Messages

I'm sure Jose will get all the blame but I think his players let him down today. Miki, Herrara and Darmian were shocking in particular. Lukaku got no support at all but if you wanted to be hypercritical he had one chance and should have scored, ultimately that the difference at top level.

I was happy enough at half time but in the 2nd half they couldn't even pass to one another. Liverpool were good up to a point but were toothless up top. Salah must be frustrating to watch, he looks like he's about to do something exceptional but then doesn't.

One positive is that there's no shame in being able to defend, Jones was mighty impressive again.

Barely mentioned about poor some United players were, Herrera gave the ball nearly every time as did Darmian. If United had opened up we'd have been beaten, got no doubts about that. Mane turned into Messi last week but barely no mention of all the injuries United had.

No mentioned either of Klopps negativity, he was petrified to take of one of his 3 midfielders and replace him with an attacking player.

Lack of a left back is still a huge issue, Young is the best option but its far from ideal.

I expect us to score but lets see how we do at the other end. Carrick is out so wouldn't be surprised to see an extra centre half and play wing backs, if that happened then I could see Darmian playing as 1 of the 3.

The squad is starting to get tested with injuries to Pogba, Fellaini & Carrick.

Someone was telling me the 2 people who've objected to the proposed data centre don't even life in Galway, anyone know if that is the case?

Martin O Neills new directive should be to LOSE every one of these fucktard games in order to get relegated into group D so that we can then beat Gibralatar in a play off to get to Euro 2020 I shit you not this is the way forward

The way I understand it is that the top 4 ranked teams, going from Div-A to Div-D in order, that have not qualified for Euro2020 through their groups, will play off for the last qualifying spot.

From the bbc 'By virtue of the format, lower-tier countries - the bottom 16 in the rankings - are now guaranteed one of the 24 qualifying slots for the European Championship finals'

Great chance for a nation to reach the Euro's that would normally have no chance.

Can I raise my expectations now?

You could if we were in Div D 

Martin O Neills new directive should be to LOSE every one of these fucktard games in order to get relegated into group D so that we can then beat Gibralatar in a play off to get to Euro 2020 I shit you not this is the way forward

The way I understand it is that the top 4 ranked teams, going from Div-A to Div-D in order, that have not qualified for Euro2020 through their groups, will play off for the last qualifying spot.

From the bbc 'By virtue of the format, lower-tier countries - the bottom 16 in the rankings - are now guaranteed one of the 24 qualifying slots for the European Championship finals'

Great chance for a nation to reach the Euro's that would normally have no chance.

Croatia AZ, based on what? Look at who their players are playing for, there's no comparison. Their miles ahead of Ireland, beating them to qualify would be a great achievement.

Denmark is different though, think Ireland would have a great chance of beating them.

I saw a stat earlier that Ireland hadn't beaten anyone higher ranked than 33 in the world from 2002 to 2015, since then then we've beaten world no 2, 12,13 & 20 in competitive games.

Some of those players mentioned are very average and aren't good premiership players. Ward is 32 and has spent most of his career floating between the championship & Premier League. Clark is average, another player who will end up floating. Duffy has made 7 PL appearances and Randolph is now on loan in the championship. From midfield on we have more established top level players but none of them would get near a top 6 side, I just don't see where your expectancy comes from AZ given there's no class in that team at all, just plenty of players who've spent their career playing for teams trying to stay in the PL or in the championship.

Ireland haven't had a decent set of players since 2002 and thats reflected in only qualifying for 2 tournaments since. Qualifying for the last Euro's was about right though given 24 teams qualified but if Ireland were to qualify from the play offs it would be a huge success given the quality of the squad.

Ireland play conservatively for a reason, Ireland aren't good enough or MON doesn't spend enough time with is players to be able to play good football one game and conservatively the next. He has to pick a style of football and stick with it.

If Ireland had played a better brand of football with that squad of players or tried changing form game to game they'd have finished 3rd or 4th.

This squad is a miles away in quality from the 2002 team.

It was also away from home lads, so that's a good result in isolation.

However, regarding this as an achievement as a whole, i.e. the campaign, I would have thought it was a very attainable goal, and actually this was a winnable group if we had performed well. I don't believe Martin O'Neill is a great manager. I don't believe he is a shocking manager either. I think he is very conservative, and this has cost points against teams we can and should be beating. It has probably also led to some good results against teams that are better than us.

All in all, I'd have said that NOT getting at least a playoff would have been a failure. Getting to the World Cup would be a success. The Playoff is now just a means to an end, and not an end in and of itself.

But last night was a great occasion and a great result in the circumstances. It would be churlish to say otherwise.

It was attainable based on nobody knew what Serbia would turn up and that after the first few games Ireland had put themselves in a great position but there's no comparisons between the Ireland & Serbia squad. They've plenty of top players who either play for big clubs or have done previously.

Yes, but still attainable. They finished top of the group by 2 points.  We dropped 11 points in 10 games, including points in draws with Wales at home, Austria at home and Georgia away.  That group was very winnable as it turned out.

Thats too simplistic though, there's a reason Ireland dropped points in those games and its because of the quality of players. There's no comparison in this squad and the one that qualified for the 2002 world cup.

It was also away from home lads, so that's a good result in isolation.

However, regarding this as an achievement as a whole, i.e. the campaign, I would have thought it was a very attainable goal, and actually this was a winnable group if we had performed well. I don't believe Martin O'Neill is a great manager. I don't believe he is a shocking manager either. I think he is very conservative, and this has cost points against teams we can and should be beating. It has probably also led to some good results against teams that are better than us.

All in all, I'd have said that NOT getting at least a playoff would have been a failure. Getting to the World Cup would be a success. The Playoff is now just a means to an end, and not an end in and of itself.

But last night was a great occasion and a great result in the circumstances. It would be churlish to say otherwise.

It was attainable based on nobody knew what Serbia would turn up and that after the first few games Ireland had put themselves in a great position but there's no comparisons between the Ireland & Serbia squad. They've plenty of top players who either play for big clubs or have done previously.

It's easy to forget, Ireland were 4th seeds.

Expectations are far too high, prior to the last Euro's pundits were touting Austria as a surprise tip to win after a very impressive qualifying campaign.

It was also away from home lads, so that's a good result in isolation.

However, regarding this as an achievement as a whole, i.e. the campaign, I would have thought it was a very attainable goal, and actually this was a winnable group if we had performed well. I don't believe Martin O'Neill is a great manager. I don't believe he is a shocking manager either. I think he is very conservative, and this has cost points against teams we can and should be beating. It has probably also led to some good results against teams that are better than us.

All in all, I'd have said that NOT getting at least a playoff would have been a failure. Getting to the World Cup would be a success. The Playoff is now just a means to an end, and not an end in and of itself.

But last night was a great occasion and a great result in the circumstances. It would be churlish to say otherwise.

It was attainable based on nobody knew what Serbia would turn up and that after the first few games Ireland had put themselves in a great position but there's no comparisons between the Ireland & Serbia squad. They've plenty of top players who either play for big clubs or have done previously.

MON gets way too much criticism, Ireland have over achieved to get to a play off and based on players Wales & Serbia are ahead so its a good achievement to get this far.

Wales with far more talent would love to be waking up this morning in Ireland's position.

Wales might have far more talent, but he was injured last night and is injured every other game. Apart from him they're all (on both sides) plodders or inconsistent.

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Something didn't sit right with me with Jon Walters video last night. "Right everyone, stand up against that wall and dance a little for instagram".

Qualifying for a playoff is not an achievement. Not an achievement. Not an achievement unless the playoff is won.

Wales have Ramsey & Allen who both have a lot more quality then anything we have. Then there's Davies who's at Spurs. Ireland don't have any player at one of the top 6 clubs.

Joe Allen plays for Stoke. To put that in context, Glen Whelan was a starter for Stoke for most of the past 5 seasons. Allen might be classier than Hendrick but he's hardly on a higher level.


Ben Davies is quietly evolving into a class act, but Seamus Coleman surely is a notch up again.

So that leaves Ramsay, and countering that is a championship heart of Hennessy, Chester, Gunter, Lawrence, Ledley,  Kanu.


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If a horsey man was handicapping it: with Bale, there's maybe a stone in it. Without Bale, it's an even race.

This was no giant killing feat lads.

Its a good result though, thats the 2nd win against a higher ranked side and I can't recall too many of them in previous years. I agree its nothing to get too excited about given there's the play offs to come but Irish teams with far more talent have failed to get near a world cup in the previous 20 years, this is easily the worst Irish team I've ever seen.

MON gets way too much criticism, Ireland have over achieved to get to a play off and based on players Wales & Serbia are ahead so its a good achievement to get this far.

Wales with far more talent would love to be waking up this morning in Ireland's position.

Wales might have far more talent, but he was injured last night and is injured every other game. Apart from him they're all (on both sides) plodders or inconsistent.

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Something didn't sit right with me with Jon Walters video last night. "Right everyone, stand up against that wall and dance a little for instagram".

Qualifying for a playoff is not an achievement. Not an achievement. Not an achievement unless the playoff is won.

Wales have Ramsey & Allen who both have a lot more quality then anything we have. Then there's Davies who's at Spurs. Ireland don't have any player at one of the top 6 clubs.

MON gets way too much criticism, Ireland have over achieved to get to a play off and based on players Wales & Serbia are ahead so its a good achievement to get this far.

Wales with far more talent would love to be waking up this morning in Ireland's position.

Anyone else see the Carlow final? Thought the ref was shocking and all in one direction, clearly had it in for Rathvilly during that last 20 minutes.