Euro 2008 Group D Mar 28

[aliando]

Republic of Ireland v Slovakia (19:30 BST)

2.08

3.55

4.10

101%

Wales v San Marino Calcio (20:00 BST)

1.07

15.50

51.00

102%

Czech Republic v Cyprus (16:25 BST)

1.13

9.20

21.00

105%

[Tulenos]

The Czechs are what you'd call banker material, but the odds are all but prohibitive. Cyprus is also a kinda bogey team which repeatedly held the Czechs to a draw in the past, but can't see it now. Not sure whether to touch AH -2.5, rather not for the time being.

[Tulenos]

Also think Ireland are available @ great odds. The Slovaks beat Cyprus, but failed to beat the Czech @ home and the Germans as well. The Irish must keep a 100 per cent home record if they are to get through and must be well motivated following the German victory on Czech soil now. The irish also almost beat the Czechs at home and were unlucky not to in the end.

[jackierubberleg]

I was left to eat my words and the layers were left to spend my money when Ireland somehow managed to beat Wales. Nothing I witnessed at Croke Park on Saturday has changed my mind about the inept administration of the national side from top to bottom.
On this occassion the players (unlike their Rugby Union counterparts) did not stand "ten feet tall" as predicted by the Irish manager (Father Dougal Maguire). It came down to the fact that Wales played like a proficient pub team, that gave Ireland the three points and forced the chef to put Staunton's last meal back in the warming drawer.
As regards to the post from MEMof82, I do not spend my well earned betting from the heart. I think you will find that I am in a gathering majority. Any supporter worth their salt should expect the utmost from the administration that runs their national team and that is definetly not coming from the FAI.(fook all interest, more appropiate).
Roy Keane was perfectly entitled to criticise that jumped up junta that continues to drag down Irish football. We need someone in his mold to be manager of Ireland.
More importantly, where the money is concerned, Slovakia @ 4.0 just has to be a big juicy steak waiting to be eaten and If that dosen't get your betting taste buds flowing then have the starter - Slovakia +1 @2.0, for this I am giving the chef a Mitchelin star and 10/10

[deeloughran]

Ireland will win this game!! They need to or their hopes of qualification have gone! The odds on betfair (around 2.20) are absolutely amazing!! Ireland will win here just as they did against Wales by a one goal margin especially with Keane being suspended but they have Doyle to come in and fill his shoes!! Ireland's home record is nothing short of fantastic and them odds for the Slovak's are justified given this record!

[QuantumParadox]

i watched several games last saturday, one of them was the ireland v wales, i wouldnt place even a penny on ireland, they are just playing defensively, wales were dominating the whole second half, imo this is under 2.5 goals -ireland under

[Robijas]

Republic of Ireland - Slovakia X - 3.55

This is value for me..I watched just highlights from their game against Walles and i saw a lot of empty space in their defence. Slovakia is god team and X2 or just X seems very nice for me here.

[gerrie26681]

Reading deeloughran's posting above a certain catchphrase involving a fool and his money spring to mind!!!

Ireland are kack, and the fact that Robbie Keane is suspended still leads him to believe that Ireland will win. With a manager that picks Jonathan Douglas ahead of Liam Miller and Stephen Hunt. With a manager that decides to leave Kevin Doyle on the bench. With a manager that plays Liverpools first choice right back at left back. And plays John O Shea, a left back at right back. My money is available on Betfair deeloughran and any other fools who want to back Ireland.

Ireland will not win this game. No way! Slovakia +1 is the safest bet I've seen in a long while.

[drawback05]

Lost my original post, ah well.
Here is a misguided post

Originally Posted by Tulenos

The Slovaks beat Cyprus, but failed to beat the Czech @ home and the Germans as well.

To fully complete the picture you must say that Ireland also failed to beat the Czechs @ home, Ireland actually LOST to Cyprus, and Slovakia went to Wales and then tonked them 5-1.
The reality is that Ireland are very poor and the 3/1 Slovakia looks massive. Ironically the one thing in Ireland's favour is that the match is being played at Croke Park - and not because of the atmosphere, because of the pitch. Its desperate, bobbly and won't suit the one team turning up on Wednesday who can play football.

On the Roy Keane comments this week - There he was, sort of making sense before he goes off on a "They won't pick certain players because they are from Cork" rant. I don't think Stan has an anti-Cork agenda, he has shag all really, but that ain't a string to his limited bow. Someday Roy will actually grow up, but I won't be holding my breath for that day !

[jackierubberleg]

Originally Posted by deeloughran

Ireland will win this game!! They need to or their hopes of qualification have gone! The odds on betfair (around 2.20) are absolutely amazing!! Ireland will win here just as they did against Wales by a one goal margin especially with Keane being suspended but they have Doyle to come in and fill his shoes!! Ireland's home record is nothing short of fantastic and them odds for the Slovak's are justified given this record!

For a minute I thought that you might have a few foolhardy supporters for your misguided judgement. gerrie spells this one out in cold reality and I couldn't agree with him more. If Ireland beat Slovakia, I will send you a pint voucher, until then I'll have a pint of what you're on!

[eirebhoy]

The Ireland team was named earlier:

-----------------Given--------------
Finnan---McShane---Dunne---O'Shea
-----------Carsley---Kilbane---------
McGeady--------Ireland---------Duff
-----------------Doyle--------------

I think people really are underrating Ireland here. We lost in Cyprus because Staunton did not play a central midfield, I knew we'd lose when I saw the team.

Ireland are a different team at home than they are away and always have been. We haven't beaten a really good team away from home in a competitive since 1987 (Scotland). We also rarely beat teams by many goals and usually raise our game when playing the better teams.

Even though he's our goalkeeper Shay Given is our most important player. The defence is solid. Finnan has been the best right back in the premiership this season. Dunne is heading for his 3rd Man City player of the year award in succession and is also one of the form defenders in the premiership. Man City actually have probably a top 5 premiership defence. McShane is a fantastic prospect. A really intelligient young player and he was class against the Czechs. O'Shea is the weak link but Man Utd have been successful with him in the team. Overall the defence only gave away one chance against Wales, a mistake by Dunne.

Carsley is a typical holding midfielder that most teams play. You get the best out of him when he plays the best teams and he was excellent against Arsenal before the internationals. Kilbane is technically a poor player but he has been successful as the supporting midfielder in central midfield marking the likes of Nedved and Vieira. He's good off the ball and won't give the opposition any peace.

Then you've got the creative players. S.Ireland will be full of confidence after his goals. He takes risks with his passes but when they come off they'll probably lead to a chance. McGeady was the best player in Scotland until he got injured against Cyprus in October. He played well against Milan and looks to be in a confident mood. He'll destroy the Slovakian full back if he's not great. I think Duff is a victim of past performances and people expect too much from him. He's recovering from 2 years of playing defensively under Mourinho and imo was the best player on the pitch on Saturday. I've no doubt he'll link up well with McGeady.

Finally with Doyle at least we have a striker that will get into goalscoring positions, unlike Keane. He has scored 10 premiership goals this season in 22 starts. He has played the lone striker role before and is good at holding the ball up aswell as a decent header for an average sized player.

We're missing Keane, Andy Reid and Steven Reid. 3 Important players. Slovakia are missing their captain and their best player. We've much better players than Slovakia, no doubt about it. We're at home. Staunton has picked a decent team. I'd be very suprised if Ireland lost and I expect us to win.

[snyena]

Possible starting eleven for Slovakia:

-------------Čontofalský--------------
Šinglár----Škrtel---Ľ. Michalík---Greško
----------------Borbély---------------
Žofčák----------Sapara--------Švento
-----------------Vittek---------------
----------------Jakubko--------------

Čontofalský - very prone to mistakes but can be good on his day
Šinglár - relatively new RB in the team, hasn't been too convincing so far - possibly a weak spot in the team
Škrtel - European if not world class (the likes of Liverpool are rumoured to be after him), scores quite often for a defender
Ľ. Michalík - replacement for the suspended Durica, tall fecker but might lack experience at this level... a recent Bolton acquisition, currently on loan to Leeds
Greško - sucks imho
Borbély - decent, honest and hard-working player imho
Žofčák - replacement for the suspended Krajčík, might be a blessing in disguise for Slovakia... created 6 goals in last 3 games for Slovakia whenever he came on
Sapara - playmaker, extremely gifted player but might lack match sharpness as the Norwegian league hasn't started yet
Švento - a very fast winger with decent dribbling, can get past players but tends to lack calmness in certain situations... very lightweight and might struggle against physical opposition
Vittek - another classy player in the team apart from Škrtel, plays "in the hole" and scores quite often
Jakubko - excellent in the air but that's about it, not sure why he is in the team


Alternatives:
J. Kozák in the creative midfielder role instead of Sapara - I pray that this will not happen as Kozak is slow, lazy and needs acres of space for his lethal passes (which is the only thing he is good at but it only works if he gets space which won't happen tomorrow)
M. Čech - Porto regular, I'd play him at LB instead of Greško who is pap

[deeloughran]

Originally Posted by jackierubberleg

If Ireland beat Slovakia, I will send you a pint voucher, until then I'll have a pint of what you're on!

Well i suppose i may be quite biased with my dad owning an Ireland club and going to every match in the last 20 odd years and most away matches BUT that means that i have also seen many matches! Ireland away from home = terrible! The exception being Germany where i thought they were fantastic (considering the strength of the Germans) but at home they just have something about them, maybe the fans help the players on but remember these are premiership players not some reject players, with most of them playing together for quite a few years, but i'm not stupid with my money (support United but wouldn't touch them the last few weeks with their injury crisis and unpredictability and 2nd strength cup teams they throw out) so i'm not stupid with my money, a safe bet would be laying Slovakia but i feel this will go Ireland's way and this is where i will be putting my money! Fancied Ireland/Sweden/England treble on Betfair for 3.85 earlier, went to football, came back and it dropped to around 3.25 for some reason

[SaberBlade83]

Ireland-Slovakia 2 - 3,75 @ NordicBet

I just don't think there is much between the two sides here. Both are decent teams, but it's a game that can go either way. Ireland's game against Wales was a pretty dull game imo, Slovakia has a chance here.

[drawback05]

Snyena,
nice to see the other side of the fence. Can you tell all us Irish fans how Slovakia feel they will do ?
How do you rate your team against say the Czechs ?

ta
db05

[eirebhoy]

Cheers for the info on Slovakia.

My opinion is Ireland have a better chance of winning than not winning so evens or higher is a very good price.

[Barrydoherty54]

Ireland will win!! They always play good in the big games and today won't be any different. I think it will be tight 1-0 or 2-0 to the Irish!

[thetwotwins]

Originally Posted by Barrydoherty54

Ireland will win!! They always play good in the big games and today won't be any different. I think it will be tight 1-0 or 2-0 to the Irish!

Great analysis BD ( ), although I am swayed a tad more by the arguments of Gerrie and Jackie as a/ the Slovakians come here on the back of beating a team comfortably who recently thrashed Ireland and b/ er, haven't Ireland lost some big games in the past?

Wales were worse than ordinary on Saturday yet only lost 1-0 (due to the worst international full back performance of recent times by Bale) and Slovakia will present a stronger defence than that. I agree that the value is in the DNB or +1 on Slovakia as suggested by Gerrie, mainly as I feel that Slovakia may have enough respect to play defensively at Croke Park.

BOL everyone.

[murko]

I'm on Slovakia as well. Great price and their game is suited for fast counter attacks . Svento together with Vittek are extremely dangerous and I saw their away game against Wales, where their were superiour to home team. It's true their lost to Czechs and Germans at home, but I think their confidence is growing and I hope they will prove it tonight. Ireland is missing their main strike force Robbie Keane, OShea is doubtfull Given also might be injured.
Good chance for Slovakia to grab all three points.

In the Czech game the only bet, that is standing out for me is Baros to score anytime, in the game against Germans he showed, at least in last 20 minutes form that would put him in Chelsea's squad instead of Lyon's bench. And I do expect him to score at least a couple today.

[G:G]

Event	Rep. of Ireland - Slovakia
Selection	Slovakia + 0.5 (Asian Handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	28/03/2007
Bookmaker/Price	Betdaq @ 1.78 (Back)
Reasoning	This is, of course, a very important match for both teams, and I'm very well aware of Ireland's qualities, but Slovakia have looked very solid in these qualifiers. Ireland did not impress much vs Wales, imo they were lucky to win that one, and I think Slovakia will be a tougher task for Ireland. Ireland atm lacks creativity, and I'm predicting they will have a hard time winning the battle on the midfield. I rate Ireland as small favourites to win, but 1.78 for Slovakia not to loose looks very overpriced.
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