I think the upcoming fixture against Finland is the sort of match our team should be playing during this phase of rebuilding under new management. I know that people say you learn most by pitting yourself against the best, but there are other aspects to consider, ie. Maintenance of morale of team and fans; Team espirit de corps; Team bonding; Confidence building; Financial constraints(famous teams charge more), etc. I would say the more sensible approach in sport is to build up relatively slowly, step by step. Finland seems about just right for us. Its VERY important that we get a few wins under our belt quickly! Teams like Finland give us a chance of this. In the immediate future, I would also suggest the following which I would split up into two categories: [A]TEAMS AROUND OUR LEVEL: Iceland, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, Switzerland, Cyprus, Morocco, Albania, Macedonia; [B]TEAMS SIMILAR TO OUR FUTURE W.C. GROUP OPPONENTS(Portugal, Russia, etc.): Croatia, Poland, Hungary,Demnark,Germany, Bugaria, Romania, Belarus, Serbia.
Your thoughts?
Northern Ireland fixture list
posted on 2/7/12
Been saying for ages we need to play Friendlies against teams we have a chance against. Its Unfair on MON to try and prepare and find his best XI unless we do.
From your list tho i wouldn't say Belgium., Norway or the swiss are at our Level - they are much above. The others yes we should be playing them to get confidence, and rankings up. But MON biggest problem will be getting everyone to turn up to play a friendly.
posted on 3/7/12
GAWA:
".....getting everyone to turn up to play a friendly" >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sad to think we would even be saying this. I remember the time players would almost kill to pull on the oul green shirt. Remember as a youngster going with my mates to see Ireland against England and thinking how wonderful our boys looked in their green kit and how foreign the English looked cos they were all tanned and our boys , with the exception of Jimmy Nicholson, were always so blanched white.