Will EIRE qualify via the playoffs?

Slovakia are at a low ebb, having had a poor campaign and played to a half empty (and small) stadium against Azerbaijan last night when qualification was still theoretically in the balance. They have some decent players - Skriniar is a standout in Serie A, and Hamsik while past his best is still better than what we have. Overall though, i'd fancy us in a game against them. 

Edited by OnTheOneRoad - 20 Nov 2019 at 12:44pm

We really shouldn’t be fearing anybody at this stage. Either a big name has underperformed, or the team isn’t that good. Honestly, if we can’t beat Slovakia or Bosnia, we shouldn’t be there.

Obviously Fridays draw is big in terms of a home final, but right now I'd fancy the North to qualify. Bosnia were the side to get in these playoffs. as OnTheOneRoad points out above, their form is nothing short of horrible. I would even fancy us to win in normal time against Bosnia if we had drawn them.

Strazdas wrote: FrankosHereNow wrote: Strazdas wrote: I'd be worried that we are not capable of winning two such knockout matches. Having said that, I don't think Slovakia and the other two sides are particularly strong and capable of beating us either. But you don't think any team we ever play are strong. France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Germany, NL, England, Italy etc are the strong sides and miles better than us. Every time we play even second tier teams, the doom and gloom section of the Irish fans have it down as 'mission impossible' and us needing a miracle to beat them.

We've beaten Gibraltar twice (1-0 & 2-0) and Georgia once in the past 2 years. We do need a miracle to beat a tier two nation. We're scraping wins against utterly terrible teams now. 

inlikeflynn wrote: I hate the whole home advantage nonsense. These are professional players who play in at least twenty different stadia per year.  Their home, cars, wives and kids are in England. They’re staying in a hotel whether it is in Dublin or Sarajevo.  They should perform in any country, anywhere.

OnTheOneRoad wrote: The team i'd hope not to face is our Northern brethren. If they were to beat us in any final, we would never, ever hear the end of it. And they could do it. They play out of their skin regularly and play well against better teams than ourselves, and it'd be Michael O'Neills last game. We could do without those narratives.

Michael O’Neill is gone tho is he? Or is he hanging on for playoffs too? Would be strange to do playoffs and not Tournament and doubt Stoke would want that.

VanBosch wrote: Michael O’Neill is gone tho is he? Or is he hanging on for playoffs too? Would be strange to do playoffs and not Tournament and doubt Stoke would want that. I that the qualifiers were is last games?

Strazdas wrote: VanBosch wrote: Michael O’Neill is gone tho is he? Or is he hanging on for playoffs too? Would be strange to do playoffs and not Tournament and doubt Stoke would want that. I that the qualifiers were is last games? No, he's still the manager in fact and will be if they qualify. His contract only ends when their involvement in Euro 2020 ends.