Hadn't really noticed how poor their qualification campaign had been until I watched the qualifying highlights show, and the Irish finished on six points from eight games. They lost all the fixtures except home/away against Gibraltar.
Even further back, they've played forty times since the last time we played them (we've played twenty-one and half) and just won eleven on them. Andorra (1-4), Azerbaijan (0-3), Qatar (4-0), Luxembourg (0-3), Lithuania (1-0), Scotland (3-0), Armenia (3-2), Malta (0-1), Latvia (3-2), Gibraltar (3-0, 0-4). Scotland, Luxembourg - and maybe Armenia/Azerbaijan given they beat Sweden 3-0 - are the only ones I would think would/should be favourites against us. They do actually have a positive goal difference despite winning just 27.5% of those matches (47 for and 41 against).
If you go by UEFA Nations' League ranking, then they have one win against the sixteen League A sides, none against the sixteen in League B, three from the next sixteen in League C and five from League D. Qatar obviously excluded from that, but we've seen from the World Cup, our half against them and the Gold Cup how good they are.
Stephen Kenny not exactly popular as head coach, maybe he can chat to Bazeley about how that feels.
If, as suggested in jest, their prep consists of chatting about Woodsy, we could throw a curve ball and start one of the other three strikers. Chris Wood's last non-penalty goal was the one he scored against the Solomon Islands, nine appearances and 536 minutes ago. Hard to argue he's performing to the level of a Premier League striker if he only scores penalties or against the OFC lads. Even crazier - nobody has scored an open play goal in the last 506 minutes he's played. Compared to four open play goals in the three-and-a-half games without him this year. If NAC Breda are better with Garbett than without, we are better without Wood than with.
Could all be coincidental, but he's definitely waning from his peak Hudson-days and seemingly ever more injured, so why not? He's not fully fit anyway, and the Smith-Bindon-Woud back shows that we aren't fixated on a best XI (and fair enough, nothing real riding on it) given none of them make it. Perhaps deviating from a Wood-based gameplan will benefit the other forward players.
Even further back, they've played forty times since the last time we played them (we've played twenty-one and half) and just won eleven on them. Andorra (1-4), Azerbaijan (0-3), Qatar (4-0), Luxembourg (0-3), Lithuania (1-0), Scotland (3-0), Armenia (3-2), Malta (0-1), Latvia (3-2), Gibraltar (3-0, 0-4). Scotland, Luxembourg - and maybe Armenia/Azerbaijan given they beat Sweden 3-0 - are the only ones I would think would/should be favourites against us. They do actually have a positive goal difference despite winning just 27.5% of those matches (47 for and 41 against).
If you go by UEFA Nations' League ranking, then they have one win against the sixteen League A sides, none against the sixteen in League B, three from the next sixteen in League C and five from League D. Qatar obviously excluded from that, but we've seen from the World Cup, our half against them and the Gold Cup how good they are.
Stephen Kenny not exactly popular as head coach, maybe he can chat to Bazeley about how that feels.
If, as suggested in jest, their prep consists of chatting about Woodsy, we could throw a curve ball and start one of the other three strikers. Chris Wood's last non-penalty goal was the one he scored against the Solomon Islands, nine appearances and 536 minutes ago. Hard to argue he's performing to the level of a Premier League striker if he only scores penalties or against the OFC lads. Even crazier - nobody has scored an open play goal in the last 506 minutes he's played. Compared to four open play goals in the three-and-a-half games without him this year. If NAC Breda are better with Garbett than without, we are better without Wood than with.
Could all be coincidental, but he's definitely waning from his peak Hudson-days and seemingly ever more injured, so why not? He's not fully fit anyway, and the Smith-Bindon-Woud back shows that we aren't fixated on a best XI (and fair enough, nothing real riding on it) given none of them make it. Perhaps deviating from a Wood-based gameplan will benefit the other forward players.