We’re not Brasil we’re Tuaisceart Éireann

O’Neill on his way to Hampden....

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42034154

stokeirish wrote: Sham157 wrote: O’Neill on his way to Hampden.... http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42034154 Be interesting to see if he takes it. Been a long time in the NI job, might decide for a fresh challenge

Considering the best open to Coleman is the broke and bottom of championship Sunderland he might not have too many better options available to him.

I think there was a few similarities in both N.I. and our approach to our respective playoff opponents. Both delighted we drew the two weakest of the top seeds understandably.

Regarding N.I. I seen the Swiss's game against Portugal and they looked a team that accepted they'd lose. Any of the N.I.
lads think they may have slightly underestimated Switzerland in the first game? (Not neccessarily O'Neill himself but more in general terms amongst the support/media/players. I did myself tbh especially as the Swiss missed 2 important players.

I was surprised how much room they gave the Swiss in Belfast and was expecting N.I. to be more compact. The game seemed too open which suited a team like Switzer land rather than N.I.

We certainly underestimated the Danes after our result away. There was a hidden confidence we'd finish the job in Dublin by the odd goal (Not me I thought it would be a score draw knocking us out)

Swiss are an experienced team but didn't expect them to be that good with their passing and the compact atmosphere in Windsor didn't phase them. I thought they'd struggle a lot more.

Both lost opportunities to get to a world cup for both ROI and N.I. given how even the opponents were. Both were ultimately better but still beatable if we kept it as tight as possible irrespective of being home or away.

Floreat Ultonia wrote: Ni did keep it tight, for 180+ minutes. I've no real complaints about either the result or our tactics. We could have been more expansive at home but risked losing 2 or 3 and the tie being effectively over.Â

More expansive?

If anything I thought N.I.'s undoing was that they were they were too loose at the start and may have expected Switzerland to sit in more and take the sting out of the game given the atmosphere.

Switzerland were obviously the better team despite the tie-deciding decision.

I appreciate O'Neill may have wanted to take a more attacking approach to knick a goal to take to Basel. Always easy to he wise after the event but I think there may have been a bit of 'Switzerland were there for the taking' in the build up to the game.



Edited by irishmufc - 21 Nov 2017 at 7:10pm

Het-field wrote: irishmufc wrote: What complaints do you mean? Individual players that we didnt think were up to it at the time. Very small concerns in the context of the quality of the squad at large.

I was only just turned 10 back then, so wasn't privy to these debates .

Disagree on yr last point Terri. The Corry penalty was a bad decision, the Schaar booking rather than dismissal marginal.

Trap junior wrote: Brian Kerr is to be the new nordie manager according to reports

Both Kerr's parents are from Belfast.
Not sure what part though.

irishmufc wrote: I take your point over Dallas. Was puzzled why Shakiri was getting so much joy down that side and being able to cut in so easily without N.I. doubling up on him.

The Dallas injury was one part of it, but there's another aspect, too.

These days many teams are content to allow wingers to receive the ball out wide, without committing too many players to them. This is especially so when they have dominant CB's who are good in the air, like NI.

The theory being that even if he does go down the line, he still has to cross the ball in, where a good well-drilled defence will deal with it. And this is especially so should the opposition lack a decent No.9 to get on the end of crosses, as Switzerland patently did.

Which is why when the Swiss midfield, defence even, sent long, sweeping passes out wide to Shaquiri, Brunt refused to get drawn early out to close him down. For not only had Shaquiri the skill to outwit Brunt, but if/when  he did cut inside, NI had plenty of bodies in  the crucial area* in front of the goal, to smother them, or block their efforts.

Which is why for all that the Swiss had overwhelming possession in Belfast, and 16 attempts(!), McGovern actually only had two saves to make in the entire game, with one of those a "dolly". (Granted the Swiss had a few good chances which they put off target; then again, it is known that they lack a decent finisher as we saw in Basel as well)


* - This is where this "Expected Goals" mullarkey comes into play.

irishmufc wrote: I do think the tackle was a yellow. It would be different if both studs were off the floor and he wasn't in control of his body. It is a yellow card (just about) as he was going for the ball and it was mistimed but could've been a red given the pace he flew into him at. Funny thing is if he snapped Dallas's leg he'd have probably got a red.

Fair enough. I didn't think it so bad at the time (opposite part of the field), but when I saw the replay I was very angry.

irishmufc wrote: I wasn't expecting the Swiss to pummel N.I. in Basel and the poor pitch conditions actually suit your lot more IMO. I knew N.I. would hang in as long as possible in Basel and the Swiss looked a nervous team despite creating a couple of chances they really should've put away. If the result was 0-0 from the first leg, you'd have seen a more dominant Swiss display IMO in the second leg but you got that nervous showing from them as they had something to protect.

You say "nervous from having something to protect", but how much more nervous would they have been at 0-0 and knowing an away goal for NI at any time could scupper them? (They don't score two against many teams, never minjd a defensive one like ours).

If Shaquiri's pre-Basel comment about "enjoying the party" was anything to go by, I'd say they were suffering from over-confidence, which they realised was misplaced as NI got at them, in the second half at least.

Oh well.