Ireland v Russia Friday 8th October 7:30 RTE 2
It could be a dark day at the Aviva when Kevin “the slowboat” Kilbane meets the quickest pair of legs the other side off the Volga. Vladimir Bystrov will tear him apart and the hope is that Dunne and St Ledger cover the house well and without Pavlyuchenko, Russia could struggle to find the net. It has been fired at Andrei Arshavin that he never plays well for Russia anymore since his move to the Emirates; we better collectively hope that is the case.
Ireland V Russia will dictate whether we can reach our first European Championship in 24 years. Dick Advocaat’s men lost at home to Slovakia and now they know a win is a must to get their campaign back on track. Trappatoni’s insistence on picking the same players and sticking with rigid team could backfire spectacularly. Advocaat is a methodical planner, who studies teams in great detail and will see Ireland’s gameplan is about as easy to read as a ladybird book. Lets get real here, putting the likes of Whelan and Green ahead of Gibson and McCarthy (Not even in the bloody squad!) leaves us completely at the mercy of Plan A only. If we concede early, who is going to get us back into the game? James McCarthy is the only Irishman playing regularly in the premier league and can’t even get into the squad. Whether he is being punished for not showing up for their May training camp, Trappatoni needs to get real and start picking players that can actually play football.
Given is now the number two at City and his only match against West Brom in the Carling Cup, he conceded two soft goals and looked rustier than a bag of nails. He has saved Ireland countless times over the years but with his match fitness gone, I can see Russia taking that elusive chance they’ll work from the right hand side down Kilbane’s flank.
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