Northern Ireland

[JECK]

10 games unbeaten - some achievement really. However just how good are they?  Without trying to be arrogant, for some reason for all our failings in the later part of the euro campaign I'd still fancy us to beat them by goal or 2 at Hamden or Ni in a competitive match with both squads at full strength. Guess we'll see just how good they are at the euros.

[adamntg]

They played Paul Paton and Billy McKay in their last game, which should tell you how good they are. 

Haven't won an away friendly in ten years apparently. 

Wasn't very long ago they were losing qualifiers to Luxembourg and such like.  Their success just makes me think that success in international can come very quickly and with nothing more than a little luck.  

[Parklife]

18 minutes ago, adamntg said:

Their success just makes me think that success in international can come very quickly and with nothing more than a little luck.  

Very harsh. I think what their success shows is that with the right management team in place, it's still possible in international football (like it used to be in club football) to achieve more than the sum of your parts and punch above your weight. 

[ParisInAKilt]

49 minutes ago, Parklife said:

Very harsh. I think what their success shows is that with the right management team in place, it's still possible in international football (like it used to be in club football) to achieve more than the sum of your parts and punch above your weight. 

This

[EddardStark]

59 minutes ago, Parklife said:

Very harsh. I think what their success shows is that with the right management team in place, it's still possible in international football (like it used to be in club football) to achieve more than the sum of your parts and punch above your weight. 

Spot on. Iceland and Albania are good examples.

[SMcoolJ]

1 hour ago, Parklife said:

Very harsh. I think what their success shows is that with the right management team in place, it's still possible in international football (like it used to be in club football) to achieve more than the sum of your parts and punch above your weight. 

Completely agree.  I think you're also alluding to a point I've made about international football management being very different to domestic management because you can't simply throw money at it.

[dan cake]

3 hours ago, adamntg said:

They played Paul Paton and Billy McKay in their last game, which should tell you how good they are. 

Haven't won an away friendly in ten years apparently. 

Wasn't very long ago they were losing qualifiers to Luxembourg and such like.  Their success just makes me think that success in international can come very quickly and with nothing more than a little luck.  

havent scored in an away friendly in ten years

[adamntg]

Ok, I'll rephrase then.  I don't really mean luck, but I think it should be considered that this ten game unbeaten run is comprised of games against Finland, Qatar, Romania, Faroes, Hungary, Greece, Finland, Latvia, Wales and Slovenia.  Of those, their only wins were at home to Finland, away to Faroes, at home to an imploding Greece and home friendlies v Latvia and Slovenia.

They haven't played Germany, Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic or the like, it's been a run of games against low to middling opposition.  Any team can look successful with a soft programme like that.

My other point is that there are fewer games in internationals and success or failure can depend on a single balls-up like Scotland had in Georgia.  Without that disaster - or a miraculous result like Ireland had when they rescued their campaign at home to Germany - Scotland would be at the Euros and the outlook would be as bleak as it seems now.

Iceland - I'll give you that, but their success is the product of a studied, long term approach and has given some genuinely superb results.

 

 

[adamntg]

7 minutes ago, dan cake said:

havent scored in an away friendly in ten years

They don't impress me.

Although they did draw 1-1 against Qatar in May last year which was played in Crewe.

Edited March 29, 2016 by adamntg

[jock strap]

I wish we were as pish as Norn Ireland and going to France.

[Fairbairn]

1 hour ago, adamntg said:

Ok, I'll rephrase then.  I don't really mean luck, but I think it should be considered that this ten game unbeaten run is comprised of games against Finland, Qatar, Romania, Faroes, Hungary, Greece, Finland, Latvia, Wales and Slovenia.  Of those, their only wins were at home to Finland, away to Faroes, at home to an imploding Greece and home friendlies v Latvia and Slovenia.

They haven't played Germany, Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic or the like, it's been a run of games against low to middling opposition.  Any team can look successful with a soft programme like that.

My other point is that there are fewer games in internationals and success or failure can depend on a single balls-up like Scotland had in Georgia.  Without that disaster - or a miraculous result like Ireland had when they rescued their campaign at home to Germany - Scotland would be at the Euros and the outlook would be as bleak as it seems now.

Iceland - I'll give you that, but their success is the product of a studied, long term approach and has given some genuinely superb results.

 

 

I wouldn't back Scotland to go 10 games unbeaten against those teams.

[morrie21]

Topped their qualifying group for the Euros so not even like they only got in via a last ditch playoff or because of the increased teams qualifying for the finals.  Looks to me like all the players have bought in to what the manager is trying to do and they've worked hard and topped a qualifying group. Good luck to them at the tournament

[sbcmfc]

4 hours ago, SMcoolJ said:

 

It was a bit of a freak group in that the top seeds Greece who are usually pretty strong in qualifying were a complete mess and list home and away to the faroes.

Northern Ireland did do well though to pull away from home Hungary, Romania and Finland though.

We could've pulled away from RoI but failed to finish them off in Dublin and got dragged into a 3 way battle for 2 places and lost out.

[Green_Tide_Rising]

2 hours ago, morrie21 said:

Topped their qualifying group for the Euros so not even like they only got in via a last ditch playoff or because of the increased teams qualifying for the finals.  Looks to me like all the players have bought in to what the manager is trying to do and they've worked hard and topped a qualifying group. Good luck to them at the tournament

 

This

They have an astute manager who has players who believe in his Ideas and has them playing to their strengths. Their manager is the first manager to lead a league of ireland team to the group stages of a european competition and when u consider how the league of ireland has seriously declined......that is a remarkable achievement. It should not be forgotten either than in his first campaign in charge of northern Ireland (WC 2014 qualifiers) ....he managed the North to beat Russia and draw away to Portugal.....2 massive results for any team

Their qualifying group for Euro 2016 may not have been as tough as some of the other groups  - but they went out and beat what was in front of them both home and away to deservedly qualify in what was an impressive achievement considering their Pot seeding when the draw for their  qualifying group was made.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Green_Tide_Rising

[deecie]

Shows what can be done when you don't employ Mark McGhee.

[SMcoolJ]

13 minutes ago, deecie said:

Shows what can be done when you don't employ Mark McGhee.

Agree.  The man is a moron. A childish one at that.

[JasMc1973]

their U21's beating ours at love street

[Jon Cutler]

4 hours ago, adamntg said:

Ok, I'll rephrase then.  I don't really mean luck, but I think it should be considered that this ten game unbeaten run is comprised of games against Finland, Qatar, Romania, Faroes, Hungary, Greece, Finland, Latvia, Wales and Slovenia.  Of those, their only wins were at home to Finland, away to Faroes, at home to an imploding Greece and home friendlies v Latvia and Slovenia.

They haven't played Germany, Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic or the like, it's been a run of games against low to middling opposition.  Any team can look successful with a soft programme like that.

My other point is that there are fewer games in internationals and success or failure can depend on a single balls-up like Scotland had in Georgia.  Without that disaster - or a miraculous result like Ireland had when they rescued their campaign at home to Germany - Scotland would be at the Euros and the outlook would be as bleak as it seems now.

Iceland - I'll give you that, but their success is the product of a studied, long term approach and has given some genuinely superb results.

 

 

The part about playing Germany etc reads like an SFA press release

[adamntg]

38 minutes ago, JasMc1973 said:

their U21's beating ours at love street

Hope Jack Hamilton isn't the future of Scottish goalkeeping, based on the first half of this game at least....