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

[pineapple stu]

Will leave Tets to standardise the thread title (which works well actually)

Less than a month to go to one of our biggest friendlies in recent years. Against Andorra... We have to win this one, don't we? (To put in context how far we've fallen, the site eloratings.net says we're actually closer in strength to Andorra than to Belgium.)

Would very much like to see Kelleher in these games, though I see he hasn't made the Liverpool bench since January. Is he still injured?

Beyond that, I don't really care so long as we beat Andorra.

[Eirambler]

Kelleher reportedly back training with Liverpool so should be in line for his first cap in June.

[Bielsa´s irish]

sean mcdermott
jamie mcgrath
anthony scully
joe gallagher

any news on the celtic kid? for me this is the time to make him ours

[tetsujin1979]

Gallagher might not be able to leave the states

[Bielsa´s irish]

Gallagher might not be able to leave the states
its a FIFA date

FAI COULD block him from playing if the team or government block the call up, what about the mexican or canadian or jamaican players there ? we have some there, not call yet for the nat team, but Venezuela Colombia Paraguay Bolivia Ecuador and Paraguay are calling guys from the mls .,..not rejection whatsoever

if there is a time to check this cat is now

[tetsujin1979]

Friendlies are not FIFA dates, only competitive games.

[samhaydenjr]

Players I'd like to see get their first caps:

Kelleher, Omobamidele, Scully, Nathan Collins

Players I think need more international experience in advance of the autumn qualifiers:

Bazunu, O'Shea, Manning, Cullen, James Collins, Connolly, Idah, Obafemi (definitely Obafemi)

[Colbert Report]

Kelleher, Omobamidele, and Nathan Collins will likely form the core of our defensive set-up for the next decade. We definitely need to see those three starting if they are available.

Jon Gallagher is definitely worth calling up if the FAI are willing to pay his travel costs from America. He might never start a competitive match for us, but we're so weak on forward options that we have nothing to lose by seeing what he's made of.

[Olé Olé]

I'd agree with your list and also say that there is definitely scope for SPL and League One players (additional to Scully) to be brought in given the standard of the opposition and the drop off in participation rates from Premiership and Championship these matches always see.

I would add Jamie McGrath and Olamide Shodipo in there on that basis.

Players I can see making in due to withdrawals would be:
I think Smallbone is injured but Will Ferry making it in there would be fine with me too and Lewis Richards and Conor Coventry would be in similar situations to Ferry and potentially worth a look also.

We are likely to see a couple of under 21 players in there too, lads that Kenny has worked with at that level before. Afolabi and O'Connor would be the two that spring to mind. Not sure if Conor McCarthy at St. Mirren worked with Kenny at that level but he might not be too far away either. Connor Ronan is another name.

From some of the less traditional leagues for us, I wonder if someone like Graham Carey, Jon Gallagher, Derrick Williams and Jake Mulraney will get a call. Williams is an obvious one.

[Eirambler]

I expect a few players will drop out alright, but I'd be disappointed if we needed to go digging as deep as that to fill the squad. There's a good few players mentioned - such as Gallagher, Mulraney, Carey that are not good enough at the moment and almost certainly never will be. Both Gallagher and Mulraney were very average in Scotland and Carey is a bit of a journeyman really.

The likes of Ferry, Richards and Omobamidele will be with the Under 21s I would imagine. Afolabi will make the under 21 squad at best - he's lucky there's a good few under 21 forwards in the senior squad or he wouldn't even make that squad. I'd quite like to see Obafemi called up to the seniors again, but I suspect it will be the under 21s for him also.

Kelleher, Taylor and Scully should hopefully win their first senior caps. Not sure where Nathan Collins is at in terms of fitness, might not travel with either squad as he hasn't featured for Stoke in a while. McGrath and Shodipo would be worth a look and maybe also Sykes if we're short of numbers. McNamara, Ogbene and Kioso may be others who are worth a callup if we're particularly short in their positions. It would be useful to confirm Kioso as an Irish player if he's happy to commit to us. I'd have Jimmy Dunne and Warren O'Hora in the squad before Conor McCarthy at this stage, although probably not much between them and it's a position of depth so they might not be required.

[kennedmc]

I'm a fan of Stephen Kenny even though he in my opinion has made 2 big mistakes so far (Selection of back room team and playing inexperienced players)

BUT he needs to start winning some f**king games! Therefore team selection should reflect this.

[Eirambler]

Absolutely - if they were available I'd want him to pick his best squad here. Have a full camp with the first team squad and work on his game plan for the autumn.

The issue though is that a lot of players have come through a condensed season which started late - Championship and League 1 players in particular have been playing two games a week all year. Some players were involved in the late finish to the previous season also and didn't get much of a break in between seasons. So I'm expecting player dropouts to be in double figures here and that should give the opportunity to bring some new names in.

[sbgawa]

We need to turn things around quickly, bad results and lower rankings are like snowballs and gather pace through younger players opting not to declare for you as it looks unattractive and older players retiring early as it seems pointless.
Would Rice have declared for Ireland if we were qualifying for WC and EC , probably/possibly , would McGoldrick have retired if we were flying probably not.

[Diggs246]

Will leave Tets to standardise the thread title (which works well actually)

Less than a month to go to one of our biggest friendlies in recent years. Against Andorra... We have to win this one, don't we? (To put in context how far we've fallen, the site eloratings.net says we're actually closer in strength to Andorra than to Belgium.)

Would very much like to see Kelleher in these games, though I see he hasn't made the Liverpool bench since January. Is he still injured?

Beyond that, I don't really care so long as we beat Andorra.

"one of our biggest friendlies in recent years. Against Andorra... We have to win this one, don't we?"

Well is appears Kenny has been given some sort of footballing diplomatic immunity, so I would be of the view that we could actually lose the match and a similar debate posts lux game will take place
I think we will draw the match if im honest

[sadloserkid]

I can't see that. Andorra are a whole other type of awful than Luxembourg. We'll win 2-0/3-0 which won't move anybody from their current stance in the "Kenny deserves at least 25 years to get this right/Kenny deserves to be loaded into a catapult and hurled into the Irish Sea immediately" opinions.

[Trequartista20]

"one of our biggest friendlies in recent years. Against Andorra... We have to win this one, don't we?"

Well is appears Kenny has been given some sort of footballing diplomatic immunity, so I would be of the view that we could actually lose the match and a similar debate posts lux game will take place
I think we will draw the match if im honest

If nothing else you have to say Kenny has been brilliant in very quickly and dramatically lowering expectations among the Irish footballing public.

When you consider what Irish football fans previously viewed as acceptable in terms of performance, much less results, under McCarthy - who played and managed in the English top-flight, as well as playing in a European Championship and World Cup for Ireland and managing in a World Cup, and O'Neill and Keane, who managed in the Premier League as well as winning European Cups and English league titles as players - the turnaround has been little short of miraculous.

[Razors left peg]

I can't see that. Andorra are a whole other type of awful than Luxembourg. We'll win 2-0/3-0 which won't move anybody from their current stance in the "Kenny deserves at least 25 years to get this right/Kenny deserves to be loaded into a catapult and hurled into the Irish Sea immediately" opinions.

Kenny is the Donald Trump of Ireland.... Hes either the messiah or destroying the place depending on who you talk to ;)

[seanfhear]

Kenny is the Donald Trump of Ireland.... Hes either the messiah or destroying the place depending on who you talk to ;)
Make Ireland Great Again in Football = = We may have been intermitently " Great " but how often were we actually ?

[Eirambler]

The "Kenny In" crowd must all be right wing Republicans then. :)

[Razors left peg]

The "Kenny In" crowd must all be right wing Republicans then. :)

Im confused as hell so , Im Kenny in and Trump is a lunatic ;)

[tetsujin1979]

I'm in the "he's a good manager, but out of his depth at senior international level, and (at best) the remainder of his reign will be to cap some promising youth players for the next manager" camp

[Eminence Grise]

Much the same, with the rider that I hope he'll grow into the role or strike it lucky. Waiting for the first win is a monkey on the back - who knows what could click after it comes. Optimist by nature!

[Olé Olé]

Much the same, with the rider that I hope he'll grow into the role or strike it lucky. Waiting for the first win is a monkey on the back - who knows what could click after it comes. Optimist by nature!

This is then me. But I am more hopeful than I am confident regarding your rider.

I think the 20/21 season has been a very difficult one for him. COVID, COVID complications and, most critically, player stagnation or slower progression have played a big part. I may have been a little too optimistic about the emergence of our younger lads and none have really kicked on at club level like I had hoped, with the exception of O'Shea and Knight and the slightly older Cullen. In another year, we may have struck oil with a few more of the talents we have. Connolly, Molumby, Parrott and Idah didn't meet my own personal expectations/hopes. A Manning, Curtis, Browne or Lenihan didn't emerge as a serious option for us to rely on and drive their club career up the league ladder in tandem. Jack Byrne, O'Dowda or Seani Maguire didn't do anything to make them squad members. We have had plenty debate on here about Kelleher, Bazunu and Travers but, as goalkeepers, all are a bit young.

Overall, Kenny has a bit to do but the emergence of a few exciting players has really not happened for him like it has tended to happen intermittently over the past few years- O'Shea, Knight and Cullen aside, though you could debate whether they have emerged to the extent that we need and maybe the answer is no.

[Exgrad]

I'm a fan of Stephen Kenny even though he in my opinion has made 2 big mistakes so far (Selection of back room team and playing inexperienced players)

BUT he needs to start winning some f**king games! Therefore team selection should reflect this.

Agree with that, the biggest selection mistake he has made was dropping Coleman at the start, the one player we have playing consistently well in the top half of the premier league, and he was benched. I guess Kenny has gotten plenty of grief but there should still be some left over to throw at him for that call. I see Ancelotti has Coleman playing right side of midfield, i thought he was excellent there against West Ham...of course we try and shoehorn him in as a third centre back.

[McDee]

Did he play poorly as a third centre back? Did Ancelotti "shoehorn" him in as a right sided midfielder? Kenny chose the Spurs right-back over the Everton right-back. Plenty to criticise him for, but you're the shoehorner here ...

[seanfhear]

Perhaps Coleman was nursing himself a bit at that time. He wasn't his old self for Everton there for awhile after the leg-break. Perhaps Coleman and Kenny were in agreement about Coleman not playing. In any case Doherty did not take his chance and it will be interesting to see how Doherty fares at Spurs under a new manager. Doherty being a Mourinho signing ( do they have the same agent or is it that Mourinho's agent has a lot of connections to Wolves players and manager )

Doherty could easily fall out of favour at Spurs under a new manager.

[Razors left peg]

Agree with that, the biggest selection mistake he has made was dropping Coleman at the start, the one player we have playing consistently well in the top half of the premier league, and he was benched. I guess Kenny has gotten plenty of grief but there should still be some left over to throw at him for that call. I see Ancelotti has Coleman playing right side of midfield, i thought he was excellent there against West Ham...of course we try and shoehorn him in as a third centre back.

To be fair there has been plenty of people calling for Doherty to start ahead of Coleman in recent times. It was a mistake though. Colemans leadership alone should make him 1st name on team sheet.

[seanfhear]

To be fair there has been plenty of people calling for Doherty to start ahead of Coleman in recent times. It was a mistake though. Colemans leadership alone should make him 1st name on team sheet.
It was put to the test and Doherty did not seize the opportunity. Interesting to see what plays out with Doherty for Club and Country.

[Razors left peg]

It was put to the test and Doherty did not seize the opportunity. Interesting to see what plays out with Doherty for Club and Country.

He looked a shadow of the player he was at Wolves last season. He even looked slow

[seanfhear]

He looked a shadow of the player he was at Wolves last season. He even looked slow
He should have stayed at Wolves from a footballing point of view but I suppose he made a decent whack with the Spurs deal. Obviously the way Wolves played suited him but did Wolves want to keep him ?

Who knows exactly what went on bar Doherty himself and maybe a few more. We may never find out all the goings on. It will be interesting to see what goes on with Doherty from here.

[Olé Olé]

Spurs were in for Nagelsmann to replace Mourinho, by all accounts, but Bayern nabbed him. Nagelsmann, like Tuchel, likes the wing backs. We could have seen a serious turn around in fortunes for Doherty in that case.

[Exgrad]

Did he play poorly as a third centre back? Did Ancelotti "shoehorn" him in as a right sided midfielder? Kenny chose the Spurs right-back over the Everton right-back. Plenty to criticise him for, but you're the shoehorner here ...

How did you think it worked out playing him as a third centre back against Luxemburg? A success?

Colemans strength has always been his attacking play, which Ancelotti seems to have worked out. Not sure we need to turn Coleman into a centre back with the players we have coming through in that position.

[Snapshot]

He should have stayed at Wolves from a footballing point of view but I suppose he made a decent whack with the Spurs deal. Obviously the way Wolves played suited him but did Wolves want to keep him ?

Who knows exactly what went on bar Doherty himself and maybe a few more. We may never find out all the goings on. It will be interesting to see what goes on with Doherty from here.

It will. He doesn't turn into a bad player overnight. Who'd be inspired by the managers he was lumbered with last season? One is gone, the other in the departure lounge.

[Diggs246]

I dont want to start world war 3, but if Andorra beat us 2-0. If there anyone here currently in the "kenny camp" that will defect?

[ltfc_2004]

We will beat Andorra in a turgid game 2/3 -0 but the game I am more interested in is Hungary and what our current standing really is. Its a good test against a similar standard team.

[passinginterest]

I dont want to start world war 3, but if Andorra beat us 2-0. If there anyone here currently in the "kenny camp" that will defect?

I'd be a staunch a supporter of Kenny and believe he should get 2 full campaigns before he's judged. But I do think a defeat to Andorra leaves his position as untenable. Not sure how I'd feel if it's a draw, it certainly wouldn't make it any easier to continue to support him.

[John83]

We will beat Andorra in a turgid game 2/3 -0 but the game I am more interested in is Hungary and what our current standing really is. Its a good test against a similar standard team.
Hungary are a much better team than us. They're at the standard people seem to think we're still at. If we get a score draw there, it'll be a big step forward.

And to be clear, I already switched to the Kenny out camp after Luxembourg broke my patience.

[Fixer82]

I'd be a staunch a supporter of Kenny and believe he should get 2 full campaigns before he's judged. But I do think a defeat to Andorra leaves his position as untenable. Not sure how I'd feel if it's a draw, it certainly wouldn't make it any easier to continue to support him.

I'm still supporting Kenny but anything less than a win against Andorra has to signal the end for him. Shows what a good job McCarthy was doing. I'd have liked to see how we got on if he'd stayed for rest of the Euro campaign

[jbyrne]

since 1985 (when i first really followed the team) I have gone into every single game thinking there was at least some chance we'd win the game under the managers we had, except maybe stan.
i know the playing pool is currently at a low point but when I am not remotely surprised when we lose to luxembourg then its game over for me. i can see us only winning maybe a single game in this group and no wins wouldn't surprise me.
We just don't play to our strengths and sometimes (maybe all the time) the manager needs to let go of his principles and be pragmatic. That's what's generally served us so well before.

[paul_oshea]

Hungary are a much better team than us. They're at the standard people seem to think we're still at. If we get a score draw there, it'll be a big step forward.

And to be clear, I already switched to the Kenny out camp after Luxembourg broke my patience.

To be clear here, what is our standard, and what was our standard on say March of 2019.

There seems to be very changeable standard depending on who is talking, and in what context. There is very little consistency, especially from the so called " we dont deserve to be at a Championships playing like that ", " I dont want to see us at a Championship, while playing that type of football" etc.

The players haven't changed that much from when we finished 3rd in the Euro campaign. But the results certainly have.

Ancelotti came out with a good one last weekend, possession is not a correlation for winning(or something to that effect before i am asked to find the quote, i cant remember word for word), its for another sport. Those can no longer hide behind that one.

On the Kenny debate, he can thrive when he has the players to play his one way of playing, when he doesn't have that or the buy in, he's well out of his depth. I can't see him turning it around at all, but he's done so much damage now, I am not sure what can be done in the short term anyway. A stop gap manager is not what we need or want now. We need someone who can take a team very low in confidence, and start getting results, also with the future in mind. But just because I or others cant think of anyone available or suitable at the moment, that isnt a caveat to stick with the failing regime for further detriment to our team.

[Olé Olé]

Hungary are a much better team than us. They're at the standard people seem to think we're still at. If we get a score draw there, it'll be a big step forward.

And to be clear, I already switched to the Kenny out camp after Luxembourg broke my patience.

I had a look at their squad and I didn't think that lined up with your assertion re Hungary. However, their recent results most certainly do. Very impressive.

Recent match results

31 Mar 2021
Andorra v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/andorra-v-hungary-31-march-2021-369871/)
1-4


28 Mar 2021
San Marino v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/san-marino-v-hungary-28-march-2021-369870/)
0-3


25 Mar 2021
Hungary v Poland (https://www.11v11.com/matches/hungary-v-poland-25-march-2021-369867/)
3-3


18 Nov 2020
Hungary v Turkey (https://www.11v11.com/matches/hungary-v-turkey-18-november-2020-368349/)
2-0


15 Nov 2020
Hungary v Serbia (https://www.11v11.com/matches/hungary-v-serbia-15-november-2020-368348/)
1-1


12 Nov 2020
Hungary v Iceland (https://www.11v11.com/matches/hungary-v-iceland-12-november-2020-368303/)
2-1


14 Oct 2020
Russia v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/russia-v-hungary-14-october-2020-367685/)
0-0


11 Oct 2020
Serbia v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/serbia-v-hungary-11-october-2020-367684/)
0-1


08 Oct 2020
Bulgaria v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/bulgaria-v-hungary-08-october-2020-367201/)
1-3


06 Sep 2020
Hungary v Russia (https://www.11v11.com/matches/hungary-v-russia-06-september-2020-366725/)
2-3


03 Sep 2020
Turkey v Hungary (https://www.11v11.com/matches/turkey-v-hungary-03-september-2020-366724/)
0-1

[NeverFeltBetter]

Failure to beat Andorra should see an immediate end to Kenny's tenure, either through his resignation or sacking, his position would be unjustifiable. There's really no other way of looking at it.

As for Hungary, that will be a difficult but useful game. Defeat quite likely I would say, but a draw not impossible at all.

[paul_oshea]

Failure to beat Andorra should see an immediate end to Kenny's tenure, either through his resignation or sacking, his position would be unjustifiable. There's really no other way of looking at it.

As for Hungary, that will be a difficult but useful game. Defeat quite likely I would say, but a draw not impossible at all.

I don't see Kenny leaving, he thinks he can turn things around. If it comes to him being sacke, he shouldn't look for a pay-day it would be quite low.

[pineapple stu]

Worth noting on the Eloratings site (https://www.eloratings.net/) that Hungary are about 130 points ahead of us, which means they should be expected to beat us two times out of three (ignoring draws)

They've had a great run of form (as flagged) and at the end of 2019 they were actually 100 points behind us.

[John83]

Our rating there has been sliding too quickly to really treat it as stable. Our performance rating under Kenny is closer to 300 points below Hungary, which gives us odds of more like 4:1 against a win. You'd hope that's an excessively pessimistic estimate. They have quite an old squad, and I'd guess they'll start to slide back in the next year or two. Still, a crap time to play them as they're better than their reputation, just like Qatar were, and Kenny's maybe a bit unlucky to have two such games - where a decent result will look bad, and a good one shrugged off as hardly unexpected - at a time when he needs a bit of positivity.

[Razors left peg]

I dont want to start world war 3, but if Andorra beat us 2-0. If there anyone here currently in the "kenny camp" that will defect?

100% I'd change my mind. I still think there have been a lot of mitigating factors up to this point which is why Im still in the "Kenny Camp". A loss to Andorra would have to be the end of him no doubt. Andorra and Luxemborg are not like for like. I believe Id be right in saying that Andorra are mainly part timers?

[pineapple stu]

Half their squad on wiki is domestic-based anyway, so yeah, I can't see too many of those being full-time pros.

There is an Andorra FC in the Spanish leagues; they're in the play-offs for promotion to the second flight. But there's no Andorran players with them.

[Snapshot]

Coleman, Doherty, Clark, Stevens, Egan, Brady, McCarthy etc don't deserve the drudgery of this silly friendly. I see no sense in picking players with over, say, five caps. If Stephen Kenny selects them it's primarily to save his own bacon. A team from Foot.ie would beat Andorra.

[pineapple stu]

A team from Foot.ie would beat Andorra.
I sincerely hope Kenny avoids anything like that sort of attitude anyway.

[John83]

Coleman, Doherty, Clark, Stevens, Egan, Brady, McCarthy etc don't deserve the drudgery of this silly friendly. I see no sense in picking players with over, say, five caps. If Stephen Kenny selects them it's primarily to save his own bacon. A team from Foot.ie would beat Andorra.
Albania only beat them 1-0 in a World Cup Qualifier 7 weeks ago. And yes, Albania are a bit worse than us currently, but I assume they didn't drop all of their best players for that match either. If Kenny doesn't take the match seriously, he deserves to lose and to be fired... out of a canon overlooking the deepest valley in the Pyrenees.