Comments on: World Cup Play-offs. Ireland vs France

By: Seconds Out

Seconds Out — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:05:07 +0000

We'll send you a postcard from SA Greg.

By: greg

greg — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:47:04 +0000

Oh come on you irish lads. only a small "channel" separates us, and a big "cuisine" culture also but who cares right ?
King Henry will be there, "little zizou" mister Gourcuff will be attending, and so will Anelka the mercenary. But good news for you guys, we do have Domenech, the little wanker.
1st leg : Ireland 1 – France 2
2nd : France 2 – Ireland 0

And les frogs will go shine south africa. Car on garde la pêche nous.

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:24:42 +0000

Seconds out wrote: "I don’t see much hope for a team that was beaten to top spot in their group by Serbia to tell the truth."

Be careful on how you set expectations……(lol, as if our comments could have any impact on the outcome of the game :p ): when they have their backs against the wall, the French can indeed collapse (WC 2002 against Denmark) but they can also be very solid (came back from 0-2 away in Romania and from 0-1 away in Serbia with 10 men). Don't let the French believe they're the underdogs, for that's when they'll beat you.

Your absolute best bet is to score at 0-0 against the run of play with a 25-year screamer or a set piece….but not too early (a la Scotland-France and France-Scotland in the Euro 2008 qualifiers).

By: paulo1i

paulo1i — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:46:34 +0000

Excellent advice there from the foreign devils. I hope pikey Tonyinatrap is paying attention.
Love the idea of the unexpected 25-30yd shots. With 2 lads at it sporadically throughout the home game, it would be fairly unsettling.

By: Seconds Out

Seconds Out — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:23:08 +0000

Alternatively we could just kick the bollocks out of them. Kicking the bollocks out of someone as a legitimate tactic is very under-rated these days. You could say that the above has got a bad press in recent years. Cast our minds back to Ireland v Holland in 2001, the Dutch manager said that his side were far superior to the Irish. Overmars was fannying around with the ball inside the opening minute and "SPLAT" Roy Keane went through him for a short cut. The message was simple "Are ye up for this or what?" The Dutch weren't up for it. They pointed out that the ref was a German and that's why he didn't book Keane. T'was a bad one alright, Keane took the two legs from under Overmars.Someone said that the ball was in the vicinity, although there was no objective proof of this. Alas, we have no Keane these days. But we can still make it. After all, wasn't it the Dublin born Duke of Wellington that trounced the French at Waterloo?

Nicholas, the best of luck over the two legs, although I don't see much hope for a team that was beaten to top spot in their group by Serbia to tell the truth.

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:48:22 +0000

Hey everyone, greetings from a Frenchman who decided to come crash your party ! :p

So here are the keys to success for you guys:
–position yourselves as the underdogs….France often plays poorly when they see themselves as the "overdogs" (is there such a word??). So use the time in the media until 14 Nov to lower expectations
–then compound it with the other psychological that nails french coffins: start very fast, dont let the french settle in……they'll get frustrated
–your perennial fighting spirit….this is HUGE ! One of the greatest things about Irish football
–On the pitch, take the unexpected shots from 25 yards out….They often kill the french fighting spirit and can in one fell swoop reverse the course of matches which, most likely, will be dominated by french possession
–practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice…. your set pieces

Good luck, looking forward to 2 hugely entertaining matches

By: paulo1i

paulo1i — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:38:33 +0000

Fine post there Seconds. Well said Fennell, agree with you 100%.
There seems to be a bit of a pattern there with the Irish and their ability to only raise their game when up against a Superior team. Opponents with the same potential or less, and We flounder like fuck. So, if my reckoning is right, we should be in for an exciting couple of matches. IF its not, No doubt we'll flay the useless bastards alive and maybe throw them into Thomond Park with Munster and a compromise game of Gaelic Football.
But, I'm optimistic.

By: Sniffle

Sniffle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:25:32 +0000

Mais Non Monsieur Out et Madame kumkum,

Le bon goal keeper avec les shiney dents and le nice smile, Shay Le Given, will be le Star dans les penalties après les deux tres boring and losing le will to vivre, scoreless draws en Paris et Dublin. Le other premier draw was le very corrupt as you le said, FIFA merde !

Allez le smiley goalkeeper et Richard Dunne, practise votre penalty shoots.

By: Seconds Out

Seconds Out — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:11:05 +0000

You could be right Mr F, attack could be the best form of defence. I think the French will also be suspect under set pieces, which is one thing we excell at.. KK has named an impressive French team above, on paper that is. But the game won't be played on paper, and, as said, if the French were that good they would have qualified outright.

By: Fennell

Fennell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:37:43 +0000

Brilliant once again Seconds Out !

I disagree with having to keep the French out from scoring in Dublin , simply because Ireland can't defend. The only way to keep the French from scoring is to attack when we do get the ball, If Trapattoni set's up the squad to defend the home match the French will distroy Ireland.

We will have to fight fire with fire as Ireland did when playing Italy through the group stages but over 180 minutes in 4 days who do you think will last longer ? the French of course and not forgetting some of Irelands key players are all on Yellow cards and could likely miss the second match in Paris …

Ireland need to play out of there skins not like they did last week when they were playing Macedonia, Ireland need to put at least 2 if not 3 goals behind France in Dublin without reply to have any chance heading to Paris for the second leg !

And Finaly thanks Stephen Ireland for continuing to be a big shit in a dirty nappy ! its now that we realy need you in midfield and show us how good you realy are on the world stage ! but its not to be !

Ireland Vs France in Dublin
…..2……..-……0…………………….
France Vs Ireland in Paris
…..2……..-……1…………………….

Ireland go to south Africa, France can Fucking stay at home !