Season 15 Play-Offs Preview.

One nil to the arsenal vs. Eire Everton (The host with the most, 19/06/09 20:00)

Missing Men:

The Gunners will be without both Ashley Hughton (injury) and Virgílio Dantas (suspended). Dantas picked up his fourth yellow, and a slight knock, against Serenity in the last game of the season. While technically suspended, it is unlikely he would have played due to his twisted ankle. Ashley missed last season’s play-off against Cavan Celtic due to injury as well.

EE, meanwhile, have a full squad to choose from.

Form:

One nil are unbeaten in the last four league games, but have drawn three of those four.

The Toffees have only won one of the last five, and drew their last two league games of the season.

Likely Formations:

One nil prefer to play in a 3-5-2 (attacking) formation, though they have been known to occasionally take the field in a 4-5-1 (attacking) formation. With one of their regular DCs unavailable (Dantas), will The Gunners be forced to abandon their favourite formation?

Eire Everton’s most regular formation is the traditional 4-4-2. They have a tendency to favour wing play rather than threading passes through the middle.

Key Men:

The Dominican Republic’s international defender, Lorenzo Guréndez, will be a very busy man as the gunners face Division 2.1’s most prolific team. Between them, the Eire Everton team have scored 67 league goals this season, two a game more or less. It will be up to Lorenzo and his fellow defenders to keep the pressure off their goalie – if they can manage that then that will be more than half the battle.

Eire Everton’s top scorer is Joshua Colhoune, who has a 50% game-to-goal ratio this season. While the Toffees can score form any position, the young striker will be the focus of much of their attacks. Expect Lorenzo to be stuck to him for the whole 90 minutes.

Prediction:

The last two seasons have seen a 100% win record for the LOI teams in the play-offs. This season there should be a shock or two in store. Expect Eire Everton to win this one through offensive power – with the Gunners missing a first choice defender the Toffees should win 2-0.

Shout FC vs. Athlone Town (Shout Park, 19/06/09 20:00)

Missing Men:

Shout are missing just one first team player - Bryan Daniëls. Unfortunately Bryan is Shout’s top score – his ten goals this season account for 33% of all their league goals. With the recent sale of Rosle bin Mohamed Nor, Shout have no obvious replacement.

Both right sided Don Sloan and defender Scott Salmon are injured for Athlone Town.

Form:

Shout recently lost in the semi-final of the cup, but they are undefeated in six league games. Four of those games, though, were 0-0 draws.

Athlone have won three of the last five games, scoring 13 goals in those three games. In contrast they didn’t score in their last two – a goalless draw following their 3-0 defeat by Leixlip.

Likely Formations:

Shout will most likely be using a 4-4-1-1 formation, playing the ball down the wing - will full-back Joey Gorman be a make-shift front man again? This may not get them many goals, but they do have the third best defensive record in the league.

Against that expect a 3-4-3 from Athlone – this cavalier style has made them top goal scorers in 2.3 with 68 league goals this season, but alos one of the worst defensive stats in the top half of their table.

Key Men:

With Shout probably aiming for a 1-0 win, Paul Hurley will need to be putting in a man-of-the-match performance. If he’s on fire, the rest of the team will be hoping Rimmer can orchestrate something at the other end. With a possible (likely?) 0-0 score line, Hurley may be the hero if it goes to penalties.

Against the solid Shout defence, Jeff Plunkett will have to be at this best. But with 13 goals and 10 assists this season his best is deadly.

Prediction:

If Shout’s defence holds out they’ll either sneak a 1-0 win, or take it to penalties. However Athlone, who had play-off heartache against Celtic Bhoys last season, have a formidable attack that can breach the walls of that defence. If Shout go behind, it’s all over for them. I’d predict a 2-0 win for Athlone, unless Hurley plays out of his skin.

Irish Wolfhounds :) vs. Team_Zissou (New Vllaznia Stadium, 19/06/09 20:00)

Missing Men:

For the second season running, the Smiley faced Hounds have a full squad to choose from for the play-off game.

Team_Zissou, meanwhile, are missing defender Agustín Solís through injury.

Form:

Wolfhounds have won three of their last six games, but are currently on a three without a win. They are traditionally, though, “up for it” in the big games.

Team_Zissou are currently four games without a win, including three losses in there.  Their recent drop in form was not enough for them to miss out on the play-off spot.

Likely Formations:

The last time Wolfhounds’ played anything but a 4-4-1-1 (in the league) was when they used a 4-5-1 (defensive) against Na Fianna. The likely-hood of them using a 4-4-1-1 is probably, though, inversely proportional to how likely I say they are to using it...

Team_Zissou are another team that favours a 4-4-1-1 formation, and that is what they are most likely to use.

Key Men:

Shay Duffy. Top scorer in the LOI, with 19 goals. Those 19, though, are more than half of the Wolfhound’s total this season. An impressive 58% goals to games ratio, he will need to score if the Wolfhounds wish to stay in the LOI.

Mrikank “Duncan” Simha can do one better, though, with 20 goals this season; which was only good enough for 3^rd place in the 2.2 scoring charts. Add to that to ten assists, and you have half of Team_Zissou’s 59 league goals accounted for. Expect him to have a hand in any Zissou attack.

Prediction:

This is a tough one to call. The chances of both using a 4-4-1-1 are high, though see above... With neither side deploying an anchor, the opposing OMCs should have more space to use, and therefore should create quite a few chances each – and they have the forwards to take those chances. I’d say a 3-2 victory for the Wolfhounds.