Wales, stripped of Bale and Allen, were so ordinary it was painful. I'll exempt Ramsey from that - he was utter sh*te. About one game in ten he shows flashes of quality, but tonight he was the Ramsey we see 90% of the time.

Fair play to Ireland they battled hard to the bitter end and took their one chance expertly. From then on Wales never really came close, and an equaliser would have knocked us both out.

We produce one world class player every couple of decades, and to be without him in such a vital winner-takes-all game is unbelievable bad luck. It ranks alongside losing John Charles for the WC QF v Brazil in 1958, being knocked out by a cheating Joe Jordan in 1978, being knocked out by a travesty of a penalty v Scotland in 1985, Bodin hitting the bar with a pen v Rumania in 1993, and Ryan Giggs being unavailable for about 20 years under Ferguson. 

We have a proud history of excuses.

Edited October 9, 20178 yr by Backbiter

48 minutes ago, RMCM said:

Stellar result for Ireland tonight, glad to get one more game out of my season ticket now with the playoffs, and hopefully book a little holiday to Russia in June after that.

Ha, ha that was exactly my reaction too. My daughter wants us to draw Portugal!

If we qualify we will grace the tournament with our 268 passes attempted, 189 completed.

Wales the underdog scucces from the Euros out, the other successful underdog, Iceland win their group!

Northern Ireland qualify too.

Could be a chance for Wales gone as not sure Bale will make another WC and no other Welsh players quite have that World Class ability as it stands.

 

Hazard brothers start for Belguim.

23 hours ago, IliyaKrostin said:

Hazard brothers start for Belguim.

And!

 

It was very good!

World Cup European Play-off games:

SWEDEN V ITALY

DENMARK V REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

CROATIA V GREECE

NORTHERN IRELAND V SWITZERLAND

Ireland got Denmark in the draw, happy enough with that, better than getting Croatia or Italy. Hopefully we can nick a win against them and be on the plane to Russia. COYBIG

4 hours ago, Boyne said:

World Cup European Play-off games:

SWEDEN V ITALY

DENMARK V REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

CROATIA V GREECE

NORTHERN IRELAND V SWITZERLAND

No easy matches there, all look competitive to me.

6 hours ago, Boyne said:

 

DENMARK V REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

 

Oh dear. One the one hand I want my office roommate - an ardent supporter of Lasse Schöne of Denmark and Ajax - to happily watch her favourite player at the World Cup; on the other hand I want the Irish members - and their brothers  - of this forum to be able to cheer on their country.

As I said, oh dear... Which country to support ?

13 hours ago, Valerie said:

Oh dear. One the one hand I want my office roommate - an ardent supporter of Lasse Schöne of Denmark and Ajax - to happily watch her favourite player at the World Cup; on the other hand I want the Irish members - and their brothers  - of this forum to be able to cheer on their country.

As I said, oh dear... Which country to support ?

And to possibly further complicate your dilemma, one of our players, Christensen, plays for Denmark. 

1 hour ago, Boyne said:

And to possibly further complicate your dilemma, one of our players, Christensen, plays for Denmark. 

Hmm, I want him to gain high level experience, but I also want him rested for the start of the new season.... 

Few Chelsea boys could be given a run out for England during this break:

Hart

Trippier  Stones  Cahill  Rose 

Dier Livermore

Vardy/Lingard  RLC  Rashford

Tammy

However you look at it, that's a sh*te team. 

 

So excited for Saturday.

 

Edited November 8, 20178 yr by Charles Ryder

Can't wait for Ireland v Denmark, feel like we have a real chance to get into the finals next summer, have my season ticket ready for the second leg, I was even considering going ot the away leg on Saturday but flights from Dublin for the weekend doubled in price as soon as the fixture was announced

A bit off subject but an interesting article in today's Telegraph about when Northern Ireland played in the 1986 World Cup Finals. Socrates having a cigarette five minutes before kick-off. A great player.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/11/08/socrates-puffing-fag-tunnel-just-kick-off-northernireland-heroes/

53 minutes ago, Boyne said:

A bit off subject but an interesting article in today's Telegraph about when Northern Ireland played in the 1986 World Cup Finals. Socrates having a cigarette five minutes before kick-off. A great player.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/11/08/socrates-puffing-fag-tunnel-just-kick-off-northernireland-heroes/

Well you know, no laws prohibiting in public venues back then, that explains it all 

Edited November 8, 20178 yr by Valerie

6 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Well you know, no laws prohibiting in public venues, that explains it all 

Think that if it was me waiting for the game to start I'd have a glass of whisky in one hand a pint of strong beer in the other. No wonder I never made it as  a footballer. That and the fact I was useless.

I can't believe the penalty decision given against Northern Ireland tonight - you have to see it. Must rate as poor as the missed Henry handball a few years ago.

 

My issue is with referee consistency.  According to the laws of the game it hit his arm, and he had his arm raised a bit, so I can understand it being given.  On the other hand (no pun intended) it was obviously not a deliberate attempt to handle the ball.

I think the laws need to remove the "intention" clause and anything that touches an arm in the box is ALWAYS a penalty.  No dispute, and it doesn't matter if a player falls over on the ball, or it's kicked at a player from a very close distance.  If it touches an arm, penalty.  That will then remove the inconsistency where five out of ten referees would give that last night, and the other five wouldn't.

 

Still a bit harsh on the micks, though.

26 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

My issue is with referee consistency.  According to the laws of the game it hit his arm, and he had his arm raised a bit, so I can understand it being given.  On the other hand (no pun intended) it was obviously not a deliberate attempt to handle the ball.

I think the laws need to remove the "intention" clause and anything that touches an arm in the box is ALWAYS a penalty.  No dispute, and it doesn't matter if a player falls over on the ball, or it's kicked at a player from a very close distance.  If it touches an arm, penalty.  That will then remove the inconsistency where five out of ten referees would give that last night, and the other five wouldn't.

 

Still a bit harsh on the micks, though.

Have to disagree Yorkley, if every time the ball hit an arm / hand in the box it meant penalty, players will start deliberately aiming the ball for a players arm / hand.

Last night's was a complete joke of a decision - it was point blank travelling at about 100mph and it hit him on the shoulder. The ref should hang his head in shame.

 

Edited November 10, 20178 yr by Nibs

If players are good enough to hit a players hand, then they are good enough to put it in the net instead and take away the small possibility that they will miss the penalty.  Or, if it truly is accidental, then it's a free-kick rather than a penalty.  That still gives the element of opinion, though.

Gotta do something to get some consistent decisions though @Nibs Against the Mancs last week, two almost identical push-in-the-back situations went against us, Cahill and Luiz got red cards for tackles that were nowhere near as bad as some shown in other matches the same weeks, which got yellows or nothing.  And this goes on every week in almost every match, and I'm not saying it;s just us, it's every team in every league.  Refereeing standards are just not up to the state of a professional game.

It's time to stop referees having discretion on applying the laws of the game, or introducing the level of video ref that international rugby has.  AND, while we are at it, I want the football referees' microphones linked up to the stadium PA the same as rugby refs are, so there can't be any doubt about what is decided and why.

Edited November 10, 20178 yr by yorkleyblue
Thought of some more sh*t

Oh wow, just watched the highlights. Absolutely shameful decision. I hate the fact that referees have no accountability... he should be suspended for that performance. The highlights were basically highlights of refereeing errors.

This is by far the most exciting England performance in years... they really need to throw out all the dead wood and rely on the youngsters who actually know how to play football. Quite loose which is to be expected but impressed by Loftus-Cheek. Livermore is surprisingly composed under pressure.