Andorra V Republic of Ireland - Thursday, 3rd June 2021 - Friendly

[ontheotherhand]

Look, it's not great but it's also a little bit exciting to see so many players with potential out there. We are a long way away from being able to field 11 players who are really at international level but there's only one road to get there.......a desperate last ditch Duffy goal on 93 mins v Andorra and we are on our way!

Hopefully having the players for some real training time will help us play the passing game a bit more effectively. It would be better to have the full squad but maybe a few will step up.

[pineapple stu]

a desperate last ditch Duffy goal on 93 mins v Andorra and we are on our way!
Jesus I hope not! I'd likely have some sort of stroke watching us scoreless against Andorra for that long...

[paul_oshea]

Looking at the squad and the potential players/team, I'm wondering what the point of this exercise is, especially given Kenny is saying he wants time with the players to get his message across and his system/style . When September Comes it'll be back to the same 11, in or around , that we all know and started the last couple of qualifiers. All these call ups from left field won't be around.

[Fixer82]

Who the hell is Sam Szmodics?

[Diggs246]

Jesus I hope not! I'd likely have some sort of stroke watching us scoreless against Andorra for that long...

I've seen nothing to indicate a comfortable night. I dont want to be a negative Nelly. But we're in deep sh*t lads. The players are really poor and the manager is just awful.

[pineapple stu]

Oh yeah. I'm not looking forward to this one at all. And that's without thinking about Hungary match straight after.

[paul_oshea]

Cyrus Christie was a player that nobody knew was eligible when he was called up

Funny thing that, a friend of mine the night he was called up txt me saying his cousin was called up, obviously I thought he was taking the ****. This is a Dublin born lad, so they'd known but didn't ever think he was going to get called up, but knew the Fai were aware.

[CraftyToePoke]

Looking at the squad and the potential players/team, I'm wondering what the point of this exercise is, especially given Kenny is saying he wants time with the players to get his message across and his system/style . When September Comes it'll be back to the same 11, in or around , that we all know and started the last couple of qualifiers. All these call ups from left field won't be around.

But what should he do instead ? The man has to look busy.

[ontheotherhand]

Looking at the squad and the potential players/team, I'm wondering what the point of this exercise is, especially given Kenny is saying he wants time with the players to get his message across and his system/style . When September Comes it'll be back to the same 11, in or around , that we all know and started the last couple of qualifiers. All these call ups from left field won't be around.

We all agree that it's thin squad that's been badly exposed for a lack of quality. So why wouldn't use the time available to either try out new players or try to get players more comfortable with the system?

If the team is:

Kelleher

Doherty, Coleman, Egan, O'Shea, Manning

Cullen, Molumby, Hourihane, McGrath

Idah

then I'd be thinking at least 4 of them are solid bets to be first choice when the games start to matter again - Coleman, Egan, Doherty, O'Shea, Hourihane, Idah, Cullen and Molumby are all either first choice or knocking on the door.

5 of them played against Serbia fwiw. And you have others in there who are in or close to the full strength squad as well - Horgan, Manning, Curtis, Arter etc.

Hardly pointless.

[Snapshot]

its only a training camp with a couple of end of international season friendlies thrown in. lots of players missing, a few new ones getting a try out.
a discussion like this about the worst player to appear in a squad for us is hugely insulting to the player(s) concerned. more worthy of another fans forum i can think of.....
More interesting would be a discussion on who's our second-worst ever international manager.

[dr_peepee]

Cyrus Christie was a player that nobody knew was eligible when he was called up
I hadn’t heard of Paul Greens eligibility when he was called up.

[Paddy Garcia]

We all agree that it's thin squad that's been badly exposed for a lack of quality. So why wouldn't use the time available to either try out new players or try to get players more comfortable with the system?

If the team is:

Kelleher

Doherty, Coleman, Egan, O'Shea, Manning

Cullen, Molumby, Hourihane, McGrath

Idah

then I'd be thinking at least 4 of them are solid bets to be first choice when the games start to matter again - Coleman, Egan, Doherty, O'Shea, Hourihane, Idah, Cullen and Molumby are all either first choice or knocking on the door.

5 of them played against Serbia fwiw. And you have others in there who are in or close to the full strength squad as well - Horgan, Manning, Curtis, Arter etc.

Hardly pointless.

Molumby can't get regular game time even out on loan - so not sure he is anywhere near yet.

[paul_oshea]

But what should he do instead ? The man has to look busy.

Normally I'd say ya play them and get going, build a rapport and get a couple of good results. But I'm not sure with the lads available who mainly will be coming in fresh to his system there's much to gain, if he loses and draws he's in an even worse position than he is now. I just feel the exercise is futile. I don't see him "winning" out of this.

[paul_oshea]

But what should he do instead ? The man has to look busy.


We all agree that it's thin squad that's been badly exposed for a lack of quality. So why wouldn't use the time available to either try out new players or try to get players more comfortable with the system?

If the team is:

Kelleher

Doherty, Coleman, Egan, O'Shea, Manning

Cullen, Molumby, Hourihane, McGrath

Idah

then I'd be thinking at least 4 of them are solid bets to be first choice when the games start to matter again - Coleman, Egan, Doherty, O'Shea, Hourihane, Idah, Cullen and Molumby are all either first choice or knocking on the door.

5 of them played against Serbia fwiw. And you have others in there who are in or close to the full strength squad as well - Horgan, Manning, Curtis, Arter etc.

Hardly pointless.

I just feel he has more to lose than gain, because the results could be very bad(Hungary might not be bothered and win a reprieve) and then has he learned anything from the peripheral peripheral players. I mean he's called up players that some of is barely or didn't know at all!

Agreed on molumby I haven't seen enough of him, both in terms of playing time and when he's played to suggest he's going to be anything special.. same goes for knight or parrot etc. Connollys a has been at this stage :P. Cullen too inconsistent. I mean none of that is kennys fault, apart from he got it wrong that this would seamlessly shift through from underage to snr.

[Diggs246]

I just feel he has more to lose than gain, because the results could be very bad(Hungary might not be bothered and win a reprieve) and then has he learned anything from the peripheral peripheral players. I mean he's called up players that some of is barely or didn't know at all!

Agreed on molumby I haven't seen enough of him, both in terms of playing time and when he's played to suggest he's going to be anything special.. same goes for knight or parrot etc. Connollys a has been at this stage :P. Cullen too inconsistent. I mean none of that is kennys fault, apart from he got it wrong that this would seamlessly shift through from underage to snr.

Cullen made one mistake v Serbia, barr that he has been good. Molumby looks like a lunatic to me.

[Charlie Darwin]

Looking at the squad and the potential players/team, I'm wondering what the point of this exercise is, especially given Kenny is saying he wants time with the players to get his message across and his system/style . When September Comes it'll be back to the same 11, in or around , that we all know and started the last couple of qualifiers. All these call ups from left field won't be around.
14 different players started the last two games though.

[elatedscum]

Who the hell is Sam Szmodics?

Given the last name, he’s almost certainly of Hungarian descent. Would be interesting to see him make his debut against them...

[Charlie Darwin]

Given the last name, he’s almost certainly of Hungarian descent. Would be interesting to see him make his debut against them...
Yep, his Longford granny married a man from Hungary.

[Diggs246]

Sorry if discussed already. But is this on normal telly?

[pineapple stu]

It's on RTÉ2 with a 5pm kick-off

[Diggs246]

Thanks

[Diggs246]

I like him already, I hope he starts
Jamie McGrath: Graduate McGrath to Irish squad not just to ‘make up numbers’ - Independent.ie (https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/graduate-jamie-mcgrathnot-in-irish-squad-to-make-up-numbers-40485757.html)

[pineapple stu]

Szmodics ruled out. Shame; he was actually a half-interesting prospect as he's at least scored a few senior goals.

[ontheotherhand]

Szmodics ruled out. Shame; he was actually a half-interesting prospect as he's at least scored a few senior goals.

From being backup to the worst player we've ever had to half-interesting prospect. What a meteoric rise for the young man.

Agree it's a shame though. Anyone who can do it in L1 is worth a look at this point.

With the current squad I'd go:

Kelleher

CBs - O'Shea, Egan, Omobamidele
WBs - Doherty, Manning

CM - Cullen, Knight
AM - Hourihane, McGrath
FW - Collins


More likely to see Duffy and Arter start though I'd imagine. Switched to Collins over Idah up front. Idah still a few years away from being able to lead the line. Switched to Knight from Molumby as would like to see more of Knight and as said earlier, Molumby hasn't played as many games at the same level.

[pineapple stu]

I presume Szmodics' late call-up was due to international clearance going through. There was no need to add another player to the squad at the time he was added.

[ontheotherhand]

He was called in after Robinson and Connolly withdrew no? Do you know when his clearance came through?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/sam-szmodics-over-the-moon-after-receiving-ireland-call-up-for-friendlies-1.4578076

[pineapple stu]

Don't know when his clearance came through (which is why I was just presuming)

15 goals from midfield and promotion from L1 is comfortably better than LoI for me. If Kenny ranked him behind Mandriou, then we've got problems!

[Olé Olé]

May well have only been finalized but Kenny said:
“I was aware a couple of years ago that Sam had declared an interest in playing for Ireland, when he had maybe been overlooked for under 21 level at that time."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.ie/sport/football/7065416/republic-of-ireland-stephen-kenny-sam-szmodics/amp/

Not sure if we were in the position to overlook lads playing a full season in League One when Szmodics broke through at Colchester in 14/15 at the age of 19. Though I do see that he went out on loan to the Conference in 15/16 so may have struggled for a while around 20.

[Razors left peg]

Im going with 3 nil against Andorra tomorrow and 2-1 against Hungary.

Will be just enough to give us a bit of hope heading into next season. Idah to get his 1st goals for us.

[tetsujin1979]

Hungary have had some good results recently, including a draw and a win over Serbia, and only failed to score once last year, a 0-0 draw with Russia in Moscow.
If they score, they'll probably win, so I'm going with a 2-1 loss

[Razors left peg]

Im thinking that we might take the game a little more seriously than Hungary. They might be minding themselves a bit going into the Euros... plus its the usual blind faith going into games

[TrapAPony]

I think we will run out of ideas quickly when Andorra park the bus but we will prevail with a 1-0 victory. I predict a 2-0 loss to Hungary.

[passinginterest]

Match day optimism kicking in. I'm going for a pretty comfortable 3-0 win today and a draw with Hungary. Not sure if he'll attempt to put out a strongest eleven for both games or if we'll see a mix of youth and experience for both.

[ifk101]

Leaning towards a draw …. as not seeing where the goals will come from. Missing speed and trickery out wide, and most of our central creative options are still finding their feet at this level. But it depends on whether the individuals show up or not. For example, if the Swansea City version of Conor Hourihane plays, I’d be more confident of a win. But if it’s the sideways, safe and slow play we have seen so far from Hourihane in an Irish jersey, it’s going to be a long 90 mins of huff and puff, and hoping for a lucky break.

[jbyrne]

if the attitude is right and the desire is there I think it will be 3-1 to us.
an early goal is critical.

[Snapshot]

The attitude better be right because Stephen Kenny's job is on the line tonight. A defeat or draw against Andorra will surely see him removed after the Hungary game - regardless of its result. A new manager would hopefully restore some credibility to the national team and avoid further embarrassment in September.

[pineapple stu]

I see Ildefons Lima is in the Andorra squad tonight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra_national_football_team#Current_squad) - 20 years since he gave us a scare in Lansdowne Road.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx3WYZce_Ao

Sometimes small countries have one player who's playing at a higher level - Mario Frick for Liechtenstein for example. Not here though. One player in the Norwegian top flight, and that's about it. Villarreal C - Spanish fourth tier - is about it. And Spanish fourth tier is lower than English fourth tier because the third tier has four regionalised divisions, and the fourth tier then has 18 divisions.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Great header in fairness.

Should be winning this any day. And I do think we will, probably 2 or 3 nil.

[Fixer82]

Great header in fairness.

Should be winning this any day. And I do think we will, probably 2 or 3 nil.

Doherty's header to Kilbane was a touch of class. Kennedy's swivel to make space for the cross for 2nd goal was class.
We won't see anything like that tonight I fear.

[Bottle of Tonic]

I think we laboured to a win over them in 2011, 2 nil was it? Helped by a deflected McGeady goal. I was there but the memories are slightly hazy!

We never beat anyone comfortably, even with a half decent team. We have a brutal team now. I think we should nick it 1-0 though. If we scored in the first 30 minutes I'd be confident of one or two more.

[pineapple stu]

I do see a positive here in that the weaker teams are often better equipped to defend against the, shall we say, more traditional Irish style of play. They can make a good stab of sitting deep and defending against long balls and being physical. Gibraltar holding us to 3-0 on aggregate recently being a good example.

If we try to move the ball about, I think we've the potential to open them up more than usual and create decent chances - which is what Kenny wants.

The question then is whether the squad (and coaching staff) are good enough to achieve that. And that brings us back to the discussion we've been having this past 18 months of course

[pineapple stu]

Team is -

Bazunu
Doherty
O'Shea
Egan
McClean
Cullen
Hourihane
Knight
Parrott
Curtis
Collins

Don't understand Bazunu in nets tbh. Leaving aside the already-had discussion as to whether he's ready for it yet, surely Kelleher has to be brought in at some stage anyway here? Or is he being held for the Hungary game?

Other than that it's probably predictable enough, and there's probably no way of making a silk purse out of the sow that is our forward options.

[ontheotherhand]

Team is -

Bazunu
Doherty
O'Shea
Egan
McClean
Cullen
Hourihane
Knight
Parrott
Curtis
Collins

Don't understand Bazunu in nets tbh. Leaving aside the already-had discussion as to whether he's ready for it yet, surely Kelleher has to be brought in at some stage anyway here? Or is he being held for the Hungary game?

Other than that it's probably predictable enough, and there's probably no way of making a silk purse out of the sow that is our forward options.

Might have just come down to who did better so far in training but I'm surprised Kelleher isn't getting the nod as well.

For the rest..no real shocks I suppose. Was hoping McGrath would start but mainly because I'm not sure how much he has improved since he left Dundalk and that would be interesting to see. Curtis/Parrot instead is reasonable.

Doherty as rb is worrying but I guess Kenny thinks he will be able to bomb forward enough to be comfortable. He really needs to put in a performance.

[EAFC_rdfl]

Agreed on Doherty, high time he put in a decent performance in a green shirt. Hopefully he puts the stop start season at Spurs behind him today

[seanfhear]

I feel a 10-0 coming on ............to us.

[ifk101]

That selection feels very narrow - so presuming Doherty and McClean will play more advanced to add width.

The FAI has been posting videos from training and pretty sure Kelleher had strapping support on an elbow. Guessing he's not 100% but I'd pick Bazunu in goals out of the three available anyway.

[tetsujin1979]

McClean has almost half of the caps total of the starting XI
1400475120439812106

[centre mid]

Not a great watch so far very stop start. Ball in the air far too much.

[Trequartista20]

Very, very poor again from Kenny's Ireland. Andorra have been at least our equals. Were the Andorrans to show a modicum more ambition I could easily see them winning this.

[centre mid]

Still waiting for Matt Doherty to have a decent game for Ireland.