Tricky enough start with two away games. 6th September 2008: Georgia v Republic of Ireland 10th September 2008: Montenegro v Republic of Ireland 15th October 2008: Republic of Ireland v Cyprus 11th February 2009: Republic of Ireland v Georgia 28th March 2009: Republic of Ireland v Bulgaria 1st April 2009: Italy v Republic of Ireland 6th June 2009: Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland 5th September 2009: Cyprus v Republic of Ireland 10th October 2009: Republic of Ireland v Italy 14th October 2009: Republic of Ireland v Montenegro http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2768
Finish with 2 home games is a nice finish even though one of them is Italy who might already be through at that stage. Its kinda hard to say what way you'd pick the fixtures I suppose to get off to a good start is Important
With a good start, we could have 13 from 15 points before the trip to Italy. Maybe draw one of the away games and win the the three home. Italy could be qualified before we play them at home. I am more optimistic now following that fixture list.
That will fade over time I take your point though, looking at the first five games we could get a fairly decent points tally up on the board - given the right manager and player attitude there is no reason to suggest why we couldn't attain 15 points from the first 5 games. Here I go again with my optimism
12/13 points before meeting Italy would be more than realistic, im hopeful now after seeing that. Montenegro are an unknown force though...