.

Agreed fully. 

This defeatist attitude a lot of our fans have is very premature, friendly results won't make me panic. 

None obviously? Where did I say it'd have any effect on the result or performance 

All i'm saying is saying we'll get trashed before a ball has been kicked is premature, which it is?

I never said we would get a result, but to 100% write off our chances of avoiding a "trashing" which is clearly what the OP suggested in June is way to premature.

No hassle chief 

Do I think we'll get a good result? More than likely not, but until I see how we set up and who we have starting, until then i'll reserve my judgement. 

Could easily see us playing 5 at the back, a solid 4 man midfield with Long or Walters up top given a thankless task up front. 

Did Trap not take over when we were 2nd/3rd seeds? Toward the end of his reign, will have a big impact on whether we'll be 3rd/4th seeds in future.

You talk about Trap haters, but your defending of him over the years is just as bad. Thats what makes football great, all about opinions. 

Sadly things have changed since then 

 

yes we will most likely get pumped by germany, we need to try and get pumped less!

 

also scotland and poland will get pumped too , we are not competing with germany , we are in a group with three places going , if we live up to our seeding then we qualify.

 

TJ it doesn't have to be one or the other. That hoof ball is the only way we can play to be successful. We were as successful under McCarthy as we were Trap when we played a passing game. Mccarthy's squad was better but it still had a lot of journeymen too.  

That statement about the Euro's is ridiculous as O'Neill hasn't been in charge of a competitive game at all yet. Unlike Trap where we learned nothing from the friendlies, O'Neill will have a better  idea of the limitations of the squad. 

We had a depleted squad in the states, should have beaten Turkey and Serbia given our chances and our defending was very poor. O'Neill isn't stupid and will know we can't possibly go toe to toe against top opposition but at least he gave it a try along with trying McLean in the right forward position. 

Defence is a legitimate concern but we're obviously going to tighten up more when we play in Georgia and hopefully have our strongest possible 11 on the pitch. The good thing is we're at least creating chances and were unlucky in some games. The defeats and the poor run of results are bad but as long as he learns from them it'll be constructive. 

A morale boosting win at home to Oman and we'll be in better spirits going out to Georgia. Personally I think we'll draw out there but I don't think it'll automatically be the disastrous result people will make it out to be especially when you see how Spain and France did. Scotland and Poland will struggle out there too imo. A win would be a fantastic result.

 

if we get pumped 5-1 by germany do I call for MON out then like I did for Trap ? I cant decide something like that yet.

 

I think the players will improve, i have good faith in coleman, mccarthy , hendrick ,meyler and brady to actually get better than they are now, maybe gibson too can improve . we can use walters mcgeady and long and try and drag out a few glory cameos from robbie , richie and JOS.

 

traps tactics and selections were dung , no amount of revisionism is going to change that.

 

A moronic post as has come to be expected. All of a sudden we will be pummeled. And the game is 4 months away

Not a hope of it

To a certain degree I'd agree with you HB, but if we set up and lie down the way we done against them at home 2 years ago then the management has to take some blame imo. 

I mean is anyone really expecting us to get anything from those two games, no? The OP has wrote us off before the campaign has even started, so its not surprised he has thrown around the word "trashing" on his thread. 

I'd be pretty confident if we had our best 11 on the field and we set up in a compact manner, to contain Germany we would avoid getting hammered by 5,6,7 goals. 

I also think the Germans are a very overrated team tbh, don't think they will get near winning this world cup. 

Errr...?

Those matches are completely irrelevant and weren't even official FIFA matches, both teams just scrambled together 16 domestic players and basically had a kickabout - Their only official friendly was the 4-1 loss to the Faroe Islands which speaks volumes at how pitiful they're going to be.

Germany will get 30 points by the end, it's pointless contesting with them.

Alot of people on here are over-rating Georgia - They will sit back with 11 men in their own half straight from kick-off and play for a 0-0 draw, teams who don't know how to break down defensive teams will drop points to them, I don't think we're one of them.

you are talking cack man, they are not the faroe islands. they wil very much much fancy their chances to beat us. they beat croatia at home in euro 2012 qualifiers, and got a draws with france and spain only beat them 1-0

Says you! It was only 2 years ago we beat them 4-0 pre-Euro's in the friendlies, they've not exactly changed alot since then. They got a draw with France because they shoved 11 men in their own half for the entire match, like I exactly described 

Phantom chances?  As usual you're talking bolix. Watch the Serbia match again and don't forget apart from us missing a few chances in the first half against Turkey, they still should have been down to 10 men after the opening few minutes. Those games could've been won before the other teams came back. 

 

We should have canned him after the Euro's... better an hour too early than a minute too late. (I dont mean we should have canned him because of the Euros...I mean because he had taken us as far as that style was going to take us. I was pro Trap up until the Euros and thought he did a good job- but his plan expired).

 

while we may not match Germany in quality, we should not accept taking 0 points from them.

someone in this group is going to get some points from them, and our players/ staff need to believe it can be us. (example: Sweden against them in the qualifiers). We won't best them over an entire qulaifiying campaign, but anything can happen over 90 minutes. I hate to point to the nordies...but look at some of the teams they scalped over the years. Assuming us, poland, and scotland are all going to take points off of eachother....a single point against Germany COULD determine the group.

 

Part of the appeal of MON is that he is able to get the most out of his players.

While some of the scores were not flattering, we played some of our best football I have seen in years in those friendlies. with our full squad, a little luck, and the ability to rise to the occasion at least once we should be able to qualify and maybe even take a point or two off zee germans.

In title terms, Germany are Celtic = they have the league won already. 

Georgia's home form could well keep them in the running right up until the last few games, especially if they pick up the odd point or two away from home. 

I do reckon Georgia will finish 5th, but i'd say the points between 2nd to 4th especially will be minimal with Georgia just a tiny bit off. 

They will cause trouble for the 3 teams you mentioned though. I reckon an away win there could mean two draws in Poland/Scotland will take some heat off us.

 

Someone will take points off of Germany...Sweden did. wether or not they will blow a 4 goal lead has nothing to do with it. Germany will have an off day against one of the teams, and it could be against us if we show up prepared to play we could take a point. Just as the north beat england and spain when they were light years ahead of them (I am aware this was years ago, but it shows it is possible).

 

the results of the past 6 games mean nothing.... we played as good of football as we have seen in years against italy and turkey. judge O'Neills record once we start playing meaningful games and are playing with a full squad.