Poland v Northern Ireland, 12th June, 5pm

[JJ1532]

If seeing Wales in a major tournament wasn't crazy enough, Northern Ireland are in the Euros as well. Madness.

Not holding out much hope for Northern Ireland, they look comfortably the weakest team in their group by a long stretch and its a tough group to boot. First up is Poland, who like Wales and a few others have a decent enough group of players, but their hopes and dreams rely on Lewandowski I think. A match winner, a world class player, if Northern Ireland can somehow keep him quiet, they might have a shot at getting a result here.

They will be relying on the goals of Kyle Lafferty and the defensive experience of McAuley, Evans and Baird at the back I'd imagine, maybe some surprise contributions from Will Grigg and Connor Washington perhaps?

Can Northern Ireland pull off a shock result here, or are they cannon fodder for Lewandowski and the Poles? All match discussion here.

 

[smat]

Not holding out much hope for Northern Ireland, they look comfortably the weakest team in their group by a long stretch and its a tough group to boot. First up is Poland, who like Wales and a few others have a decent enough group of players, but their hopes and dreams rely on Lewandowski I think. A match winner, a world class player, if Northern Ireland can somehow keep him quiet, they might have a shot at getting a result here.

Bit of a disservice to Poland. Lewandowski's clearly their main threat, but Piszczek, Blaszczykowski, Krychowiak and Milik are very good players too. Milik in particular can take some of the goalscoring burden off Lewandowski. He's the next great European forward imo.

 

[Big Bird]

Can see a convincing defeat for NI unfortunately, hopefully wrong but 3-0 Poland.

 

[Alty]

Very excited for this. Sneaky feeling we might nick a draw. Maybe get ourselves in front through a set piece and then just seek to soak up pressure and hit on the break. Can't see us keeping them out completely but could see us keep it down to just the one.

 

[Veggie Legs]

That's a lot of defenders in the NI team...

Looking forward to a Gareth McAuley goal today.

 

[Murphy]

Fancy NI to get a draw from this one. Capitalise on set-pieces and you never know...

 

[smat]

Poland have been on another level to NI for most of this, but NI getting a bit of a foothold now.

 

[Storzy]

Northern Ireland playing like a non-league team playing against a Premier League side in an FA Cup tie.

It would nice (from a neutral perspective) if N.I showed a little more attacking intent. Romania did against France and were somewhat unlucky in defeat. I think if N.I keep this up a Poland goal is inevitable.

 

[Nath]

Northern Ireland are worse than I anticipated.

Zero ambition shown. Germany will beat them easy, so I don't see why they aren't showing more attacking intent in this game. Also, Paddy McNair supposedly playing off the striker.

 

[JJ1532]

Way too easy, been coming since the kick off. Nice finish.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Now, do Norn Ireland have a plan B?

 

[TheArtfulDodger]

At last. On this showing Northern Ireland aren't going to bring much.

 

[Leewilson]

Northern Ireland playing for 4 points in this group. Draw somewhere and a victory against Ukraine would get them through. Think they could fall just short. I fancy them to get something somewhere.

 

[Blitzballer]

hahahahaha

 

[Nath]

Ukraine will beat NI too.

 

[smat]

Disappointing from NI really. Didn't really give it a go, and never looked particularly secure at the back.

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Northern Ireland were shocking, it was as said above like a cup tie between two sides on completely different levels. Poland are probably going to be no force and they've cruised through that game and should really have won by a few more. They'll need to show more ambition against Ukraine as realistically it's the 1 game they can get something in.

 

[Renegade]

Ukraine will beat NI too.

Here Nath, I thought you were from Londonderry?

Northern Ireland did well to limit it to one, they didn't disgrace themselves at all. If they had shown more ambition, they would have been hammered 4 or 5-0. Best tactic is definitely sit back and hope for a draw vs Poland and Germany whilst giving it a go vs Ukraine.

We'll win tomorrow, no worries.

 

[smat]

Here Nath, I thought you were from Londonderry?

Northern Ireland did well to limit it to one, they didn't disgrace themselves at all. If they had shown more ambition, they would have been hammered 4 or 5-0. Best tactic is definitely sit back and hope for a draw vs Poland and Germany whilst giving it a go vs Ukraine.

We'll win tomorrow, no worries.

Bit fatalistic considering NI won their qualifying group. They aren't San Marino.

 

[Renegade]

You saw the group they were in, right? Last night was pretty much the equivalent of a league one side going up against a Premier League side and if Steven Davis hadn't fluffed a great opportunity, it could have been a 1-1 draw. They aren't San Marino, San Marino get tonked by 5+ even though they set up like this every time. For a team of Northern Ireland's quality, it's the only reasonable tactic against such fire-power. Their strengths are their defence and their ability from set pieces, that's what they played to. From the professional ranks of the English and the Scottish leagues, Northern Ireland have a pool of about 35 players to select from.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Don't forget that the absence of Chris Brunt was pretty keenly felt as well. Without him Northern Ireland are pretty limited in creating chances. In that team, only Davis, Macauley, Evans and Cathcart are Premier League quality.

 

[smat]

You saw the group they were in, right? Last night was pretty much the equivalent of a league one side going up against a Premier League side and if Steven Davis hadn't fluffed a great opportunity, it could have been a 1-1 draw. They aren't San Marino, San Marino get tonked by 5+ even though they set up like this every time. For a team of Northern Ireland's quality, it's the only reasonable tactic against such fire-power. Their strengths are their defence and their ability from set pieces, that's what they played to. From the professional ranks of the English and the Scottish leagues, Northern Ireland have a pool of about 35 players to select from.

I saw their group, they finished above Romania, who pushed the hosts and (some people's) favourites right to the end the other day, causing them plenty of problems. I don't for a moment think NI's squad is awash with quality or anything, but they earned their right to be there and it'd be a shame if they went home with regrets about their approach. There's obviously a balance to be found between being too adventurous and protecting your defence - I just didn't think O'Neill found the right one yesterday.

 

[GodsGift]

Smat's right. 2 attempts at goal and 0 on target isn't good enough - and O'Neill and the players have said so themselves.

 

[Alty]

Agreed. There's conservative and then there's showing zero belief you can get a goal. I think the thing that annoyed me most was that we didn't even seem to try counter-attacking. So often Jonny Evans was bringing the ball out of defence at a sloth's pace before eventually picking a pass. Not like we were ever going to pass Poland to death, so seemed an odd approach. When did go long it was to Lafferty's head when he had no support. Futile.

3 points could well still be enough but we'll need a big improvement against Ukraine to win.

I'd genuinely consider playing a second string against Germany if I was O'Neill. Players probably wouldn't like it, but hey.

 

[Nath]

Here Nath, I thought you were from Londonderry?

Northern Ireland did well to limit it to one, they didn't disgrace themselves at all. If they had shown more ambition, they would have been hammered 4 or 5-0. Best tactic is definitely sit back and hope for a draw vs Poland and Germany whilst giving it a go vs Ukraine.

We'll win tomorrow, no worries.

Now, now.

I wanted Northern Ireland to do well. They obviously aren't blessed with quality, but they should have given it more of a go. There was a real lack of ambition.