Stephen Kenny

[Trequartista20]

Injuries have taken their toll on Brady. His legs have gone and this has been evident for some time. He doesn't have the pace or athleticism to play a wingback role at that level any more.

[Insidetherock]

I genuinely thought Brady was rubbish last night.. he has no pace, and maybe I missed his brilliant crosses or something but nothing he did stood out for me, bar him grabbing the ball for the penalty

Some might call that being brave, but when I seen it, it just smacked once again of him being "my ball Brady"

He wants to take every free, every corner, every throw..

He slows down play, takes too many touches and just frustrates the life out of me.. gimme the raw honesty of Mc Clean over him any day

[paul_oshea]

He setup the first goal with a perfect corner. Then he scored a penalty to win the game. When you look at all that went on he can't have been the most rubbish or near it

[DCWA]

He setup the first goal with a perfect corner. Then he scored a penalty to win the game. When you look at all that went on he can't have been the most rubbish or near it

I also thought he was very poor to be honest, first half he was awful.

Decent set piece delivery is the absolute minimum you expect from and him and fair enough he handled the penalty well and converted coolly. However in general play he can, and in my opinion, was, one of our poorest players.

[ontheotherhand]

Actually think he had one of his better games. But I don't rate him at all so I'm not saying he was good.

He was tidy enough in possession and offered more than Doherty. Playing him at LWB also removes him from the middle of the park where he just swans around waiting for free kicks and corners. I'd still prefer McLean but we are so short of options there. Enda has fallen off a cliff and there's nobody close to breaking through. Andy Lyons was one of the few good performers for the 21st against Israel but I'd be surprised if he could make the step up tbh.

[Bielsa´s irish]

thank you for your work Mr. Kenny but this must be the end of the road, after 3 years and 26 matches he showed he cant make the best from this crop of players, ditto this I think, I deeply think, he should do the honorable thing, and resign, so the FAI can get someone for the next level, thank you very much, but he is just not up for the challenge, he tried but he wasnt good enough. some things will be good from his aproach but some other are very regrettable,

best wishes

[samhaydenjr]

In terms of our problems in midfield, clearly the first order of business is to cap Will Smallbone in the Autumn friendlies. Conor Coventry is probably next in line, but unless he gets some game time between now and then, I would probably leave him out. Here's a thought, given that some people are suggesting moving Nathan Collins forward - how about Darragh Lenihan? He looked comfortable on the ball alongside Collins against Ukraine and played the first few years of his career as a midfielder. Beyond that, it seems a matter of monitoring the progress of Coventry, Luca Connell, Conor No? and Dawson Devoy, maybe see if Connor Ronan can soon start playing a level above where he has been doing to date.

Another thought - We had Callum O'Dowda on the bench last night - given our utter lack of penetration around the penalty area, would he have been more suitable on the left? I know Brady ended up winning the game at the end, but aren't his crosses from deep pointless if they're aimed at Michael Obafemi? When playing against opposition who park the bus, would we have more success from a winger who takes on defenders, gets to the byline and gets the ball into the "corridor of uncertainty" for defenders?

[lofty9]

It had all the elements of Kerr v Israel, poor subs and it cost. Kenny got lucky though. He needs to bring in at least 2 u21s for Norway and get rid of at least CH and those who are incapable of playing at the tempo he requires.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Lads, what is all this nonsense about building for euro 2024? This is not what Kenny was hired for. He came up with that after losing to Luxembourg. The FAI certainly didn't hire him on that basis, just look at the contracts he was given.

We came very close to qualifying for the euros in 2020, coming just behind 2 very good teams in Switzerland and Denmark. Kenny's job was to build on this using the same squad while adding some of the most exciting youngsters we've had in a long time. He has failed miserably in this task.

He has taken us from a team that consistently competed at the business end of qualification tables to a team that consistently competes at the bottom. He has to go. He has had more than enough time. 10 more games than Staunton had, nearly as many as Kerr. All he is doing is bringing a new generation of players into a losing culture that will be hard to fix. Let's get a competent manager on board for the Euros.

[seanfhear]

Lads, what is all this nonsense about building for euro 2024? This is not what Kenny was hired for. He came up with that after losing to Luxembourg. The FAI certainly didn't hire him on that basis, just look at the contracts he was given.

We came very close to qualifying for the euros in 2020, coming just behind 2 very good teams in Switzerland and Denmark. Kenny's job was to build on this using the same squad while adding some of the most exciting youngsters we've had in a long time. He has failed miserably in this task.

He has taken us from a team that consistently competed at the business end of qualification tables to a team that consistently competes at the bottom. He has to go. He has had more than enough time. 10 more games than Staunton had, nearly as many as Kerr. All he is doing is bringing a new generation of players into a losing culture that will be hard to fix. Let's get a competent manager on board for the Euros.
Who could we get with the amount of money the FAI have to offer ?

[Diggs246]

Who could we get with the amount of money the FAI have to offer ?

I think its worth noting that countries like Sweden rarely pay their senior team manager more then 200k
They are then in receipt of a bonus on qualification

[Diggs246]

Sorry the Swedish guy is on 500k my mistake
But still less then Stephen

[paul_oshea]

I also thought he was very poor to be honest, first half he was awful.

Decent set piece delivery is the absolute minimum you expect from and him and fair enough he handled the penalty well and converted coolly. However in general play he can, and in my opinion, was, one of our poorest players.

Ya but we have a lot of players like that, back when a player needed a 2 point skillset we now have players with a 5 point skillset, sadly most of our players have about 1-2 and don't always deliver on those per game either. I thought he was ok, I think people expect more because of robbie 2016

[ifk101]

This is what I'm talking about, he knows the limitations of Hourihane his complete lack of ability to play that role, or at least he should, so we had to make a defensive minded change considering we were taking off a defensive midfielder. We were 2-0 up at home against the 92nd ranked team and a blind man and his monkey know we need to find alternatives, Collins was playing much further forward than he should have been anyway, we'd have kept a defensive minded midfielder in the holding role and we need to try out alternatives for that position that was a very appropriate time to try it out.

There might be other better alternatives but Collins can't have done any worse than hourihane and I dont think anyone would have had issues with that trying, in fact I'd say many of us would be discussing the out of left field change from Kenny in trying it out.

We were 1-0 up when Hourihane came on. We were coasting, in full control, but playing in the knowledge we could not lose and Armenia needed to win. Not the time to start experimenting and a blind man and his monkey would tell you that.

[osarusan]

Who could we get with the amount of money the FAI have to offer ?

For the €540,000 Kenny gets, perhaps we could tempt Hughton away from role as technical advisor to the Ghana national team.

[seanfhear]

For the €540,000 Kenny gets, perhaps we could tempt Hughton away from role as technical advisor to the Ghana national team.
Michael O’Neill, Maybe ~ ~ Did very well with Northern Ireland after a shaky start.

[pineapple stu]

Jaysus seanfhear - we're only over the Troubles and you want to start them all over again?! :p

[Jd2793]

For the €540,000 Kenny gets, perhaps we could tempt Hughton away from role as technical advisor to the Ghana national team.

hughton is finished as a manager

[osarusan]

hughton is finished as a manager

He'd be a massive improvement on Kenny.

[ifk101]

He'd be a massive improvement on Kenny.

Motivate that.

[CraftyToePoke]

For the €540,000 Kenny gets, perhaps we could tempt Hughton away from role as technical advisor to the Ghana national team.

What is Paul Cook at these days ?

[jbyrne]

I genuinely thought Brady was rubbish last night.. he has no pace, and maybe I missed his brilliant crosses or something but nothing he did stood out for me, bar him grabbing the ball for the penalty

Some might call that being brave, but when I seen it, it just smacked once again of him being "my ball Brady"

He wants to take every free, every corner, every throw..

He slows down play, takes too many touches and just frustrates the life out of me.. gimme the raw honesty of Mc Clean over him any day

bradys opta stats from tuesday...

Brady?s stat line (per Opta) from Tuesday night: seven accurate crosses, six chances created, three accurate long balls, one assist and, of course, the winning goal from the penalty spot.

[seanfhear]

Jaysus seanfhear - we're only over the Troubles and you want to start them all over again?! :p
Better persuade Michael O’Nell now before the North come calling for him again soon.

[weldoninhio]

For the ?540,000 Kenny gets, perhaps we could tempt Hughton away from role as technical advisor to the Ghana national team.

There?s a few about. Hughton, Dyche, Carsley, maybe Anthony Barry would want the chance to manage, he created a huge upturn in the team when he was brought in.

[tetsujin1979]

bradys opta stats from tuesday...

Brady?s stat line (per Opta) from Tuesday night: seven accurate crosses, six chances created, three accurate long balls, one assist and, of course, the winning goal from the penalty spot.
Posted the stats on Twitter after the game on Tuesday night
1574861536169959429

[jbyrne]

There?s a few about. Hughton, Dyche, Carsley, maybe Anthony Barry would want the chance to manage, he created a huge upturn in the team when he was brought in.

just another list of potential managers to blame when peoples, often unrealistic, expectations are not met.
when was the last manager to get things right for us? it must be Jack in reality

[paul_oshea]

Why is that only acceptable now though? Because its Stephen Kenny? Why are those desperate like an addict to his last fix, using this argument as a reason to defend kenny but were yet happy to use it as an argument against other managers for not getting the best out of what is/was available?

Kenny, like the last few managers gone before him suffers from player malaise - an inconsistent calibre of player and a player who is inconsistent. But it's never been an excuse before.

Knight is a great example, he was poor against Scotland and average against Armenia, was always on the periphery but against luxembourg he was good ( i havent see anything to merit the excitement others feel about it). And so many managers to come before had their own incarnations of this.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

just another list of potential managers to blame when peoples, often unrealistic, expectations are not met.
when was the last manager to get things right for us? it must be Jack in reality

People won't admit it but Kenny's reign has painted McCarthy's second term in a new light. Played 10, won 5, drew 4 and lost 1 in a difficult group is not bad at all. There were some poor performances though. The O'Neill reign was going very well up to a certain point. Getting to and playing well at Euro 16 is often overlooked along with some great performances and results. Same with Trappatoni, we had some good times but also some very low points. Staunton and Kerr disappointed overall, McCarthy in his first spell certainly got a lot of praise until the end.

All the managers post Jack have at least made us competitive, that's apart from Staunton and Kenny. I don't think it's unrealistic to expect us to compete for qualification. Staunton obviously had to go, same with Kenny now. As for finding a replacement. Brendan Rodgers might be available soon. Might be tricky budget wise but he's a proud Irishman. Losing Anthony Barry was as predicted a huge loss, he could be tempted back with the top job offer. We may need to look outside the box in a search, Celtic for example seem to have found someone decent without looking within familiar circles. One thing's for sure, finding a quality replacement is vital to repair the damage caused by Kenny.

[osarusan]

just another list of potential managers to blame when peoples, often unrealistic, expectations are not met.


There's nothing unrealistic about expecting to routinely beat teams like Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, and Qatar.

[jbyrne]

McCarthy in his first spell certainly got a lot of praise until the end.


not really true to be honest. it wasn't until we looked set to qualify for wc 02 did he get the media off his back.
the 02 qualification campaign was marked in criticism of many performances including cyprus and andorra away. even the 2-2 holland away drew criticisms.
and despite a very good wc finals showing it didn't take long for the knives to come out when the euro 04 campaign didn't start well

[Diggs246]

not really true to be honest. it wasn't until we looked set to qualify for wc 02 did he get the media off his back.
the 02 qualification campaign was marked in criticism of many performances including cyprus and andorra away. even the 2-2 holland away drew criticisms.
and despite a very good wc finals showing it didn't take long for the knives to come out when the euro 04 campaign didn't start well

Who criticised that campaign at any stage?
We knock Holland out!! And held a world class portugal to to score draws.

He did have way better players but that was still an utterly amazing achievement

[tetsujin1979]

not really true to be honest. it wasn't until we looked set to qualify for wc 02 did he get the media off his back.
the 02 qualification campaign was marked in criticism of many performances including cyprus and andorra away. even the 2-2 holland away drew criticisms.
and despite a very good wc finals showing it didn't take long for the knives to come out when the euro 04 campaign didn't start well
That was more to do with Keane's absence from the team than the performances

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

not really true to be honest. it wasn't until we looked set to qualify for wc 02 did he get the media off his back.
the 02 qualification campaign was marked in criticism of many performances including cyprus and andorra away. even the 2-2 holland away drew criticisms.
and despite a very good wc finals showing it didn't take long for the knives to come out when the euro 04 campaign didn't start well

I wasn't really going on the media's reaction, just on a review of the managers performance. If we're looking at the media's treatment of managers then every single manager including Jack had a hard time. That's everyone except Kenny who has had an extremely easy ride. Especially considering he's performed worse than any other previous manager. It just goes to show how important it is to have pals in the media.

[tetsujin1979]

Kerr had a fairly easy ride until the Israel 2-2 game.

[jbyrne]

Who criticised that campaign at any stage?
We knock Holland out!! And held a world class portugal to to score draws.

He did have way better players but that was still an utterly amazing achievement

for example our good friend ross ocarroll kelly (aka paul howard) was critical all the time in the sunday tribune during that campaign.
the main photo in the tribune the day after the holland win was the infamous one of the keane / mccarthy handshake!!! talk about missing the mood of a nation!

people were very critical of a number of the performances in that campaign. pretty sure my memory is accurate

[Bielsa´s irish]

No one can say they expected us to near throw away the game on the back of bringing Hourihane on is what I said. He is a poor player, it wasn?t an inclusion in the squad I would support never mind an inclusion on the pitch at any stage but no manager or fan would have predicted the near disastrous impact him coming on had.

For his mistake before was a 1-2 goal, he made a mistake and he risked, but he played a good game. I am more about Hendrick and Knight in second half who werent good and never helped Molumby, who almost got sent off 2-0 one of those 2, play the sitting position next to Hourihane, I agree Hourihane is not a holding mid, he did good with some touches and passes that were lovely, he MADE A mistake but before that was an atrocious mistake for the 1-2

[Trequartista20]

People won't admit it but Kenny's reign has painted McCarthy's second term in a new light. Played 10, won 5, drew 4 and lost 1 in a difficult group is not bad at all. There were some poor performances though. The O'Neill reign was going very well up to a certain point. Getting to and playing well at Euro 16 is often overlooked along with some great performances and results. Same with Trappatoni, we had some good times but also some very low points. Staunton and Kerr disappointed overall, McCarthy in his first spell certainly got a lot of praise until the end.

All the managers post Jack have at least made us competitive, that's apart from Staunton and Kenny. I don't think it's unrealistic to expect us to compete for qualification. Staunton obviously had to go, same with Kenny now. As for finding a replacement. Brendan Rodgers might be available soon. Might be tricky budget wise but he's a proud Irishman. Losing Anthony Barry was as predicted a huge loss, he could be tempted back with the top job offer. We may need to look outside the box in a search, Celtic for example seem to have found someone decent without looking within familiar circles. One thing's for sure, finding a quality replacement is vital to repair the damage caused by Kenny.

You've made some interesting points.

I think some people - Kennyites in particular - are wont to conflate the dying days of O'Neill's time in charge, when it was clear he'd stayed on too long and the wheels had started to come off, with McCarthy's brief tenure, so making it seem as if Kenny had inherited a complete shambles rather than a tough, organised, hard-to-beat team with some talented young players coming through, a Euro 2020 Play Off place in the bag and an almost guaranteed second place seeding for the World Cup qualifiers. Of course, it was never in Mick's remit to make radical changes to the playing style or personel - he was never given that time - but rather to restore confidence and make us a competitive force once more. And I think he achieved that, despite some less than stellar performances along the way. So, he should perhaps get more credit than he receives.

At the time it felt like disappointing campaign, but, looking back, at least McCarthy took our automatic qualification bid down to the final moments of the final match, and against a very good Denmark side. It feels like like we've fallen a long way, even when considering other previous low points.

[ifk101]

This Mick McCarthy guy sounds great. Wonder why Cardiff got rid. So I asked google.


"When Mick and Terry came in they did a great job getting us all together and believing in each other.
"But then I think after that there was no real change or way of playing or identity to us which I think was a bit of a problem in the end.
"We didn't really have a plan B. It was all direct, fight for every ball, there was no tactical plan. I think teams worked that out and once they could fight against us they would get on top.
"Without the ball it was OK we were getting into shape trying to press teams. But once we got the ball we didn't really know where everyone was going to be, or what to do.
"I think teams worked us out - it wasn't a nice place to be in the end."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/cardiff-city-mick-mccarthy-sacking-25485252
Good summary of his time with Ireland as well really. Less than stellar performances came in games we were expected to win - because we did not have a plan B to break these teams down? Our confidence restoring, to make us a competitive force performances were all draws - with direct, fight for every ball, morale victory stuff.

[Jd2793]

people need to come to terms with the fact that the likes of mccarthy + hughton etc are finished. their best days are gone. dyche was mentioned above but hes a PL calibre manger cant see why he'd take a wage cut to come to us. Barry looks like hes comfortable as a coach. Chelsea have had 3 manager changes and hes kept his job under every new manager. Why leave a secure PL job?

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

This Mick McCarthy guy sounds great. Wonder why Cardiff got rid. So I asked google.


Good summary of his time with Ireland as well really. Less than stellar performances came in games we were expected to win - because we did not have a plan B to break these teams down? Our confidence restoring, to make us a competitive force performances were all draws - with direct, fight for every ball, morale victory stuff.

I don't think anyone would claim that McCarthy's term was perfect but compared with his replacement he looks like Pep! His last game v Denmark was miles ahead of anything Kenny has offered. We certainly wouldn't be losing to Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Armenia with McCarthy in charge. In fact, qualifying for the last euros would have been likely in my opinion and we would have got close to world cup qualification.

That said, I wouldn't want McCarthy back in charge when Kenny goes. We need a manager with a modern approach and capable of implementing it. We were all hoping that Kenny would be that man but he has proven to be a dud.

[Jd2793]

I don't think anyone would claim that McCarthy's term was perfect but compared with his replacement he looks like Pep! His last game v Denmark was miles ahead of anything Kenny has offered. We certainly wouldn't be losing to Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Armenia with McCarthy in charge. In fact, qualifying for the last euros would have been likely in my opinion and we would have got close to world cup qualification.

That said, I wouldn't want McCarthy back in charge when Kenny goes. We need a manager with a modern approach and capable of implementing it. We were all hoping that Kenny would be that man but he has proven to be a dud.

thats just not true sorry. kenny hasnt been impressive but rewriting history around mccarthy is a bit much

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

people need to come to terms with the fact that the likes of mccarthy + hughton etc are finished. their best days are gone. dyche was mentioned above but hes a PL calibre manger cant see why he'd take a wage cut to come to us. Barry looks like hes comfortable as a coach. Chelsea have had 3 manager changes and hes kept his job under every new manager. Why leave a secure PL job?

Are you stating that we have to stick with Kenny because there's no one else? That argument has been pushed by Kenny supporters for a while now. It really shows how bad he's done when that's the main defense.

There are capable managers out there that don't have to cost millions. We don't have to hire ex premier League managers. As noted, Celtic looked outside the box and it's worked out well so far for them. A JD free FAI should be capable of scouting for talent. I just hope they have the guts to do the right thing and sack Kenny. They will face a backlash from Kenny's pals in the media but he's driving us backwards and it will be hard to recover from his reign.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

thats just not true sorry. kenny hasnt been impressive but rewriting history around mccarthy is a bit much

We battered Denmark that night, we should have won. You can watch it again if you want or look up the stats. And that was a very good Danish team.

[Jd2793]

Are you stating that we have to stick with Kenny because there's no one else? That argument has been pushed by Kenny supporters for a while now. It really shows how bad he's done when that's the main defense.

There are capable managers out there that don't have to cost millions. We don't have to hire ex premier League managers. As noted, Celtic looked outside the box and it's worked out well so far for them. A JD free FAI should be capable of scouting for talent. I just hope they have the guts to do the right thing and sack Kenny. They will face a backlash from Kenny's pals in the media but he's driving us backwards and it will be hard to recover from his reign.

no there'll be replacements obviously but people need to find some more realistic names. not a guy like barry who has a secure job at one of the best clubs on the planet.

[Jd2793]

We battered Denmark that night, we should have won. You can watch it again if you want or look up the stats. And that was a very good Danish team.

that game ment nothing to denmark a complete dead rubber for them. we only started playing at 0-1. we've played well vs scotland (twice) and ukraine (once) and did well vs Portugal too only to get undone by ronaldos freakish aerial ability. those 4 performances were all better than the denmark one.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

no there'll be replacements obviously but people need to find some more realistic names. not a guy like barry who has a secure job at one of the best clubs on the planet.

Hopefully the FAI have moved on and are a more competent organisation. They have to find names, not us randomers.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

that game ment nothing to denmark a complete dead rubber for them. we only started playing at 0-1. we've played well vs scotland (twice) and ukraine (once) and did well vs Portugal too only to get undone by ronaldos freakish aerial ability. those 4 performances were all better than the denmark one.

Am, if Denmark had lost they would have been out of the euros, the one where they got to the semi finals. I think it was more than a dead rubber. :D

It's all about opinions but those performances you've noted were nowhere near the Denmark display and were all achieved when we were effectively out of those respective groups. Everything was on the line for the Denmark game.

[SkStu]

SK's first game in charge was 2 years ago. The bottom line for me, today, as it relates to Kenny was that i was willing to give him a 2 year grace period to transition from our previous age profile to something a lot younger while also trying to play a more attractive brand of football. The two years is up now and the time for green shoots is gone and time to expect reasonable and consistent performances and results is upon us (from my perspective). Whether we are there or not is debatable, we are definitely getting better performances and results than we were in his first year - i think that is not really debatable. But whether we have truly turned a corner is difficult to say with certainty as it still feels like a rollercoaster ride on a rickety machine. Maybe it is just a really long corner :) All that said, if you are looking into the next year, what is the reasonable expectation? For me... consistency and reliability. Win the gimmes, take 4s off our peers, take points off the elites. Am i confident? Hmmm dunno.

Those who have called for his head in his first year and even up to now are guilty of jumping the gun and not recognizing or appreciating the challenges he has faced. The knives were sharpened far too early, way earlier in some cases than was at all fair. Look at the change in the makeup of our team - age profile - it is staggeringly different than what it was two years ago. And most of those young players are experienced seniors now. This will stand to us, as fans, in the medium to long term. Anyway, as i said, lets see if he can meet the bar that i have set - is how i am looking at things.

For those who are comparing Kenny with the managers that have gone before him and using that as a stick, i think it is worth pointing out that you can only do so if you acknowledge and include the quality of player over that course of time. It has diminished significantly over that time. JC, Mick1.0, Kerr, Stan, Trap, MON, Mick2.0 - - it is fair to say that we have not had an elite player since the Trap era and MON and Mick later had the benefit of a fairly high consistency of player standard and a depth of experience (again diminishing generally over those two tenures). With Kenny he lost the experienced players and transitioned to the best young players and a smattering of seniors - all playing Championship, League One and a couple of EPL players in the lower echelons mostly. Thats a tough enough hand and its unfair to compare managerial performance without recognizing the calibre of players the previous guys had at their disposal.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

With Kenny he lost the experienced players and transitioned to the best young players and a smattering of seniors - all playing Championship, League One and a couple of EPL players in the lower echelons mostly. Thats a tough enough hand and its unfair to compare managerial performance without recognizing the calibre of players the previous guys had at their disposal.

Again, this is wrong and another failed excuse for those defending Kenny. The squad for McCarthy's last game v Denmark:

Randolph, Doherty, Duffy, Egan, Stevens, Browne, Hendrick, Whelan, Hourihane, McClean, McGoldrick.
Subs: Kevin Long, Clark, Parrott, Cullen, Byrne, Brady, Robinson, James Collins, O'Hara, Maguire, Travers, Judge.

Kenny had all of these players available to him bar Whelan and selected all of them bar maybe Judge? McGoldrick retired not long afterwards but Kenny inherited a squad that ran Denmark and Switzerland very close for qualification. On top of this, a number of young players have emerged and developed at their clubs. Bazunu, Kelleher, Collins, Omobamidele, O'Shea, Molumby, Idah, Obafemi, Knight, Ogbene. Josh Cullen moved to Anderlecht and made great improvements. Kenny fans would claim that McCarthy wouldn't have blood the new players but he had already brought Aaron Connolly on board (he was injured for the Denmark game) along with Parrott. The truth is that Kenny has had a stronger squad available to him than McCarthy! And done far worse.

Previous managers used to get lambasted for claiming we don't have the players, now we don't have the players is one of the many excuses used by Kenny supporters. Despite these excuses, what level of results would have been satisfactory to anyone going into the Kenny reign?
1. Losing to an understrength Slovakia in the play-offs? He didn't get a new manager bounce that even Staunton got and notched up his first failure.
2. Scored one goal in battling it out at the bottom of the nations league group.
3. Again battled it out at the bottom of world cup qualification with embarrassing results against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.
4. A hatrick of bottom of the barrel campaigns with a humiliating defeat to Armenia.

His reign has been an unmitigated disaster. He deserved to be sacked long before now but we can't go into another campaign with him in charge.

[Trequartista20]

that game ment nothing to denmark a complete dead rubber for them. we only started playing at 0-1. we've played well vs scotland (twice) and ukraine (once) and did well vs Portugal too only to get undone by ronaldos freakish aerial ability. those 4 performances were all better than the denmark one.


Am, if Denmark had lost they would have been out of the euros, the one where they got to the semi finals. I think it was more than a dead rubber. :D

It's all about opinions but those performances you've noted were nowhere near the Denmark display and were all achieved when we were effectively out of those respective groups. Everything was on the line for the Denmark game.

Indeed. It was a straight shootout for a place in a European Championships, that's about as far removed from a dead rubber as is possible.

Of the four 'better' performances under Kenny cited above, only the home performance against Scotland could be credibly framed in that way. We played well on the night against Denmark - clearly a better team than Scotland and Ukraine, and probably Portugal too, given their respective performances at the tournament. Even the Danish manager admitted his side were fortunate to come away with the point they needed.


'We didn?t play well, and we were lucky to get away with a draw. If they play like that they will probably come through their next playoff.'


https://www.extratime.com/articles/23959/age-hareide-if-ireland-play-like-that-they-will-probably-come-through-their-playoff/

These are stats from that match.

Possession: Ireland 57% - 43% Denmark

Shots: Ireland 15-3 Denmark

Shots on Target: 3-1 Denmark

Corners: Ireland 9-3 Denmark

https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/match/2026001/

Conversely, in one of the 'better' Ireland performances listed above - our defeat to Portugal - it looks like this.

Possession: Portugal 72% - 28% Ireland

Shots: Portugal 29 - 6 Ireland

Shots on Target: Portugal 7 - 2 Ireland

Corners: Portugal 14 - 3 Ireland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/56103772