Ireland - World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign

[Sideshow Bob]

Monday, 5th September 2016
Serbia v Ireland

Thursday, 6th October 2016
Ireland v Georgia

Sunday, 9th October 2016
Moldova v Ireland

Saturday, 12th November
Austria v Ireland

Friday, 24th March 2017
Ireland v Wales

Sunday, 11th June 2017
Ireland v Austria

Saturday, 2nd September 2017
Georgia v Ireland

Tuesday, 5th September 2017
Ireland v Serbia

Friday, 6th October 2017
Ireland v Moldova

Monday, 9th October 2017
Wales v Ireland

 

[Sideshow Bob]

Result: Serbia 2-2 Ireland - 5th September 2016

Hendrick:



Murphy:

 

[IrishManc.]

Good point in the end but pretty woeful showing overall. Can't understand why we never have the confidence to start playing until we go behind in matches or have nothing to lose - says a lot about the general Irish psyche in general (we're not an overly self-confident race of people) but we should have had the balls to go for it last night especially being 1-0 up so early on. Also the stadium wasn't even half full and Serbia were missing Matic and Kolarov, but no we sat off, let them have the ball and shock horror they went and scored two. Then we decided to start playing. Equalised after a huge spell of pressure.. Then retreated again and could have conceded two or three.. Honest to god they would drive you mad.

Anyway, it's not the worst result. Just could have been a lot better if we had more belief. Will be a tight group.

 

[Sideshow Bob]

Result: Ireland 1-0 Georgia - 6th October 2016

 

[Sideshow Bob]

Result: Moldova 1-3 Ireland - 9th October 2016

 

[gav81]

Ireland weren't at their best in the 1-1 yesterday but credit to Georgia who were better than I thought. Tad disappointing though could still be a valuable away point at the end of the campaign.

Ideally Ireland can pull off a win against Serbia on Tuesday which would give both themselves and Wales a chance of qualifying together.

 

[jsp]

Hear a lot of people criticising the negative tactics, not good enough to defend the early lead again.

 

[gav81]

Nemanja Matic talking about Ireland assistant manager Keano ahead of their clash tonight: -

"Everybody knows that Roy Keane is a legend of Manchester United - he was a very important player for a long time.

"When I was young and started to follow football, he was at his best at Manchester and was one of the best midfielders in the league.

"I tried to take something from lots of players to improve myself and of course Roy Keane was one of those players.

"He's a legend in Manchester and I'll be happy to see him and have a chat. I'm happy that I play at the same club that he played."

​

It would be good to see Keano back at United in a managerial or coaching capacity after he's finished at Ireland - I think players at the top level have a respect for him and would welcome his advice.

 

[O-Dog]

Don't rate Keane as a manager at all. Maybe he'll learn something about interpersonal skills from working with O'Neill.

Hope Ireland can qualify. Both teams.

 

[jsp]

It would be good to see Keano back at United in a managerial or coaching capacity after he's finished at Ireland - I think players at the top level have a respect for him and would welcome his advice.

Do you put any of the criticism of the national team on Keane?

I mean he's the assistant manager but they play pretty negative football quite badly from what I have seen and read but I accept they have limited quality to choose from.

Not sure I want him back in the club if the right role was there for him maybe but I'd like him and Fergie to bury the hatchet and for Keane to be comfortable coming to Utd games and watching the team and having some sort of voice that's worth listening to.

 

[gav81]

Maybe he'll learn something about interpersonal skills from working with O'Neill.

I agree that he will continue to learn with age, experience and working alongside O'Neill. I think he already has to a large extent when I hear accounts coming out of the Ireland camp from the players about how "nice", "friendly", "helpful" and "funny" Roy is in the backroom. I don't think this is the same Keane that went on MUTV twelve years ago.

 

[gav81]

Do you put any of the criticism of the national team on Keane?

I mean he's the assistant manager but they play pretty negative football quite badly from what I have seen and read but I accept they have limited quality to choose from.

Not sure I want him back in the club if the right role was there for him maybe but I'd like him and Fergie to bury the hatchet and for Keane to be comfortable coming to Utd games and watching the team and having some sort of voice that's worth listening to.

I think it's difficult to say, but Ireland's play style doesn't match the football Keane played at United, Sunderland or Ipswich. It looks more like O'Neill played at Leicester and Celtic (at least in Europe). Also as O'Neill is the main man at Ireland I'd guess overall that's where the play style comes from.

Not that I blame him because, like you said, Ireland have a huge deficit in quality compared to many international sides. I've heard Roy talk about trying to pass the ball and keep possession more - that's definitely something he would like - but at the end of the day the management have to do the best with what they've got, with many of the players coming from the Championship. I think it's credit to their grit and determination that they often manage to punch above their weight. In a way they are opposite to England in that the players seem to raise their game for the national team.

Overall I think O'Neill and Keane have done a great job since they arrived and I've seen Ireland play some decent football on occasions.

I agree it would be good to see Fergie and Keane bury the hatchet - they were so good for each other, and United, for so long.

 

[maxt7]

Matic respects Keane because he was a great player not as a manager, coach or Pundit. For me Keane is too vocal with his opinions to have any role at Old Trafford, especially with the set up we have right now. He publicly questioned if the job was too big for Jose last season, his got a frosty realationship with Fergie as we know, so there's no role at that club while either of them two are there for him.

Whenever anyone of the big teams have a bad result or a big player under performs all the top managers protect the team and the individuals and blame themselves. How easy would it be for Wenger to walk out and say 'yeah fair enough where was Ozil today?' But he doesn't. I don't rate Pep but he installs so much confidence in all his players publicly. Keane strikes me as the type of guy that would hang his team out to dry. He wouldn't say it privately and put on a brave face in front of a camera, you always get what you see with him. Now maybe that works in the lower leagues that style, he done well in the championship especially. But top teams with top players need to be mollycoddled at times. Could anyone imagine Roy Keane wrapping his arm around Lukaku and saying 'hard luck Rom, don't worry, your a top striker, wasn't your day' not a chance.

 

[gav81]

I think that view of Keane is a little outdated. Looking at many of his post match comments even back at Sunderland he often defended his team. He was in the papers just this week defending one of his Irish players: -

Roy Keane launches staunch defence of Glenn Whelan

If anything, it's Mourinho who spent last season hanging out his players to dry in public whilst not taking responsibility for poor results.

I agree there's no place for him at the club right now - Keane would never want to work with Mourinho; the two are like oil and water. However, with Nicky managing the U19s and Sbragia in charge of the reserves, both former disciples and allies of Keane, it could be nicely setup for him to slot in whenever Mourinho's time is up.

 

[maxt7]

Can't argue with how Jose has handled the Martial situation when you look at the results his getting out of him now. It's good management to pick and choose who's the right person to moan at and who needs a quiet word. Just don't think Keane has that man management quality despite his defensive of Glenn Whelan. Giggs and Keane need to get out and start showing us why they would be a good manager. Not sofa sitting on pundit panels. Neither at the minute are in a position to be our next manager. And I personally feel like Keanes achievements as a manager are both outdated now and not impressive enough. He needs to start something new and quickly.

 

[gav81]

Disappointment for Ireland as they crash 1-0 to Serbia in their first home defeat since O'Neill took over.

Matic had a decent game doing what he does though got caught dwelling on the ball a couple of times. Kolarov got the goal. I thought Ireland were unlucky not to have a penalty when Daryl Murphy was pulled back from a headed opportunity in the box. It was a tight game for the most part but in the end it was another case of Ireland lacking the quality and creativity to get the necessary goals even with Serbia down to ten men for the last 20 minutes. How Ireland are missing Seamus Coleman!

It looks like the fight for second spot will now be decided by the Wales vs Ireland head to head in their final group game next month.

 

[jsp]

If they don't make it to the world cup do you think they'll both continue?

I've seen rumours that regardless of what happened Keane was looking to return to club management from next season to give it another shot, maybe a little bit older and a little bit wiser he might be able to make more of a fist of it this time as last time it started well then tailed off for him.

That final game away vs Wales could be very tasty as it could be the playoff decider.

 

[gav81]

O'Neill will be 66 years old next year. I guess if they qualify then after the tournament he could decide to go out on a high and step down. If they fail to qualify it might actually be more likely to drive O'Neill on for one more campaign at Euro 2020, though there's a chance the FAI could look for a fresh approach depending who's available to takeover.

O'Neill hasn't spoken about it and I don't know which way it will go but there's the possibility of Keane continuing in his current role, taking the hotseat at Ireland or finding a club side (even in another assistant manager role with the right team) - he's had offers over the past couple of years and has spoken of wanting the right project.

Personally I'd love to see a Keane/Giggs manager/assistant manager duo at United - the driving force and the mastermind! Or any role. Van Gaal wanted Keane as his assistant at United but Giggs made more sense since he was already there.

I'm sure there will be something for Roy. He's had 10 years experience but is still a youngster in managerial terms.

 

[jsp]

Yeah the way it works not is it's pretty hard not to qualify for a Euros so Ireland should have a decent chance although a lot of the stuff I see is that there's not a lot of young talent coming in.

Yeah but football forgets you quickly and Keane comes with a bit of baggage and even championship clubs are now favouring the foreign manager so he might even have to dip down to league one or two to find a club and in terms of a project teams are so quick ot pull the trigger now it's hard to find a project club. The international scene might suit him better but I don't know what his current relationship with the FAI is.

I think spending to much time with the modern day footballer would drive him mad so short sharp bursts with a national team might just keep him sane.