the ones that will drive that, I think.

France are top seeds, losing against them shouldn’t really change the mood around Kenny or the team that much.

The only reason to sack SK before the end of this campaign would be losses/draws with Gilbratar imo.

We are building, we're in the group of death. A Comfortable 3rd place finish would be a solid campaign really.

Anything less and he should be let go. Anything more and he should get a parade.

We haven't taken 6/6 from a fourth seed since Trap, but if Kenny wants to show progress he's gonna have to achieve something in this group which hasn't been done in awhile.

People can say oh he's building but others can be brought in to build upon the work that he's already done, or that it's the group of death. Might sound harsh but he'll have had four campaigns now by the end of this year.

I stand corrected!

Still, on form it would be the other way around, especially after last nights result.

When the draw was made I thought at the minimum a battling' 3-0 defeat v France would be an OK result for Kenny. Anything better great. I have not changed my mind since.

But the reality is in world football Ireland is not even an afterthought. I was listening to Five Live there. There was Scottish lads talking up Scotland. To be honest I did not even know a lot of the Scottish names mentioned.

I just don't really pay heed to Scotland at all. Then I was thinking how many French people would be able to name three/four of the Irish team? Yet most Irish people could rattle off players from the French team that don't even make the panel.That is the real difference in the gulf in class. For Ireland to have any hope of a result they have to get very lucky. Even luckier than the game where Bazunu saved Ronaldo's penalty. And that was only a 'moral victory'.

The real games for Kenny are Greece and Gibraltar. Then hope Holland and France take points off each other. If Kenny wins those Gibraltar games, plus gets credible results v Greece he just about stays in a job, I think.

The France and Holland games are basically just days out for the fans, get to see a few superstars etc. Try not to get walloped and maybe with a bit of jamminess nick something. But I don't think Kenny's teams are set up to 'nick something'. The side leaves more gaps than a sieve against ANY side.

Ah those seedings were nonsense, how could France and England be second seeds and the likes of Hungary be top seeds.

France were ranked 4 in the world and England 5 at the time of the draw I think.

There are unsold tickets left from the Latvia combo game but whether they go on general sale is another thing .

The likes of Noel Rock and co will be looking for their freebies.

..

You lose matches you suffer consequences. Be pretty dumb if there were no consequences

Perhaps agree that we should try to finish above Greece, but to be honest I am always a little baffled listening to media talk about ireland, and commentary too, when you hear panelists say things like we should be beating the likes of Latvia easily, or Greece for that matter. Have these people just come out of a time warp? Have they not watched us in the last 10 years. I think sometimes we get ideas above our station. We are a bang average side, and as a result should expect nothing more than average results.

I am currently watching Scotland struggle to best Cyprus. The Scots are poor too. Its the standard of football all over. If you take out the elite countries, everyone else is struggling. The level they are at is way below many of these countries gloey days of old. Us included.

Camera for the U19s game is absolutely shocking. All titled to one side and makes it look like Ireland are playing up hill.

Is there anywhere to watch this?

Under Kenny we haven't been competitive in a campaign to date.

That's a shame because previously we generally were.

This draw has some willing to give him a pre-emptive pass but I dunno.

From giving up against France to warning of the quality of Greece it seems there is no longer any barometer of success needed to continue with the project.

We'll need to see more than we did in the last campaign for me. Third is the minimum target but if we lose the first two fixtures again and are out of it before it begins once more than I am not sure where we go from there.

I hope the players are more optimistic than some on here but when we are letting in home goals to Armenia, Luxembourg, Ajaerbaijan and Latvia then perhaps it's hard to feel SK can rally.to get a result here.

Some people can just understand where we currently sit in the pecking order. Others can't.

Armenia currently giving the turks a pretty good game. Luxembourg drew with Slovakia. Greece have won a European championship.

Even in our hay days we didnt come close to that. There's no free passes, every performance and result has its own merits/context.

We haven't taken 6/6 from a fourth seed since the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Beating Luxembourg away last campaign might actually be our first time beating the fourth seeds away from home since 2012.

Minimum 9 points would be my expectations

If you don’t think you can win competitive matches and beat a team like Greece ranked lower than us in the world rankings, why bother?

We need to have expectations, and hold ourselves accountable to find a way to get results. There is no point to the whole exercise otherwise.

I agree we should be looking to beat Greece, but anyone thinking anything less than 6 points against them is total failure simply because they were seeded below is for the draw has ridiculously high expectations. They are 3 places below us in the FIFA rankings and are above us in the ELO rankings. They will be 2 very tough games.