UEFA Nations League: Group B1

[Donathan]

Incredibly important group gets underway on Saturday. The group winner will receive each of the following three rewards:

 

- Guaranteed a playoff for Euro 2024

- Seeded in pot 2 for the Euro qualifiers, so would be in a good position to qualify automatically

- Promotion to league A, putting them in a good position for the 2026 WC qualifying.

 

 The bottom team will be relegated to league C, and risk dropping into pot 4 for the Euro qualifiers.

 

The teams are:

 

Ukraine

Scotland

Republic of Ireland

Armenia

 

 

Fixtures:

 

Saturday 4th June:

Armenia v Ireland (Yerevan)

 

Wednesday 8th June:

Scotland v Armenia (Glasgow)

Ireland v Ukraine (Dublin)

 

Saturday 11th June:

Ukraine v Armenia (Łódź, Poland)

Ireland v Scotland (Dublin)

 

Tuesday 14th June:

Armenia v Scotland (Yerevan)

Ukraine v Ireland (Łódź, Poland)

 

Wednesday 21st September:

Scotland v Ukraine (Glasgow)

 

Saturday 24th September:

Scotland v Ireland (Glasgow)

Armenia v Ukraine (Yerevan)

 

Tuesday 27th September:

Ukraine v Scotland (tbd; likely Łódź) 

Ireland v Armenia (Dublin)

 

 

 

 

This is an important one for us to try and win. As well as the three important rewards outlined above, I think just being in league A and having that opportunity to be regularly mixing with top 16 sides is the best way for our young but very talented group to grow as a team. Armenia and Ireland look poor on paper and Ukraine have a lot on their mind so you’d fancy us, but important not to be complacent. 

[denltfc]

Looking forward to this group from an Irish perspective. Hopefully 3 points to start in Armenia on Saturday but with Ireland you never know these days.  I am going to the Ukraine and Scotland games so hopefully the WCQ qualifying takes an emotional and physical toll on both teams, if one them qualifies even better hopefully they enjoy a long session on the beer. 

We wont be afraid of Scotland or Ukraine at home and most likely both games will be a draw. The last game in Lodz v Ukraine I can see it being an Ukraine win in a stadium crammed full of Ukrainians who have fled to Poland.  5pts from 4 games will be an ok return for Ireland. 

It looks an even enough group and hopefully Armenia are there to make up the numbers and return to League C. 

 

                       Bazunu 

              Egan Duffy Collins (Burnley)

Coleman Hendrick Cullen Manning

            Ogbene  Robinson  Obafemi    

 

Is the Irish team you may see against Scotland

 

We will happily swap a keeper for a midfielder lol Baz is Man City on loan at Portsmouth, Travers is Bournemouth No1 and Kelleher is Liverpool No 2 !!

                          

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by denltfc

[The Master]

A reminder that Premier Sports take over the live TV rights from Sky, with a commitment to show some games on FreeSports. But the BBC will continue to show highlights of all games. 

If anyone does want to subscribe to Premier, they’re doing £99 for 12 months at the moment.

Edited June 1, 2022 by The Master

[Donathan]

15 minutes ago, The Master said:

A reminder that Premier Sports take over the live TV rights from Sky, with a commitment to show some games on FreeSports. But the BBC will continue to show highlights of all games. 

If anyone does want to subscribe to Premier, they’re doing £99 for 12 months at the moment.

Have they said who will be commentating on the Scotland games? I’ll miss Super Ally on the mic 

[grazza]

I have seen Ally on premier previously though just as a pundit I think. They have previously used same production team and pundits as BT Sport though probably won't have likes of Sutton or Craigan if a Scotland game. Probably Michael Stewart and since no other game at Wembley Ally as well.,  

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

It's a fairly open group.  Previously to February, Ukraine would likely have been favourites.  I suspect Scotland now probably edge that, if purely down to the uncertainty around the Ukraine squad and how well placed its players are for a UNL triple header in June, and again September.

It's difficult to gauge the strength of Ireland.  On one hand they lost to Luxembourg in March 2021, but then have lost once in 12 since then.  Then again, those games have all been against weak opposition with the exception of a second-string Belgium side and somewhat fortuitous draws against Serbia and Portugal.

They are going through a transitional phase, and likely on the climb back up.  Their team is experienced in defence, but has become almost entirely an English Championship side.  Somehow, they only now have three Premier League starters, with one being relegated with Burnley for next season.

I would fancy them for three points in Armenia, and put up a good account for themselves at home against both Ukraine and Scotland.  It's not incomprehensible that in a group like this, and with Scotland and Ukraine distracted, that they could make a decent shot at winning it.

My prediction would be Armenia 4th, and a relatively tight spread of points between the other three.  If going to form and strength, then ROI to finish 3rd.

[G51]

Kenny has started to turn Ireland around. Bazunu has been incredible for them. They're pretty solid at the back.

They just still haven't figured out the attacking side of things yet. I'd be surprised if we didn't win both games.

[forameus]

After that debacle you'd have to imagine that Ukraine are favourites to at least get ahead of us, and you'd imagine to win the group. Could well be that they lifted themselves higher for tonight given the importance, but we need to make sure this doesn't send us into a tailspin. Just because they've been tacked onto the end of a disappointment doesn't make the Nations League unimportant. For countries like us, they couldn't be any more important.

[Donathan]

7 hours ago, forameus said:

After that debacle you'd have to imagine that Ukraine are favourites to at least get ahead of us, and you'd imagine to win the group. Could well be that they lifted themselves higher for tonight given the importance, but we need to make sure this doesn't send us into a tailspin. Just because they've been tacked onto the end of a disappointment doesn't make the Nations League unimportant. For countries like us, they couldn't be any more important.

Think back to 2020 when a hungover Scotland team bottled a great chance to win their nations league group. Let’s hope the opposite happens this time and the disappointed Scots bounce back strongly. 

[éireabú]

23 hours ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

It's a fairly open group.  Previously to February, Ukraine would likely have been favourites.  I suspect Scotland now probably edge that, if purely down to the uncertainty around the Ukraine squad and how well placed its players are for a UNL triple header in June, and again September.

It's difficult to gauge the strength of Ireland.  On one hand they lost to Luxembourg in March 2021, but then have lost once in 12 since then.  Then again, those games have all been against weak opposition with the exception of a second-string Belgium side and somewhat fortuitous draws against Serbia and Portugal.

They are going through a transitional phase, and likely on the climb back up.  Their team is experienced in defence, but has become almost entirely an English Championship side.  Somehow, they only now have three Premier League starters, with one being relegated with Burnley for next season.

I would fancy them for three points in Armenia, and put up a good account for themselves at home against both Ukraine and Scotland.  It's not incomprehensible that in a group like this, and with Scotland and Ukraine distracted, that they could make a decent shot at winning it.

My prediction would be Armenia 4th, and a relatively tight spread of points between the other three.  If going to form and strength, then ROI to finish 3rd.

Broadly accurate on us there. We're not too concerned with having less PL starters because our players in the PL were always the functional lads rather than the skill players since around the time Robbie Keane retired, and when your team is entirely made up of those you find it hard to do much of anything. 

The Luxembourg game was a real low point but the team has turned it around since then - and i would say our draw against Portugal was actually fairly unfortunate as we weren't threatened by them and had a goal ruled out very harshly (or to be frank, wrongly) at the death.

We're probably still 3-4 years away from this group's full potential - lads like Nathan Collins and Michael Obafemi are really starting to hit form in the English leagues, Bazunu looks like he'll be an absolute star, Knight should be a PL regular next year and they're all a long way before their peak. It's a young, exciting squad with their best years largely ahead of them and more good prospects in the underage groups, but it's probably fair to say we're not fully 'there' yet. We are very well coached and a very positive side at this point, Scotland and Ukraine are better than us on paper unquestionably, but there's a lot of optimism going into this set of games, we have a technically accomplished starting 11 with crisp passing and a lot of speed and the team has really got the fans on board again. We wouldn't expect to win the group, but we certainly wouldn't see it as unachievable.

[Lex]

Having watched that game last night, does anyone still think we have a realistic chance of winning this group?

[The Master]

8 minutes ago, Lex said:

Having watched that game last night, does anyone still think we have a realistic chance of winning a game in this group?

FTFY. 

[Donathan]

41 minutes ago, Lex said:

Having watched that game last night, does anyone still think we have a realistic chance of winning this group?

Yes.

 

Armenia and Ireland are no great shakes and I still think we could take something from Ukraine on a different day. They were well worth their three points last night but who’s to say they play that well next time?

 

 

I do make them favourites now though. 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

7 hours ago, Lex said:

Having watched that game last night, does anyone still think we have a realistic chance of winning this group?

Yes. One poor game doesn’t mean you start again.

Clarke over-thought it, and got it wrong against a very good side. We’ll respect them far more in the next two.

Ireland could easily take 2+ points from the two matches against Ukraine.

We have a decent rest and a settled camp. More than possible.

[Lex]

Yes. One poor game doesn’t mean you start again.
Clarke over-thought it, and got it wrong against a very good side. We’ll respect them far more in the next two.
Ireland could easily take 2+ points from the two matches against Ukraine.
We have a decent rest and a settled camp. More than possible.

Fair enough, you’re more optimistic than me. Personally, I’d be astounded if we finish above Ukraine.
We will see how it goes.

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

3 minutes ago, Lex said:

 

Fair enough, you’re more optimistic than me. Personally, I’d be astounded if we finish above Ukraine.
We will see how it goes.

 

It would be a turn up, but things are still in our favour including that Ukraine will be goosed after these two matches, and could easily drop points in the UNL in June.

I’m hanging onto the belief that we can’t be that bad twice, and our next three games are against sides poorer than Austria, and probably similar to Israel.

[Gordopolis]

There is a rough analogy with the Czech Republic last year. We beat them in the Nation's League and felt quite confident that they would be our best chance of a win at the Euros... And of course they handed us a standard 2-0 defeat.

Doesn't mean that pattern will be repeated with Ukraine, but it's not impossible. You'd hope to f*ck SSC will try a different tack against them next time at least.

[Donathan]

1 minute ago, Gordopolis said:

There is a rough analogy with the Czech Republic last year. We beat them in the Nation's League and felt quite confident that they would be our best chance of a win at the Euros... And of course they handed us a standard 2-0 defeat.

Doesn't mean that pattern will be repeated with Ukraine, but it's not impossible. You'd hope to f*ck SSC will try a different tack against them next time at least.

Wasn’t the Czech team that we defeated a 3rd choice XI due to a mass Covid outbreak? 

[Gordopolis]

Wasn’t the Czech team that we defeated a 3rd choice XI due to a mass Covid outbreak? 

It was, but we beat their full strength team in the home fixture too

[Sonam]

Armenia beating Rep. of Ireland 1-0 certainly made for an interesting start to the group. While I can see Scotland easily winning at home against Armenia, won't be easy for the away match in that heat.

Ireland away is surely a must win, puts a bit of added pressure on that match particularly.