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Realistic expectations for the next window

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    Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 5:53am
What's everyone's expectations for the next international window from a points perspective?

Realistically, I think we will get 4/9. We haven't a chance against Portugal, so I'm writing that game off. It's a shame that it's the 1st game of the window because it could halt any momentum. 

Beating Azerbaijan and drawing with Serbia is a realistic target. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horsebox Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 9:49am
The problem is playing the 2 games in 4 days or in this case 3 games in 7.

We played well against Serbia and then lost in the second game, we could end up doing the same as the players will be tried and unable to raise their performance in the second game. 

Although I believe Kenny will have learned from this so we could see a lot of changes in the 3 games.

Serbia have 1 less game to play which could also work against us.


Edited by horsebox - 09 Jun 2021 at 9:53am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Claret Murph Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 10:10am

Hummmm again if i am honest i would say 3 points at home to Azer and lose the other two .

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote oldbilly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 10:24am
Everybody foolishly underestimating Azerbaijan here.
They appear a solid enough outfit, but three points would be a great result.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote t_rAndy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 10:47am
I'd be a little bit more optimistic that we have a chance of getting the minimum 6 points that are needed to give us any hope of second based on small improvements have seen in certain players and areas. 
Portgual will be too good but Serbia, if you took Tadic out of the team for example, I dont think are absolutely above our level.  If tadic is injured it would probably even things out. But even with Tadic there, with fans back I  Aviva and hopefully players in form then maybe we could squeeze the win.

Azerbaijan will be very tough too. Will be a tight game but again, with fans you would have to believe we could squeeze the win there.

But most likely we get 2 points knowing us!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 11:06am
I'd be reasonably confident that we'll do enough to beat the Azeri's and get a draw with Serbia but Kenny is going to have to take a risk in resting players for one of those big games. He'd be more likely to get away with it against the Azeri's and still get the 3 points rather than the other two. 

We'll badly struggle having to play 3 competitive games especially if we're missing players so if he plays our strongest teams in the first two games, we can forget about even having a remote chance of beating Serbia. 

This might not be the most popular thing to say but I'd nearly rather Kenny rest our players against Portugal as it's a certain loss no matter who we have available and have our best available players to have any chance of taking 6 points in the other two games. I know a 5-0 hammering by Portugal would put a huge amount of pressure going into the Azerbaijan game but we have to prioritize the Serbia & Azerbaijan games in that September window. 

I predict 4 points and hopefully Luxembourg drop points at home to Azerbaijan and away to Serbia. We should probably start shouting for Serbia to beat Luxembourg as the gap is too much for us to recover from even if we beat them in Dublin.  


Edited by irishmufc - 09 Jun 2021 at 11:45am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Donegalman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 11:14am
Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

I'd be reasonably confident that we'll do enough to beat the Azeri's and get a draw with Serbia but Kenny is going to have to take a risk in resting players for one of those big games. He'd be more likely to get away with it against the Azeri's and still get the 3 points rather than the other two. 

We'll badly struggle having to play 3 competitive games especially if we're missing players so if he plays our strongest teams in the first two games, we can forget about even having a remote chance of beating Serbia. 

This might not be the most popular thing to say but I'd nearly rather Kenny rest our players against Portugal as it's a certain loss no matter who we have available and have our best available players to have any chance of taking 6 points in the other two games. I know a 5-0 hammering by Portugal would put a huge amount of pressure going into the Azerbaijan game but we have to prioritize the Serbia & Azerbaijan games in that September window. 

I predict 4 points and hopefully Luxembourg drop points at home to Azerbaijan and away to Serbia. 
He certainly can’t afford to rest players again Portugal away or it could be an awful result! Hopefully things are starting to turn so to go away to Portugal and try to come away with even a 1-0 loss when we will realistically play for the draw or something like that would be ok such is the quality they have! Get the win against Azerbaijan in the second game and sure at that stage just hope they can grind out something against Serbia then! A 5/6-0 loss away to Portugal would only turn some of the more fickle people against him!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zizu Kilbane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 11:35am
If we can 25k-30k into Lansdown for the Serbia game, I'd be confident we'll get a result. Think this team will perform better in front of a home crowd 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 11:54am
Originally posted by Donegalman Donegalman wrote:

Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

I'd be reasonably confident that we'll do enough to beat the Azeri's and get a draw with Serbia but Kenny is going to have to take a risk in resting players for one of those big games. He'd be more likely to get away with it against the Azeri's and still get the 3 points rather than the other two. 

We'll badly struggle having to play 3 competitive games especially if we're missing players so if he plays our strongest teams in the first two games, we can forget about even having a remote chance of beating Serbia. 

This might not be the most popular thing to say but I'd nearly rather Kenny rest our players against Portugal as it's a certain loss no matter who we have available and have our best available players to have any chance of taking 6 points in the other two games. I know a 5-0 hammering by Portugal would put a huge amount of pressure going into the Azerbaijan game but we have to prioritize the Serbia & Azerbaijan games in that September window. 

I predict 4 points and hopefully Luxembourg drop points at home to Azerbaijan and away to Serbia. 
He certainly can’t afford to rest players again Portugal away or it could be an awful result! Hopefully things are starting to turn so to go away to Portugal and try to come away with even a 1-0 loss when we will realistically play for the draw or something like that would be ok such is the quality they have! Get the win against Azerbaijan in the second game and sure at that stage just hope they can grind out something against Serbia then! A 5/6-0 loss away to Portugal would only turn some of the more fickle people against him!

Those people won't be appeased either way but the heavy loss by Portugal could be mitigated by two positive results in the following games. 

He's simply going to have to take risks as there's going to be a drop off in energy levels at home to Serbia if he plays his strongest possible sides in the first two games. 

Look at the start Turkey had in their group beating both the Dutch at home and Norway away only for them to concede two second half goals and drop points at home to Latvia in the 3rd match. This would have been a guaranteed win if they played them first or in the second match imo. That draw might cost them 1st spot at the bed of the qualifying campaign.

I think Kenny will play his strongest possible side against Portugal and might be a bit more inclined to change it round for the Azeri's with the Serbia game in mind. We'll also need every possible player available for this 3 competitive game window without a doubt.  



Edited by irishmufc - 09 Jun 2021 at 11:57am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevin100 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 12:07pm
Realistic expectations is 4 points. That’s what I want a draw against Portugal/Serbia and a win against Azerbaijan. Now they are no back number but ideally for me Kenny has one aim now and that’s finish 3rd. 8 points would in my opinion make us quite likely to finish 3rd in the group bar Luxembourg beating Azerbaijan twice. Personally I don’t see that happening though.   

I don’t want to make the mistake of lowering the standard for Kenny too much. We do need to be competitive and need to win a few football matches the rest of this campaign. 


Edited by kevin100 - 09 Jun 2021 at 12:08pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sausy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 12:47pm
Originally posted by zizu Kilbane zizu Kilbane wrote:

If we can 25k-30k into Lansdown for the Serbia game, I'd be confident we'll get a result. Think this team will perform better in front of a home crowd 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Banjaxed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 1:16pm
Will be interesting to see who makes the squad in the Autumn.

Barring some Lazurus like turnaround, I don't see Hendrick getting a call up. 

Hourihane is a passenger. 

If there's a lot of players in form, Kenny might have a few tough decisions to make. Nice position to be in. 

Still need some advanced playmaker to show some form, whether that's Byrne in Cyprus or your man at Peterborough. Definitely need something different to spring from the bench.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote shakeyshamrock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 1:54pm
I feel like 3 points* is realistic, 4 is very good, 6 is dreamland. 

Portugal away is a free hit, come away with some credit for effort and maybe nick a goal but ultimately fall short. I'd like to see us look solid (as we normally are) but also to carry a bit of a threat on the counter and keep the ball to take the sting out of the game a bit.

Serbia are too tough for us and have more players who can make it count in the decisive moments - we saw that last time they were in Dublin - if they get a chance they'll bury it. A narrow loss or a draw with us pushing hard for an equaliser/winner is about par for a team like that visiting. I'd like to see us try to control this game if we can, or at least have parity in terms of being on the ball. 

The game to win is against Azerbaijan - it's this kind of game that we need to control and win comfortably.. scoring the first, building on it to get 3 or even 3 ahead.. that's what will start to mark this team and this manager out as being different to all that went before.. 

3 points from 1 win and 2 defeats. 3 draws would probably feel worse as the last result would be so disappointing after the first 2. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote E2016 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 2:14pm
We have been largely dire under Kenny and while last night was a little bit more positive, pre tournament friendlies are fairly meaningless for the teams involved. We stunk the place out vs Belarus before going on to produce 3 of our best performances in a decade over the following weeks. I wouldnt put much stock in us managing a draw with Hungary, despite it being a positive at least in the context of Kenny's reign.

1 point from 9, coming in a draw v Azerbaijan, and the final nail in the coffin for Kenny I expect.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Deco79 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 2:45pm
Our only hope against Portugal is that the fixture is so early into the new season! They are playing in the Euro's and most of their players have already had a long season this year simply because their players play for the top teams and it'll depend when the players start back with their clubs for preseason and how much game time they'll get before playing us... Wishful thinking I know!!! But we have over the years caught teams out in that fixture date in friendlies and qualifiers.
6 Points should be the minimum target in the two other fixtures, Azerbaijan at Lansdowne has to be a win no excuses regardless of how tricky they'll be to play against or how well they've done so far in developing as country football wise. 
The performance away to Serbia shows we can compete and at home and hopefully no Goalkeeping errors this time we should be aiming to beat them. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote grannyrule Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 3:40pm
Originally posted by E2016 E2016 wrote:

We have been largely dire under Kenny and while last night was a little bit more positive, pre tournament friendlies are fairly meaningless for the teams involved. We stunk the place out vs Belarus before going on to produce 3 of our best performances in a decade over the following weeks. I wouldnt put much stock in us managing a draw with Hungary, despite it being a positive at least in the context of Kenny's reign.

1 point from 9, coming in a draw v Azerbaijan, and the final nail in the coffin for Kenny I expect.

Completely agree with you. Normally, I'd expect a win over Azerbaijan and fancy getting something out of the Serbia match. However, all I expect under Kenny is a draw with Azerbaijan and nothing from the rest which should mean the end for him. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote greenshoots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 3:45pm
first time poster so I am gonna come out all positive!! Smile

We'll catch Portugal cold after their exertions in the summer at the Euros and hang on for a nil all draw. We have Azerbaijan up next and we should be expecting ourselves to beat them. That brings a very postive team attitude into the final game of the series at home to Serbia. We showed away from home that we could compete with them. A few goalkeeping errros cost us. I fancy us to go into that game on a huge high and turn them over.

Leaving us with 7 points out of 9, and somehow, miraculously, our chances of getting 2nd place in the group are in our own hands.... I'm not ruling out a World Cup yet!!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote King_Kenny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2021 at 4:26pm
Originally posted by grannyrule grannyrule wrote:

Originally posted by E2016 E2016 wrote:

We have been largely dire under Kenny and while last night was a little bit more positive, pre tournament friendlies are fairly meaningless for the teams involved. We stunk the place out vs Belarus before going on to produce 3 of our best performances in a decade over the following weeks. I wouldnt put much stock in us managing a draw with Hungary, despite it being a positive at least in the context of Kenny's reign.

1 point from 9, coming in a draw v Azerbaijan, and the final nail in the coffin for Kenny I expect.

Completely agree with you. Normally, I'd expect a win over Azerbaijan and fancy getting something out of the Serbia match. However, all I expect under Kenny is a draw with Azerbaijan and nothing from the rest which should mean the end for him. 
You expect or hope?
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