Republic of Ireland V Bulgaria - Wednesday, 18th November 2020 - Nations League

[BonnieShels]

curiosity, oldham number two and vietnam under 19!



I just thought I'd remind the young wans of the good old days.

[BonnieShels]

Oh yes, wouldn't it be just terrible if all that amazing progress we've made over the past eight games were to go to waste...

What do you suggest we do?

We sack Kenny then what?

[pineapple stu]

What do you suggest we do?

We sack Kenny then what?

Something something profit?

[John83]

https://twitter.com/MiguelDelaney/status/1329181077961891847?s=19

This really
That link was broken. I've removed the twitter tags in the quotation above and it works for me now.

[Colbert Report]

How much is Stephen Kenny on, and for how long, does anyone know?

[Bielsa´s irish]

What do you suggest we do?

We sack Kenny then what?
3 at the back, I thought Manning was impressive but the guy is a mid

[Trequartista20]

Ditch 433. 442, 4411, 352. I’ll take anything.

I’d like to see Cullen, Knight and Byrne get a crack in a friendly.

Hourihane. I genuinely do not understand how he keeps getting minutes. Bar run to the ball when the CB are in possession to instantly pass it back what else does he offer?

Curtis and Manning out of their depth tonight.

Brady played well against Wales I thought, way off the pace tonight. His inconsistency must drive Dyche crazy.

11 hours without a goal is astonishing.

There are so many players to come back in before our next round of fixtures; Byrne not starting tonight, given the vast number of cry-offs, means he's never going to start.

Proof positive that Kenny isn't the keenest and it was only ever political-motivated call up. But most of us had worked that out anyway.

[John83]

How much is Stephen Kenny on, and for how long, does anyone know?
540k per year, says The Mirror
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/money-not-stephen-kennys-motivation-21851746

[bennocelt]

I just thought I'd remind the young wans of the good old days.

Ha yes, i should have said i was curious to what they are up to now, i dig ya

Big Sam is free these days too:p

[Bielsa´s irish]

so, pot 3?

[pineapple stu]

Jewell is Director of Football at Swindon btw. Left Oldham two years ago.

[bennocelt]

can some one tell me if we hadn't played England and lost some points in the ranking would we be seeded now, cheers

[Bielsa´s irish]

what it has been shown is that 4-3-3 is not working,

More when the 3 up front are not forwards,

I would go with 3 forwards up front

[ColourfulPeanut]

Too little. Too late.

Time to show him the door. This has gone long enough. Mick McCarthy left us with a playoff for the Euros and looking fairly secure of being in the 2nd pot for the World Cup. He's ****ed all that up against the wall and never even had the common decency too look upset about how it's been going.
Mick McCarthy left us a playoff spot because we got a free one "earned" by Martin O'Neill after finishing bottom of the Nations League group. The format is a farce. McCarthy was terrible as well and finished 3rd in a favourable group scoring only 7 goals.

[Trequartista20]

What do you suggest we do?

We sack Kenny then what?

Not at all; whilst alarm bells are starting to ring for me, he needs more time, and there have been obvious mitigating factors.

I just find it rather odd for you to suggest that after the worst run of results in history, in appointing another manager we'd be ****ing all Kenny's hard work up the wall, when we appear if anything to have gone backwards under his stewardship.

[Olé Olé]

There are so many players to come back in before our next round of fixtures; Byrne not starting tonight, given the vast number of cry-offs, means he's never going to start.

Proof positive that Kenny isn't the keenest and it was only ever political-motivated call up. But most of us had worked that out anyway.
Has there been talk that Byrne isn't fully fit for this level either after his symptomatic covid illness?

[Trequartista20]

Has there been talk that Byrne isn't fully fit for this level either after his symptomatic covid illness?

That may be a consideration, but he was fit enough to start Rovers' last game.

[John83]

Has there been talk that Byrne isn't fully fit for this level either after his symptomatic covid illness?
I haven't read anything like this, but if I'd been in Kenny's shoes, trying to select a team with so many players out, I'd have been looking to maximise the experience on the pitch tonight. Sticking with Brady makes sense in that regard, though it's clear now that he wasn't physically up to it and Byrne might have made an impact earlier. Recall too that Byrne was pilloried here for a hospital pass late in the Wales game that got Hendrick sent off: hardly a cameo that made him first on the teamsheet.

[seanfhear]

When you are in the Gutter the only way is Up ! !

[Paddy Garcia]

540k per year, says The Mirror
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/money-not-stephen-kennys-motivation-21851746

Thank heavens its not performance related

[John83]

When you are in the Gutter the only way is Up ! !
'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

Old Oscar never had to watch this muck though.

[ontheotherhand]

"There are so many players to come back in before our next round of fixtures; Byrne not starting tonight, given the vast number of cry-offs, means he's never going to start."

Proof positive that Kenny isn't the keenest and it was only ever political-motivated call up. But most of us had worked that out anyway."

Politically motivated. I love that narrative. Was it political when McCarthy played him against Bulgaria for 30 minutes and he set up one goal directly and one goal indirectly? Or when O'Neil involved him in the training camp when he was playing in Holland? Kenny didn't pluck him out of nowhere to appease the LOI fans, at least half of whom hate Jack any way because he plays for Rovers. He is a backup and a good one based on what we've seen so far. There doesn't have to be a conspiracy theory around it. Brady went off and he came on. It's fairly straight forward. The squad isn't blessed with creative talent so like it not he will be in and around teams until someone else can step up.

He came on and did well again tonight. We were a better team for the few minutes he got for me. Much better patterns and we created more chances. Wasn't hard to be better but he did far more than Hourihane did all game. I'd say Brady as well but he had our best shot on goal. He was fairly anonymous outside of that though and I always feel like he thinks he doesn't have to work hard in the 10 role and the ball should just come to him.

Cullen did well too and Parrot actually moved for the ball. All of it made is more dangerous but Jack did his part and at this stage it's getting a bit tiresome to see how quickly people want to knock him but give others like Knight a free pass. Knight had a good second half but played an absolute hospital ball in the first half where he looked generally out of his depth. Nobody was jumping online to criticize him oddly enough.

[pineapple stu]

Thank heavens its not performance related
It is in a way, I guess. Trap and MON were on 2m a year, weren't they?

Can't afford that any more.

[BonnieShels]

Something something profit?

I'll wait for Trequartista20 to show proof of the underpants first.

[BonnieShels]

It is in a way, I guess. Trap and MON were on 2m a year, weren't they?

Can't afford that any more.

We couldn't afford it then either.

[BonnieShels]

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

Old Oscar never had to watch this muck though.

He did. It's how he ended up in court.

[Trequartista20]

"There are so many players to come back in before our next round of fixtures; Byrne not starting tonight, given the vast number of cry-offs, means he's never going to start."

Proof positive that Kenny isn't the keenest and it was only ever political-motivated call up. But most of us had worked that out anyway."

Politically motivated. I love that narrative. Was it political when McCarthy played him against Bulgaria for 30 minutes and he set up one goal directly and one goal indirectly? Or when O'Neil involved him in the training camp when he was playing in Holland? Kenny didn't pluck him out of nowhere to appease the LOI fans, at least half of whom hate Jack any way because he plays for Rovers. He is a backup and a good one based on what we've seen so far. There doesn't have to be a conspiracy theory around it. Brady went off and he came on. It's fairly straight forward. The squad isn't blessed with creative talent so like it not he will be in and around teams until someone else can step up.

He came on and did well again tonight. We were a better team for the few minutes he got for me. Much better patterns and we created more chances. Wasn't hard to be better but he did far more than Hourihane did all game. I'd say Brady as well but he had our best shot on goal. He was fairly anonymous outside of that though and I always feel like he thinks he doesn't have to work hard in the 10 role and the ball should just come to him.

Cullen did well too and Parrot actually moved for the ball. All of it made is more dangerous but Jack did his part and at this stage it's getting a bit tiresome to see how quickly people want to knock him but give others like Knight a free pass. Knight had a good second half but played an absolute hospital ball in the first half where he looked generally out of his depth. Nobody was jumping online to criticize him oddly enough.

Don't get me wrong, I would have had Byrne in my starting line-up tonight. But what was it, 16 players who pulled out of squad over the course of the these games? With others also unavailable for various reasons. And still Byrne couldn't manage to get a start, with players not in the original panel starting ahead of him.

What other conclusion could you possibly come to other than that Kenny doesn't really fancy him?

[ontheotherhand]

Don't get me wrong, I would have had Byrne in my starting line-up tonight. But what was it, 16 players who pulled out of squad over the course of the these games? With others also unavailable for various reasons. And still Byrne couldn't manage to get a start, with players not in the original panel starting ahead of him.

What other conclusion could you possibly come to other than that Kenny doesn't really fancy him?

I'd agree that it's odd but there are other reasons on offer:

That it's him or Brady most of the time and Brady is more established?

That Kenny is a bit of a coward and doesn't have the balls to throw him on knowing the reaction from the anti-LOI brigade might get him sacked unless Jack scores a worldy?

That Kenny still hates Rovers?

That the players who came in were all in slightly different positions?

That we don't really play a formation that suits Jack?

My honest opinion is that I think Kenny rates Jack but possibly thinks he isn't physically ready for 90 minutes and that he will use him when he really needs the creativity at the risk of him maybe losing the ball or not tracking back as fast as other options like Molumby/Cullen/Knight can when games are really tight. We don't really cater to someone playing in the 10 right now because so much has to be done in midfield to counter the fact that Hourihane is useless and we have nobody to take the pressure off up front by running channels and getting the ball to stick to them for more than a second. But also that Kenny is a bit of a coward.

I'd love to see Jack, Cullen, Knight and Parrot all on at once but tonight was the game for it and Kenny bottled it. Tbf Parrot wasn't fit but it was clear after 30 mins that Brady and Hourihane weren't interested in or able to do the job.

[backstothewall]

Or of course we could **** it all up the wall and get in Paul Jewell or Phillipe Troussier.

There are other options apart from Paul Jewell, Phillipe Troussier and Stephen Kenny


While the fans are clearly divided on whether Kenny should go or not, I think the reality of the FAI piggybank* means that sacking him is off the table. Basically, the only way he goes in the short term is if he Kevin Kegans it. ("I'm blaming nobody but myself. I wasn't good enough.")

You would hope there is a break clause. That's standard enough in contracts these days. Surely even the FAI insisted on that before appointing an manager who's only experience outside Ireland was short lived in the SPL that ended in relegation.

The woeful financial situation of the FAI is only getting worse with him in charge. The pandemic is covering this up, but the vaccines are coming. When we get back to life in 2021, and the government support ends, who in gods name is paying to watch that dross?


What do you suggest we do?

We sack Kenny then what?

Traditionally we replace the League of Ireland guy with a former player, who in turn gets replaced by a big name from the continent, followed by a long ball merchant, then back to Mick McCarthy.

I'd be willing to break the cycle. We could go with someone who has been out of the game for a while, or a young coach with ideas. How can it get worse? It's been 11 hours since we scored a goal.


540k per year, says The Mirror
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/money-not-stephen-kennys-motivation-21851746

JFC


Ha yes, i should have said i was curious to what they are up to now, i dig ya

Big Sam is free these days too:p

Sam Allardyce has never done anything for free in his life.


Mick McCarthy left us a playoff spot because we got a free one "earned" by Martin O'Neill after finishing bottom of the Nations League group. The format is a farce. McCarthy was terrible as well and finished 3rd in a favourable group scoring only 7 goals.

Martin O'Neill is the reason why Jack Grealish was tormenting Belgium and Iceland instead of Wales and Bulgaria this week.

[nigel-harps1954]

I'd be willing to break the cycle. We could go with someone who has been out of the game for a while, or a young coach with ideas. How can it get worse? It's been 11 hours since we scored a goal.

.

I'm not sure if this is serious? What sort of ideas, beyond what Stephen Kenny is trying to do?

[weldoninhio]

Pity it’s not performance related. The FAI would be making money out of him.

[pineapple stu]

How can it get worse? It's been 11 hours since we scored a goal.
We could start conceding goals too.

Seriously, it can always get worse

[Bielsa´s irish]

Mick McCarthy left us a playoff spot because we got a free one "earned" by Martin O'Neill after finishing bottom of the Nations League group. The format is a farce. McCarthy was terrible as well and finished 3rd in a favourable group scoring only 7 goals.

Mick wasnt great, we need to create more chances per game, Kenny says 4-3-3 but it is 4-2-3-1, not working

[backstothewall]

I'm not sure if this is serious? What sort of ideas, beyond what Stephen Kenny is trying to do?

I said "ideas". Stephen Kenny has an idea. He wants to play 4-3-3 and knock it about a bit.

It isn't working and he won't try anything else. We haven't seen so much as something off the training ground at a set piece.

O'Neill got pelters for not working on set pieces. They were dreadful tonight. Far worse than anything in the O'Neill era.

[weldoninhio]

I'm not sure if this is serious? What sort of ideas, beyond what Stephen Kenny is trying to do?

The idea that “hmmmm this isn’t working, let’s not persist with it for 8 games of not working”.

[Bielsa´s irish]

There are other options apart from Paul Jewell, Phillipe Troussier and Stephen Kenny



You would hope there is a break clause. That's standard enough in contracts these days. Surely even the FAI insisted on that before appointing an manager who's only experience outside Ireland was short lived in the SPL that ended in relegation.

The woeful financial situation of the FAI is only getting worse with him in charge. The pandemic is covering this up, but the vaccines are coming. When we get back to life in 2021, and the government support ends, who in gods name is paying to watch that dross?



Traditionally we replace the League of Ireland guy with a former player, who in turn gets replaced by a big name from the continent, followed by a long ball merchant, then back to Mick McCarthy.

I'd be willing to break the cycle. We could go with someone who has been out of the game for a while, or a young coach with ideas. How can it get worse? It's been 11 hours since we scored a goal.



JFC



Sam Allardyce has never done anything for free in his life.



Martin O'Neill is the reason why Jack Grealish was tormenting Belgium and Iceland instead of Wales and Bulgaria this week.

Grealish didnt want to play, period. Rice was his agent.

[Bielsa´s irish]

[QUOTE=backstothewall;2058137]I said "ideas". Stephen Kenny has an idea. He wants to play 4-3-3 and knock it about a bit.



It isn't working and he won't try anything else. We haven't seen so much as something off the training ground at a set piece.

O'Neill got pelters for not working on set pieces. They were dreadful tonight. Far worse than anything in the O'Neill era.[/QUO
The same, yeah, his system is not working, may work a 3-4-3 / 3-5-2/ 3-6-1 LikeArgentina in Mexico 86/Italy90

[tetsujin1979]

We had zero shots on target against Bulgaria. In a home game. Think about that.
In a game where the fans were more concerned about scoring than the result, where we would have been happy with a goal, even in a loss, we failed to trouble the opposing goalkeeper.

Kenny's honeymoon period is now well and truly over. The 4-3-3 formation is clearly not working. We obviously can't score with it, and in more than half the games where is been used, we've failed to keep a clean sheet.

Excuses about players not being available are all well and good, but a good manager would recognise that repeating the same mistakes would end in the same results. Kenny didn't recognise this, and persisted with a formation that few (any?) of the players use at their clubs.

In defence, Duffy and Long were fine, and with two enforced changes at full back, dropping Randolph, an unforced change, would have been a needless change. Having said that, Travers and Kelleher must be wondering what they have to do to get a chance after eight games have passed without either player seeing a minute of action.

When the starting XI was announced, I asked this question

Who is the DM in that midfield? Hourihane?

For most of the first half and the early part of the second half, there didn't appear to be one. This meant there was no clear link between defence and midfield, and the defence was often left exposed by three players, none of whom seemed to have been told to sty around the centre circle. The Bulgarian midfield were happy to let our defence have the ball, knowing that they would struggle to make a clean pass to the midfield players, which allowed them to claim possession and push forward.

Up front, Curtis, Collins, and Horgan tried hard, but failed to test the opposition. Horgan looks good at times, but he's clear he's James McClean without the unlimited running. Collins is a Championship striker - I actually like the guy, and have a lot of time for how he's played his way up through the divisions in England - but he's not international class.

Of the substitutes, Cullen was the standout improvement on what went before, and (fitness permitting) should have started.

I'm not #KennyOut yet, but the qualifiers for the World Cup in 2022 will start in March, and if we go through those fixtures without a win, without a goal, it might be time to cut our losses on him

The lowest winning percentage for an Ireland manager since Jack Charlton took over is Steve Staunton's 35% - Kenny's is zero (obviously), and he'll need at least five wins from the fixtures in 2021 just to match Staunton's total.

[backstothewall]

For most of the first half and the early part of the second half, there didn't appear to be one. This meant there was no clear link between defence and midfield, and the defence was often left exposed by three players, none of whom seemed to have been told to sty around the centre circle. The Bulgarian midfield were happy to let our defence have the ball, knowing that they would struggle to make a clean pass to the midfield players, which allowed them to claim possession and push forward.

AKA the second half against Denmark in Martin O'Neill's Waterloo.

If we end up playing Denmark next I'd seriously consider a 1-5 just to get the 1.

[geysir]

Two positives, we got relegated from Div 2 of the UNL last year, this year we didn't and we saved Eur1.5m

[zero]

I said to a friend he's got the first half the WC campaign to get at least one win and that's it. Surely that's fair even to the most diehard revolutionary.

[tetsujin1979]

oh, and can anyone explain why Marcus Harness was there?

[ColourfulPeanut]

Harness was involved in the camp I think. Must not have gotten his passport and/or FIFA approval sorted in time.

Looking forward to seeing him involved. Pompey fans seem to rate him highly.

[tetsujin1979]

so the FAI flew a player to Dublin, even though his FIFA clearance still hasn't come through, during a pandemic that has claimed four players from this squad alone?

[backstothewall]

I said "ideas". Stephen Kenny has an idea. He wants to play 4-3-3 and knock it about a bit.



It isn't working and he won't try anything else. We haven't seen so much as something off the training ground at a set piece.

O'Neill got pelters for not working on set pieces. They were dreadful tonight. Far worse than anything in the O'Neill era.[/QUO
The same, yeah, his system is not working, may work a 3-4-3 / 3-5-2/ 3-6-1 LikeArgentina in Mexico 86/Italy90

There are a load of things he could have tried. He could have gone with 3 at the back. He could have gone with an old fashioned 4-4-2. He could have really gone out there and tried Jack Byrne as a false 9.

I find it hard to believe that the FAI went on an extensive search for a young coach with ideas, trawled the leagues of Europe, the Americas and the far east, and by sheer coincidence the most capable guy they could find just happened to be a lad in his late 40s working in Dundalk.

John Delaney was getting heat and wanted to throw a bone to the League Of Ireland fans because they had the knives out for him since the "Problem Child" comment. If Stephen Kenny is the best coach the League Of Ireland has to offer, it's obvious to me that coaching is part of the reason why it has a lower UEFA Coefficient ranking than the leagues in Luxembourg, Lithuania & Liechtenstein.

[Diggs246]

We had zero shots on target against Bulgaria. In a home game. Think about that.
In a game where the fans were more concerned about scoring than the result, where we would have been happy with a goal, even in a loss, we failed to trouble the opposing goalkeeper.

Kenny's honeymoon period is now well and truly over. The 4-3-3 formation is clearly not working. We obviously can't score with it, and in more than half the games where is been used, we've failed to keep a clean sheet.

Excuses about players not being available are all well and good, but a good manager would recognise that repeating the same mistakes would end in the same results. Kenny didn't recognise this, and persisted with a formation that few (any?) of the players use at their clubs.

In defence, Duffy and Long were fine, and with two enforced changes at full back, dropping Randolph, an unforced change, would have been a needless change. Having said that, Travers and Kelleher must be wondering what they have to do to get a chance after eight games have passed without either player seeing a minute of action.

When the starting XI was announced, I asked this question


For most of the first half and the early part of the second half, there didn't appear to be one. This meant there was no clear link between defence and midfield, and the defence was often left exposed by three players, none of whom seemed to have been told to sty around the centre circle. The Bulgarian midfield were happy to let our defence have the ball, knowing that they would struggle to make a clean pass to the midfield players, which allowed them to claim possession and push forward.

Up front, Curtis, Collins, and Horgan tried hard, but failed to test the opposition. Horgan looks good at times, but he's clear he's James McClean without the unlimited running. Collins is a Championship striker - I actually like the guy, and have a lot of time for how he's played his way up through the divisions in England - but he's not international class.

Of the substitutes, Cullen was the standout improvement on what went before, and (fitness permitting) should have started.

I'm not #KennyOut yet, but the qualifiers for the World Cup in 2022 will start in March, and if we go through those fixtures without a win, without a goal, it might be time to cut our losses on him

The lowest winning percentage for an Ireland manager since Jack Charlton took over is Steve Staunton's 35% - Kenny's is zero (obviously), and he'll need at least five wins from the fixtures in 2021 just to match Staunton's total.

Yep that's about right.
Putting the poor results aside, anyone in the world can see josh Cullen is a very good player and his lack of involvement and the continued involvement of some players who are quite frankly sh*t, does raise questions over Kenny's ability to be an international manager. He does deserve the WC campaign but grave concerns are there to be seen. The Conor hourihane situation is now at the point of ridiculousness. He is just awful.

[John83]

Two positives, we got relegated from Div 2 of the UNL last year, this year we didn't and we saved Eur1.5m
Plus goal bonuses. ;)

[Bielsa´s irish]

We had zero shots on target against Bulgaria. In a home game. Think about that.
In a game where the fans were more concerned about scoring than the result, where we would have been happy with a goal, even in a loss, we failed to trouble the opposing goalkeeper.

Kenny's honeymoon period is now well and truly over. The 4-3-3 formation is clearly not working. We obviously can't score with it, and in more than half the games where is been used, we've failed to keep a clean sheet.

Excuses about players not being available are all well and good, but a good manager would recognise that repeating the same mistakes would end in the same results. Kenny didn't recognise this, and persisted with a formation that few (any?) of the players use at their clubs.

In defence, Duffy and Long were fine, and with two enforced changes at full back, dropping Randolph, an unforced change, would have been a needless change. Having said that, Travers and Kelleher must be wondering what they have to do to get a chance after eight games have passed without either player seeing a minute of action.

When the starting XI was announced, I asked this question


For most of the first half and the early part of the second half, there didn't appear to be one. This meant there was no clear link between defence and midfield, and the defence was often left exposed by three players, none of whom seemed to have been told to sty around the centre circle. The Bulgarian midfield were happy to let our defence have the ball, knowing that they would struggle to make a clean pass to the midfield players, which allowed them to claim possession and push forward.

Up front, Curtis, Collins, and Horgan tried hard, but failed to test the opposition. Horgan looks good at times, but he's clear he's James McClean without the unlimited running. Collins is a Championship striker - I actually like the guy, and have a lot of time for how he's played his way up through the divisions in England - but he's not international class.

Of the substitutes, Cullen was the standout improvement on what went before, and (fitness permitting) should have started.

I'm not #KennyOut yet, but the qualifiers for the World Cup in 2022 will start in March, and if we go through those fixtures without a win, without a goal, it might be time to cut our losses on him

The lowest winning percentage for an Ireland manager since Jack Charlton took over is Steve Staunton's 35% - Kenny's is zero (obviously), and he'll need at least five wins from the fixtures in 2021 just to match Staunton's total.

I agree with tetsujin, the system is not working, wont work, dont know why he persists ,

S.Kenny mistakes these last 3 games.

1) Persistence with a formation that nullifies our attack
2) Arrange a little game with England, out of time and place, when we needed confidence, didnt set up another type of friendly, at home, to test the chemistry of the attack plays of our forwards.
3) Not having called Shane Long for the original squad.
4)Isolate Idah in the attack, and expose the youngster.
5) Don't change your formation when things don't work out.
6))Not have called at least one goalkeeper who is currently playing.
7)he did not try ​​a bolder and more intrepid attitude with the substitutions. Apple for apples
8)Not having practised options from set pieces.
9)Failure to encourage leadership on the football pitch.
10)Playing football without a definite idea of ​​how to break the opponent's resistance. When and how to change the rhythm of the game.
11)Bad ways of expressing himself on tv, to defend his football idea.

[zero]

I see Collins coming in for a fair bit of criticism but I thought he did ok. If he scored one of his chances (easy saying that) it would be a different story.

But sadly in many ways he looked streets ahead of Idah to me.

[Bungle]

Of all the regimes I've watched live O'Neill's was the most depressing. The football was barbaric. Kenny is encoraging them to knock the ball around, but it is ineffective for the most part because we have mediocre players. I have doubts about Kenny but I would rather be mediocre for 4-5 years and try and play football than the **** O'Neill served up.

The old guard need to go. I despise Brady. He struts around like he's world class. Since Euro 2016, he has been useless for us. He's a great opinion of himself. McClean is a horrendous player. He has good spirit and cares. To be fair, he got a few big goals for us, but if we are going to aim to become a decent team again, his time is up. A truly limited player. Hendrick shows glimpses of being a top player but you can't rely on him. Hourihane is a bit the same. I've a big soft spot for Duffy and Randolph but it's clear as day, their time is up if we are expecting all our players to be comfortable on the ball. I would find a way of working Jack Byrne into the team. He did more in a few minutes than a lot of Irish players did in 90. I understand he is likely to be moving to Cyprus and I'm glad he is going back to the continent.

I've said it before that the only silver lining we have is that we actually have talented players coming through. Great seeing O'Shea and Knight tonight. I have question marks about Kenny as a manager but let's be honest he isn't going anywhere and the young lads seem to like him and respect him. I doubt the likes of Brady do. We are a pot 3 side in name because I would judge us as being a pot 4 quality side. We won't qualify for wc 2022 but if Stephen can bring through the young lads even if it means some tough nights, we will emerge better for it in the coming years and he will deserve great credit.