Reply With QuoteDidn't go to that one. If they come and park the bus this time it could be a long night. I think these qualifiers could be tricky now Wales is on the map.Originally Posted by Badly Ironed Shirt
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I still have nightmares of that 3-2 defeat in Chisnau. Did anyone on here travel out there?
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/f...e-road-8098074
This is a good read.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjYH6Vqeork
This is not a good watch, even twenty-two years on.
I think it was their first home competitive match following independence.
Didn't go to that one. If they come and park the bus this time it could be a long night. I think these qualifiers could be tricky now Wales is on the map.
They'll have to cope with new expectation levels as well now, and any blip will be seen as a big one.
Even if we make it everybody I know says they're not going to Russia. Which puts a bit of a dampener on it from the outset.
I don't know if any special dispensation will be granted but, at the moment, it's necessary to attend the Russian visa centre in London and provide electronic fingerprints in order to get a visa to enter the country.
Any win will do for this one. Doesn't need to be pretty
Really? We have not become an outstanding team despite a wonderful tournament and we've seen (and been) the smaller team produce a good result with the right ingredients. We'll still need to do the hard yards on and off the pitch, fans and staff.
I think there will be an element of expectation this time around. That's the nature of the game. It is a tricky group, however, and I think Wales would do well to come out of it. I agree Wales are not an outstanding team - but I'm not sure the national media will be that kind if Wales are stuttering. That's the point I am trying to make.
I think Wales have a good chance of of making it andstill I'd like to go to St. Petersburg but I have no intention of going to anywhere else in Russia
I can see this being like the Israel and Andorra home games where we struggled to breakdown limited opposition. Frankly a 1/0 win will do.
Onto next Monday, I think Coleman has some tough decisions to make.
Collins has played a part in 5 of West Ham's games since 15th August, even cropping up with a goal v Chelsea.
Meanwhile first choice on the left of the 3 defenders, Ben Davies, has not played a minute of the new season for Spurs. Neil Taylor has only managed a cup game v Peterborough and I believe he has played a game or two with the reserves.
Does he stick with Davies and Taylor as he has done predominantly for our last 15 or so matches, or does he drop one of them and put Collins in there? I think I would go with Collins in the centre with Davies on the left.
And then the other task is filling Aaron Ramsey's role and HRK's place. I think the latter will fall to Sam Vokes without any questioning over that one. Ramsey's place on the other hand could go to a good few players -
Andy King is the obvious choice but I think Dave Edwards has a good shout too. Emyr Huws could also feature there, Tom Lawrence and G Williams have an outside chance of starting, or at least getting some minutes in that role as well.
I think I'd start with Andy King. Emyr Huws hasn't started for Cardiff yet (has he?).
This.
And no, Huws hasn't started a game for City yet. I'm unclear whether this is to break him in gently, or he was signed by Tan and Trollope doesnt know what to do with him yet.
As someone lose alluded to, I have no intention of going to Russia, which kind of takes the edge off for me, but looking forward to the campaign anyway.
Not the best preparation for these qualifiers with injuries and players not playing for their clubs.
As already said a win is all that matters doesn't matter how it comes.
If they are going to defend deep I'd play Vokes up top and get some crosses into him and runners into the box.
I don't think we have the craft to play through teams and if it means going more direct so be it.
Moldova not up to much, i'd take a 1-0 win and a shit performance though. We need to get the result and hope for a better run up to our greater battles down the line as a lot of our players have had a turbulent summer and start to the season. All our opponents will be beating Moldova at home, it's a good game to start the campaign.
I'm glad there is only the one match in this round of fixtures.
In Moldova's last 40 games they have won 7 times - 2 against Andorra, 2 against San Marino and the others again Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan and Montenegro respectively. Interestingly though, 5 of those wins have come away from home.
How many draws?
7 wins, 10 draws, 23 losses.
Draws against: Ukraine, Poland, Andorra, Lithuania, Canada, Russia (A), Kazakhstan, Luxembourg (A), Liechtenstein (A) and Malta.
In bold are the competitive fixtures. They haven't drawn with a decent side for 2 years so they're due one soon, just hope it's in the October matches instead!
A look at this site
http://int.soccerway.com/teams/moldova/moldova/1506/
shows that no one has scored more than two in a match against Moldova since England beat them at Wembley three years ago and they have the sort of defensive record which could see them go to one of the fancied sides in our group and nick a draw. We have to ensure that it isn't us that this happens to, but injuries to two of our most creative players and Robson-Kanu's lack of game time make this an awkward game for us - as has been mentioned above, I'd gladly take a 1-0 win with the goal preferably coming from someone who is actually playing for the home team!
My team would be;-
Hennessey (could end up with it being Ward though)
Chester
Williams
Davies
Gunter
Taylor
King
Allen
Ledley
Bale
Vokes
and I'd take a punt on Tom Lawrence
Last edited by the other bob wilson; 30-08-16 at 09:21.
This does have banana skin written all over it. Lets hope we get an early goal.
I think we're in a no- lose situation.
Despite the heroics in France i think most people aren't dull enough to expect us to breeze through the group. Fact is we massively over performed at the euros and its still going to be tough to qualify for major tournaments due to our lack of strength in depth.
As a result I don't think there's going to be huge pressure on us during this campaign. Sure there'll be more attention by the media that are hoping to jump on the bandwagon once more but they'll still be more interested in the egg once the six nations rolls back around.
If we qualify then great. If we miss out then at least fans don't have to go to Russia - I'm no expert but I don't think it'll have the same type of atmosphere that France had.
Slightly different team for me:
Hennessey
Chester....Williams....Collins
Gunter..........Allen.......Ledley..........Davies
Williams.........Vokes............Bale
I think Collins to miss out on this would be a crime because Taylor and Davies haven't played a minute of league football yet. And he's on for his 50th cap if he plays.
I think George Williams could give us that bit of pace and trickery we need to split the defence and get the ball into Vokes/Bale. Coleman will go for King though I'd imagine, but he hasn't really done it in a Wales shirt for quite a while.
I think King will come in for Ramsey. Can't see George Williams starting. Fully agree about Collins. I would have him alongside Williams and Chester. A bit worried Ben Davies hasn't played this season but I would play him ahead of Taylor.
HRK doesn't deserve a start. He should have sorted his career out by now so Vokes has to start.
Yeah I think King coming in is pretty inevitable, but he really needs to put in a performance.
On the other hand, if I were Collins and didn't start this game after a good start to the season, ahead of two lads who haven't kicked a ball I'd be absolutely fuming to say the least. I bet he'll be wondering what his use is for Wales, but I suppose the togetherness in the camp is so good they're all glad to be a part of it.
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