ErsatzThistle Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 1 minute ago, Texas Pete said: Out of the possible unseeded teams they could get they would probably want to avoid us. Hampden is a very difficult place to come and get a result. Really do love your optimism but the cold, grey realist in me tells me we never make things that simple . And we always, without fail, get the most clueless match officials in Europe for big "crunch" games. We really should not get too carried away by our recent victories. Lithuania and Malta were the teams we beat. Hardly the best opposition in Europe. Slovakia and Slovenia are going to be very closely fought contests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbcmfc Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 4 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said: We really should not get too carried away by our recent victories. Lithuania and Malta were the teams we beat. Hardly the best opposition in Europe. Slovakia and Slovenia are going to be very closely fought contests. Slovakia are a decent side who have already pumped us, and i thought Slovenia looked impressive in their win against Lithuania. I think it will be really tough to win both these games. If we were to get to a play off, given our ability to raise our game for the big occasion and the unusual favourites tag NI would have and associated pressure, would be a bad draw for them. You'd have bitten the hand off someone for a play off v Northern Ireland or Iceland when the draw was made. Portugal or Italy not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 6 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said: Really do love your optimism but the cold, grey realist in me tells me we never make things that simple . And we always, without fail, get the most clueless match officials in Europe for big "crunch" games. We really should not get too carried away by our recent victories. Lithuania and Malta were the teams we beat. Hardly the best opposition in Europe. Slovakia and Slovenia are going to be very closely fought contests. I wouldn't say I was that optimistic to be honest. I wouldn't mind fading Northern Ireland in a playoff but I'm not convinced we'd win A full Hampden is seriously one of the most difficult places to come and win at though. We very rarely lose there apart from against the likes of Germany, Spain, Holland etc. Ok so we often make an erse of it against teams we should beat but we can be a match for anyone there on our day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 2 minutes ago, sbcmfc said: Slovakia are a decent side who have already pumped us, and i thought Slovenia looked impressive in their win against Lithuania. I think it will be really tough to win both these games. If we were to get to a play off, given our ability to raise our game for the big occasion and the unusual favourites tag NI would have and associated pressure, would be a bad draw for them. You'd have bitten the hand off someone for a play off v Northern Ireland or Iceland when the draw was made. Portugal or Italy not so much. Slovakia are heavy favourites for a playoff but I don't think they'll beat us at Hampden. They may well get a draw which will effectively knock us out but I can't see them winning. Don't let the game in Slovakia fool you. Only one or two of the guys who started over there will start next month. It will almost be a completely different team. England also beat us 3-0 at Wembley but they were nowhere near doing that at Hampden. In fact they almost lost. I can see us winning narrowly at Hampden and drawing in Slovenia which won't be enough but at least it will be an improvent on the last few campaigns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 4 hours ago, sbcmfc said: The way it's going we'll draw Argentina in the play offs. It's closer than Australia and we had to go there before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcs Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 9 hours ago, Texas Pete said: I wouldn't say I was that optimistic to be honest. I wouldn't mind fading Northern Ireland in a playoff but I'm not convinced we'd win A full Hampden is seriously one of the most difficult places to come and win at though. We very rarely lose there apart from against the likes of Germany, Spain, Holland etc. Ok so we often make an erse of it against teams we should beat but we can be a match for anyone there on our day. If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs anybody apart from N. Ireland would be my choice last time we played them in a friendly at hampden that atmosphere was poisonous due to the loyalist knuckledraggers not from N.I but from Glasgow and that was a friendly we seen mini fights breaking out going to the game and when we came out it's a bad day when I would go to the away leg feeling less threatened and I certainly wouldn't be taking my Mrs with me to hampden that day and she hasn't missed a game home or away n 3 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud1982 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 I wouldnt be surprised if 18 (12 counting)points were enough for a play off. If u look at the Wales and Ireland group. I think Wales will draw both games. Ireland will beat Moldova and draw with Wales and finish 2nd with 17 (11 counting). Unfortunately won't matter for us as our goal difference means 18 isn't enough. Would be gutted if we missed out on goal difference. Let's just win both then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boboblanko Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 (edited) On 07/09/2017 at 8:07 AM, jcs said: If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs anybody apart from N. Ireland would be my choice last time we played them in a friendly at hampden that atmosphere was poisonous due to the loyalist knuckledraggers not from N.I but from Glasgow and that was a friendly we seen mini fights breaking out going to the game and when we came out it's a bad day when I would go to the away leg feeling less threatened and I certainly wouldn't be taking my Mrs with me to hampden that day and she hasn't missed a game home or away n 3 years I sat near that lot and it was dreadful. Scottish accents and the full rule Britannia routine for 90 minutes. I wouldn't mind drawing them in a play off though cos I think we have better players Edited September 8, 2017 by Boboblanko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Just noticed that NI have only conceded 2 goals in the whole tournament so far - both against Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rude Gullit Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 3 hours ago, Orraloon said: Just noticed that NI have only conceded 2 goals in the whole tournament so far - both against Germany. Very reminiscent of Craig Brown's Scotland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 4 hours ago, Orraloon said: Just noticed that NI have only conceded 2 goals in the whole tournament so far - both against Germany. NI have benefited from under-performing teams in their group. Greece last time. Norway and Czech Rep this time. They have a good defence but we could beat them over 2 legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 I've just had a closer look at the other groups and have now convinced myself that we will get a playoff spot if we win our last two games. There are at least 7 results that could happen in the other groups which would let us go through. We don't need all 7 of them to happen, just one of them. That's without even considering group I which is just too complicated to attempt to predict. All seven, plus group I, can't possible go against us. Can they? Assuming we beat Slovakia, we could go into the last game knowing that 3 points will be enough if Bosnia haven't beaten Belgium on 7th Oct. And even if they have beaten Belgium we can just beat Slovenia and then calmly wait for one of the other results to go our way. Three of those games are played the same night that we play Slovenia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantyboy1983 Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 I hope people are aware that the bottom placed teams in some groups might change and all the calculations will have been for fook all. Stop with all the calculations, after we beat Slovakia fill yer boots!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reevesy Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 1 minute ago, Grantyboy1983 said: I hope people are aware that the bottom placed teams in some groups might change and all the calculations will have been for fook all. Stop with all the calculations, after we beat Slovakia fill yer boots!! Is it not the lowest ranked teams (in terms of rankings when the draw was made) rather than lowest placed when the group is finished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 8 minutes ago, Grantyboy1983 said: I hope people are aware that the bottom placed teams in some groups might change and all the calculations will have been for fook all. Stop with all the calculations, after we beat Slovakia fill yer boots!! That's all been taken into account in my calculations. That bit isn't too difficult this time round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 1 hour ago, Orraloon said: I've just had a closer look at the other groups and have now convinced myself that we will get a playoff spot if we win our last two games. There are at least 7 results that could happen in the other groups which would let us go through. We don't need all 7 of them to happen, just one of them. That's without even considering group I which is just too complicated to attempt to predict. All seven, plus group I, can't possible go against us. Can they? Assuming we beat Slovakia, we could go into the last game knowing that 3 points will be enough if Bosnia haven't beaten Belgium on 7th Oct. And even if they have beaten Belgium we can just beat Slovenia and then calmly wait for one of the other results to go our way. Three of those games are played the same night that we play Slovenia. We're as good as guaranteed a playoff if we win our last two I think. Bosnia won't win their last two and I don't fancy Wales to either. Trouble is, we need to win our last 2 and that ain't going to be easy. Bosnia and Wales fans will probably be thinking there's no way we will win our last 2 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 16 minutes ago, Texas Pete said: Trouble is, we need to win our last 2 and that ain't going to be easy. Aye, that could be a wee bit of a problem. I just like looking at the numbers. After we get beat by Slovakia there won't be any point in doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JECK Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 My gut feeling is 6 points is going to be too much of an ask of this squad especially if we lose certain players to injury. However I'm kind of glad this is the scenario facing these players as I want to know if they have the winning mentality/fortitude to over come this, 2 decent Eastern European sides, massive. I would then be more confident about a playoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 13 minutes ago, Orraloon said: Aye, that could be a wee bit of a problem. I just like looking at the numbers. After we get beat by Slovakia there won't be any point in doing that. There's nothing wrong with working out the permutations. It's part of the fun and we don't get to do it often these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boboblanko Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 1 hour ago, Texas Pete said: There's nothing wrong with working out the permutations. It's part of the fun and we don't get to do it often these days. This. When was the last time we still had it in our own hands with two games to go? It's been a while. We are usually well oot by noo.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 (edited) 22 hours ago, PASTA Mick said: NI have benefited from under-performing teams in their group. Greece last time. Norway and Czech Rep this time. They have a good defence but we could beat them over 2 legs. Rubbish. I have more reason as a Republic supporter to knock that team that calls itself a country but leaving aside my own antipathy, their achievement is outstanding and if they avoid a heavyweight in the playoffs, I think they'll qualify. What they've done irrespective of world cup qualification or not has been unprecedented under Michael O'Neill. A fifth seeded to team to win their qualification Euro 2016 group is unbelievable and any mention of underperforming rival teams shouldn't take away from their achievement. Edited September 9, 2017 by irish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernscum Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 3 hours ago, JECK said: My gut feeling is 6 points is going to be too much of an ask of this squad especially if we lose certain players to injury. However I'm kind of glad this is the scenario facing these players as I want to know if they have the winning mentality/fortitude to over come this, 2 decent Eastern European sides, massive. I would then be more confident about a playoff. Exactly. The run of form and subsequent results required to get us over the line to a play-off place would leave us and the squad absolutely brimming with confidence regardless of the opponent. It would pretty much emulate the Republic of Irelands late run to their successful Euro play-off place. Play off or not, Russia or not, I think we have plenty to be encouraged about for the Nations cup and qualifiers next year and beyond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 11 minutes ago, irish said: Rubbish. I have more reason as a Republic supporter to knock that team that calls itself a country but leaving aside my own antipathy, their achievement is outstanding and if they avoid a heavyweight in the playoffs, I think they'll qualify. What they've done irrespective of world cup qualification or not has been unprecedented under Michael O'Neill. A fifth seeded to team to win their qualification Euro 2016 group is unbelievable and any mention of underperforming rival teams shouldn't take away from their achievement. Well they are guaranteed of avoidinga heavyweight I'd say as they will be one of the seeded teams in the draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 14 hours ago, Boboblanko said: This. When was the last time we still had it in our own hands with two games to go? It's been a while. We are usually well oot by noo.... Euro 2012, although we had the small matter of having to beat Spain away... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 15 hours ago, Boboblanko said: This. When was the last time we still had it in our own hands with two games to go? It's been a while. We are usually well oot by noo.... Aye it makes a change. Takes me back to the 90s. 40 minutes ago, Toepoke said: Euro 2012, although we had the small matter of having to beat Spain away... We were the first European team eliminated from World Cup qualifying 2 years later. What a beamer that was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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