Republic of Ireland V Belgium - Saturday, 26th March 2022 - Friendly

[Stuttgart88]

Thought Cullen was very good again. Robinson and Ogbene are rightly getting a lot of praise but I think Cullen is equally important to how we are playing now. He's been superb. Always there to take the ball, uses it well and he can tackle as well. We haven't had a player like him for a while.Exactly. Our players aren’t afraid to give him the ball in tight situations and he’s not afraid to receive it. He’s got very good awareness and protects the ball well. It’s his give and go’s that open up the pitch for our better attacks. Keane used to do this for us, and more.

About elatedscum’s point above, Ogbene said in his post match interview that we struggled to deal with Belgium’s midfielders dropping so deep but the game changed when we finally figured it out. There were several times where we burst their possession through a high press and it was great to see. Of course maybe you could say that Kenny/Andrews/Eustace could have figured it out earlier but that that’d be a glass half empty way of looking at it.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Would rather be on the hype train than the negativity express tbh.

Undoubtedly it wasn’t Belgium’s first team, or anything like it yesterday, but still a lot of good players. No one is saying the Irish team are world beaters, but the improvement in performances is thee for everyone to see. Your persistent refusal to give Stephen Kenny any sort of credit just looks extremely churlish at this stage. Now that Anthony Barry is gone, what’s your next position ? I suppose the new coach is actually running the team as well ? Don’t worry though, I’m sure we’ll get another poor result at some stage, and you can resume normal service.

What you're saying is you want Kenny to get credit for getting a draw against a depleted Belgium in a friendly because it's an improvement from the depths he brought us to during the first part of his reign pre Barry. We've gone from coming agonisingly close to qualifying for the euros ahead of a good Denmark team to over celebrating a draw against Belgium B in a meaningless friendly.

We have some decent players and a good few with potential coming through. We should be competing with Belgium B, we should be beating Luxembourg and be competitive in qualifying for major tournaments. That's the norm with Ireland. Battling it out at the bottom of the table is not the norm, that's where Kenny took us.

Let's hope we can go back to our level.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!

[ontheotherhand]

Exactly. Our players aren’t afraid to give him the ball in tight situations and he’s not afraid to receive it. He’s got very good awareness and protects the ball well. It’s his give and go’s that open up the pitch for our better attacks. Keane used to do this for us, and more.

About elatedscum’s point above, Ogbene said in his post match interview that we struggled to deal with Belgium’s midfielders dropping so deep but the game changed when we finally figured it out. There were several times where we burst their possession through a high press and it was great to see. Of course maybe you could say that Kenny/Andrews/Eustace could have figured it out earlier but that that’d be a glass half empty way of looking at it.

I almost made the same comparison Stutts. That's who he reminds me of. Not at the same levels obviously but he does the simple stuff really well. We've had a succession of midfielders who lacked the confidence to demand the ball, likely due to both their club form and their international manager bypassing them tactically and/or talking negatively about their ability. It's really nice to see us play through midfield and Cullen is key to it. We need a few more to emerge around him. Not knocking Knight or Hendrick who both did well enough but I think we'd really miss Cullen now.

[mypost]

What you're saying is you want Kenny to get credit for getting a draw against a depleted Belgium in a friendly because it's an improvement from the depths he brought us to during the first part of his reign pre Barry. We've gone from coming agonisingly close to qualifying for the euros ahead of a good Denmark team to over celebrating a draw against Belgium B in a meaningless friendly.

We have some decent players and a good few with potential coming through. We should be competing with Belgium B, we should be beating Luxembourg and be competitive in qualifying for major tournaments. That's the norm with Ireland. Battling it out at the bottom of the table is not the norm, that's where Kenny took us.

Let's hope we can go back to our level.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!

We did beat Luxembourg, or maybe you forgot about it already. We're not over celebrating a draw against the No. 1 side in the world at home, but we are seeing more signs of progress. That's where we're at.

Our competitive record is 10 wins since 2014. Our qualification record is 2 tournaments in 20 years. We had the chance to get to the last Euros by either beating Switzerland away or Denmark at home, but couldn't do it, so the reset button had to be pressed. That's the norm with Ireland, not winning games and not qualifying for tournaments, Kenny or no Kenny. Qualification is hoped for rather than expected, the way it was until 1987. Tbf, most people have realised that now. I'm sure you will come round eventually.

[Razors left peg]

What you're saying is you want Kenny to get credit for getting a draw against a depleted Belgium in a friendly because it's an improvement from the depths he brought us to during the first part of his reign pre Barry. We've gone from coming agonisingly close to qualifying for the euros ahead of a good Denmark team to over celebrating a draw against Belgium B in a meaningless friendly.

We have some decent players and a good few with potential coming through. We should be competing with Belgium B, we should be beating Luxembourg and be competitive in qualifying for major tournaments. That's the norm with Ireland. Battling it out at the bottom of the table is not the norm, that's where Kenny took us.

Let's hope we can go back to our level.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!

The fact that you feel the need to sign off your post with boomshakalaka tells me all I need to know about how serious to take anything you say

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

We did beat Luxembourg, or maybe you forgot about it already. We're not over celebrating a draw against the No. 1 side in the world at home, but we are seeing more signs of progress. That's where we're at.

Our competitive record is 10 wins since 2014. Our qualification record is 2 tournaments in 20 years. We had the chance to get to the last Euros by either beating Switzerland away or Denmark at home, but couldn't do it, so the reset button had to be pressed. That's the norm with Ireland, not winning games and not qualifying for tournaments, Kenny or no Kenny. Qualification is hoped for rather than expected, the way it was until 1987. Tbf, most people have realised that now. I'm sure you will come round eventually.

Did you forget the defeat to Luxembourg which effectively knocked us out of World cup qualifying after 2 games? That's not the norm for Ireland, competing with Luxembourg and Azerbaijan instead of competing with Switzerland and Denmark under the previous manager.

You've bought into the myth that we were minnows pre Kenny and he's trying to drag us out of years in the doldrums. The truth is that Kenny dragged us down to minnow level and got extremely lucky with the Chelsea coach coming on board and organising the team for him.

[Razors left peg]

And you think anyone takes your posts seriously? 

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!
Zing, great comeback.... right up there with I know you are but what am I

[tetsujin1979]

And you think anyone takes your posts seriously? 😂

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!
BS the routine is getting tiresome. Either engage in the discussion, or kindly take it elsewhere

[Supreme feet]

Lads. It’s a clear and obvious WUM profile.

We’ve had some whoppers on this site over the years. The ‘Crapattoni out, Paul McShame, Kevin Kilbad’ guy. The lad who despised Robbie Keane. The lunatics who worshipped Aiden McGeady, David Connolly and St. Ledger, and got hysterical if you praised any challengers for their place in the team/squad.

There’s an ignore function on here. Use it. Don’t engage, don’t quote obvious WUM posts.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

BS the routine is getting tiresome. Either engage in the discussion, or kindly take it elsewhere

I've deleted those posts there. I think I've engaged in the discussion, backing up my points etc. Hopefully others can make their points in a similar fashion.

[mypost]

Did you forget the defeat to Luxembourg which effectively knocked us out of World cup qualifying after 2 games? That's not the norm for Ireland, competing with Luxembourg and Azerbaijan instead of competing with Switzerland and Denmark under the previous manager.

You've bought into the myth that we were minnows pre Kenny and he's trying to drag us out of years in the doldrums. The truth is that Kenny dragged us down to minnow level and got extremely lucky with the Chelsea coach coming on board and organising the team for him.

We beat Luxembourg to finish level on points with them. We know from the last NL that Luxembourg were improving, and had players at European Cup level, while we were stuck with players at Rochdale and Bournemouth and Sheffield United. So with just 3 home wins before the Luxembourg game, I didn't expect to beat them at home and we didn't. Apart from the worst of the bottom seeds, we can't expect to beat anyone at home these days. Our win record in the NL is identical to that of San Marino. So that's where we're at. Clearly you expect better than that, but times change, other teams improve, and expectations have to be adjusted accordingly, when the results speak for themselves.

The previous manager had one job. Get us to a 24 team Euros, so we could play it at home. He didn't have to blood new players, or change our style, or deal with a pandemic. That's what Kenny has had to deal with, and get results while he's at it. We rarely won games before he arrived, and we rarely win games now. At least we have a long term plan now, that goes beyond qualify for the next tournament at all costs.

[Olé Olé]

We beat Luxembourg to finish level on points with them. We know from the last NL that Luxembourg were improving, and had players at European Cup level, while we were stuck with players at Rochdale and Bournemouth and Sheffield United. So with just 3 home wins before the Luxembourg game, I didn't expect to beat them at home and we didn't. Apart from the worst of the bottom seeds, we can't expect to beat anyone at home these days. Our win record in the NL is identical to that of San Marino. So that's where we're at. Clearly you expect better than that, but times change, other teams improve, and expectations have to be adjusted accordingly, when the results speak for themselves.

The previous manager had one job. Get us to a 24 team Euros, so we could play it at home. He didn't have to blood new players, or change our style, or deal with a pandemic. That's what Kenny has had to deal with, and get results while he's at it. We rarely won games before he arrived, and we rarely win games now. At least we have a long term plan now, that goes beyond qualify for the next tournament at all costs.

Yes, that is where we are at. At the same level as San Marino....

[pineapple stu]

Looking at the goals again there - did Ogbene's get deflected in? I can't work out what Mignolet is doing - it looks like he jumps for a shot reasonably right at him, but then the ball seems to end up in the far corner. There's a replay from behind the goal, but the (possible) deflection is blocked.

Could be seeing something that isn't there, and obviously it doesn't matter - but just curious how it went in

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

We beat Luxembourg to finish level on points with them. We know from the last NL that Luxembourg were improving, and had players at European Cup level, while we were stuck with players at Rochdale and Bournemouth and Sheffield United. So with just 3 home wins before the Luxembourg game, I didn't expect to beat them at home and we didn't. Apart from the worst of the bottom seeds, we can't expect to beat anyone at home these days. Our win record in the NL is identical to that of San Marino. So that's where we're at. Clearly you expect better than that, but times change, other teams improve, and expectations have to be adjusted accordingly, when the results speak for themselves.

The previous manager had one job. Get us to a 24 team Euros, so we could play it at home. He didn't have to blood new players, or change our style, or deal with a pandemic. That's what Kenny has had to deal with, and get results while he's at it. We rarely won games before he arrived, and we rarely win games now. At least we have a long term plan now, that goes beyond qualify for the next tournament at all costs.

Talking up Luxembourg? Like when Stan was talking up San Marino. We absolutely battered Denmark in McCarthy's last game, that's where the bar was for Kenny. McCarthy's record was 5 wins, 4 draws and just 1 defeat. Kenny came in and drove us backwards. He inherited a decent squad with many promising youngsters coming through.

He was given a strong hand but failed to get us through a play off, had an abysmal nations league and finished miles behind qualification for the world cup. Those are the facts. He's very lucky to be still in the job. A lot more than drawing at home to Belgium B in a friendly will need to be achieved before he shows that he's anywhere close to being at this level.

[CraftyToePoke]

Its increasingly entertaining what fragments & crumbs the anti SK Ireland 'fans' will cling to rather than have the bit of humility (or decency) required to reevaluate. Or to even simply say nothing for a while. The marginally smarter ones are quieter alright but only tactically. As I said, entertaining at this stage, keep it up lads.

[nigel-harps1954]

Win the next Euros, only because others didn't have their full squads, or someone else transformed the coaching. There'll never be credit given to SK from some posters on here. I'm almost embarrassed for them.

[Eirambler]

Looking at the goals again there - did Ogbene's get deflected in? I can't work out what Mignolet is doing - it looks like he jumps for a shot reasonably right at him, but then the ball seems to end up in the far corner. There's a replay from behind the goal, but the (possible) deflection is blocked.

Could be seeing something that isn't there, and obviously it doesn't matter - but just curious how it went in

Yes, there was a huge deflection. The overhead kick from Ogbene was initially going straight towards Mignolet and would have been a straightforward tap over the bar for a corner. The deflection off I think it was Denayer diverted it away from Mignolet and in.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Its increasingly entertaining what fragments & crumbs the anti SK Ireland 'fans' will cling to rather than have the bit of humility (or decency) required to reevaluate. Or to even simply say nothing for a while. The marginally smarter ones are quieter alright but only tactically. As I said, entertaining at this stage, keep it up lads.

Who have we beaten under Kenny? What exactly has he done to prove to the Kenny fanatics that he's anywhere close to being up to the job?

Previous managers have been ripped to shreds and they actually qualified for tournaments. Kenny has barely won a match but he's been hailed by some as sort of Messiah!

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Win the next Euros, only because others didn't have their full squads, or someone else transformed the coaching. There'll never be credit given to SK from some posters on here. I'm almost embarrassed for them.

Credit for what? Seriously? We came joined 3rd with Luxembourg in the last campaign, we came just above Bulgaria in 3rd in the nations league, he lost to Euro play off to Slovakia. Is it credit for drawing at home to Belgium B?

[Razors left peg]

I like to be entertained when I watch football, I'm weird like that. We have become extremely entertaining to watch and it's great to think that we are still in the beginning of a build. For too long under some previous managers we were horrible to watch and you often wondered what was being done in training. If you are an Ireland fan and haven't enjoyed the progression of the last year and the football we are playing then maybe football just isn't for you

[mypost]

Talking up Luxembourg? Like when Stan was talking up San Marino. We absolutely battered Denmark in McCarthy's last game, that's where the bar was for Kenny. McCarthy's record was 5 wins, 4 draws and just 1 defeat. Kenny came in and drove us backwards. He inherited a decent squad with many promising youngsters coming through.

We had 2 shots on target against Denmark at home. The plan on that night was to stink the place out for 70 minutes, then smash the door down for the last 20 to nick the one goal from Duffy's head to get us to the Euros. It's embarrassing that the manager thought it was a viable tactic. The plans had to be changed when, we suddenly needed more than one goal to get us there, and surprise surprise, we didn't get them. There were no players coming through at the time, and today we would be playing with Randolph as undisputed No. 1. Since he left us, he's also been sacked somewhere else.

Luxembourg have improved in recent years, Finland have improved, Macedonia have improved. They reset, changed, planned properly, and are now much better than they were in years gone by, and it's ok to have a Macedonia now. Now we have to catch up with them.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

I like to be entertained when I watch football, I'm weird like that. We have become extremely entertaining to watch and it's great to think that we are still in the beginning of a build. For too long under some previous managers we were horrible to watch and you often wondered what was being done in training. If you are an Ireland fan and haven't enjoyed the progression of the last year and the football we are playing then maybe football just isn't for you

I know it's taboo to mention it but the improvement came with the influence of Barry. None of the Kenny fanatics will admit to that. Prior to Barry, we were horrible to watch. Barely able to score and we were dreadful. It improved a bit with some better coaching but it's still not great. Who have we beaten? We haven't achieved anything. Some may be happy to fall down the rankings and not come close to qualifying for anything because we pass the ball a bit more. I'm not and the FAI won't be either. Kenny will deserve credit when and if we start winning games and compete at the business end of qualification.

[Stuttgart88]

Looking at the goals again there - did Ogbene's get deflected in? I can't work out what Mignolet is doing - it looks like he jumps for a shot reasonably right at him, but then the ball seems to end up in the far corner. There's a replay from behind the goal, but the (possible) deflection is blocked.

Could be seeing something that isn't there, and obviously it doesn't matter - but just curious how it went in
Yep hit Demanyer’s head. Mignolet exonerated.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

We had 2 shots on target against Denmark at home. The plan on that night was to stink the place out for 70 minutes, then smash the door down for the last 20 to nick the one goal from Duffy's head to get us to the Euros. It's embarrassing that the manager thought it was a viable tactic. The plans had to be changed when, we suddenly needed more than one goal to get us there, and surprise surprise, we didn't get them. There were no players coming through at the time, and today we would be playing with Randolph as undisputed No. 1. Since he left us, he's also been sacked somewhere else.

Luxembourg have improved in recent years, Finland have improved, Macedonia have improved. They reset, changed, planned properly, and are now much better than they were in years gone by, and it's ok to have a Macedonia now. Now we have to catch up with them.

We had 15 shots, they had 3. Denmark went onto the semi finals of the euros. We deserved to knock them out that night. We battered them and if it was under Kenny, you would not be talking it down.

McCarthy brought in players, Connolly, O Shea and he has a proven record of bringing through players.

Other teams have improved, we've gone backwards under Kenny's stewardship. That's a fact, not opinion. The world rankings, league tables and horrendous results don't lie.

[Jd2793]

We had 15 shots, they had 3. Denmark went onto the semi finals of the euros. We deserved to knock them out that night. We battered them and if it was under Kenny, you would not be talking it down.

McCarthy brought in players, Connolly, O Shea and he has a proven record of bringing through players.

Other teams have improved, we've gone backwards under Kenny's stewardship. That's a fact, not opinion. The world rankings, league tables and horrendous results don't lie.


we only starting playing at 0-1. denmark came to not lose and they did it.

[Razors left peg]

I know it's taboo to mention it but the improvement came with the influence of Barry. None of the Kenny fanatics will admit to that. Prior to Barry, we were horrible to watch. Barely able to score and we were dreadful. It improved a bit with some better coaching but it's still not great. Who have we beaten? We haven't achieved anything. Some may be happy to fall down the rankings and not come close to qualifying for anything because we pass the ball a bit more. I'm not and the FAI won't be either. Kenny will deserve credit when and if we start winning games and compete at the business end of qualification.
Personally I think the improvement came when we were no longer losing 5 or 6 players every game to covid. Also when we were playing in front of fans and not an empty soulless stadium.

[pineapple stu]

You can probably pinpoint a few things in fairness. Young players getting game time at club level helped a bit too. Even a rub of the green with some big deflections (not just Ogbene's here, but thinking Duffy's opener in Luxembourg which changed the game, the farcical own goal against Serbia, Robinson's second in Azerbaijan (which the keeper should still have saved in fairness)) I think luck balances itself out over time, and Kenny had plenty of bad luck early on (with covid in particular)

Fortunately no-one's as narrow-minded as to say it's purely down to the coach.

Oh, wait...

[mypost]

We had 15 shots, they had 3. Denmark went onto the semi finals of the euros. We deserved to knock them out that night. We battered them and if it was under Kenny, you would not be talking it down.

McCarthy brought in players, Connolly, O Shea and he has a proven record of bringing through players.

Other teams have improved, we've gone backwards under Kenny's stewardship. That's a fact, not opinion. The world rankings, league tables and horrendous results don't lie.

The "horrendous" results now stand at 7 games unbeaten, and 1 loss in 10. You can downgrade it all you want, but that's an indisputable fact, not an opinion.

It is true that McCarthy brought in players, but that was in his first campaign only. We had 3 attempts to beat Denmark at home in recent years, didn't do it once. Two of them were for direct qualification for tournaments. For all the bull and bluster beforehand, they were the ones celebrating at the end of the night both times.

If you want to qualify for tournaments, you have to have the resources to get there. Right now, we don't have enough of them. So we have to think long term beyond the next qualifying campaign, and that's what we are doing. If the price for that is the odd setback against Luxembourg or even conceding a goal during a win in Andorra, that's the price that has to be paid. Most people have seen the progress we're making, the direction we're going is the only way we're going to get back to where we want to be.

[Supreme feet]

On McCarthy, he was brought in - on double the money that Kenny is earning - to make us difficult to play against, and hope for a bit of luck along the way. No more than that. Don't worry about developing youth or changing the style Mick, we're kicking that can down the road for yet another two years.

He made us hard to beat, in fairness - and he got a boatload of luck. We were lucky to get drawn in a five-team group with no traditional heavyweight, and one of the genuine minnows as a fifth seed. In the first game, Gibraltar missed a sitter to equalise late on. Denmark inexplicably dropped points against Georgia. We could then afford to draw with Georgia (and what an absolute spectacle that was, being dominated and outclassed by the 91st-ranked team in the world).

And yet, with all that luck, we still couldn't do enough to take advantage.

As said above, there's more to football than hitching your wagon to a winning team. We're most likely never going to win a major tournament, so entertainment is important. We want a team with the bravery, confidence and character to play some heads-up football, showcase what talent they have, and go after the win. When you're playing negative, ten-men-behind the ball rubbish, the end has to justify the means. Otherwise, you're just alienating the fans, disillusioning the players, and creating toxicity around the team - and by association, negatively impacting how soccer is viewed by the general public in this country. There's nowhere to hide when hoofball fails.

I was at the match with my nephews (9 and 11) yesterday; it was their first time going to a big football match, and they really enjoyed it. The goals, the football, the atmosphere - it's what you want them to experience. Not some sh*tshow like the 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland, or that nonsense at home to Gibraltar.

I've criticised Kenny before, and will do again, no doubt. I thought 2020 was a chance missed; we wasted lots of development time on a formation that was too open, and never going to work; and some broken/mediocre players (Brady, McCarthy, Curtis, O'Dowda, etc) who were never going to feature regularly for us in the future. I thought he put too much on the shoulders of Connolly, Idah, Parrott and Molumby against Azerbaijan at home. We really need to get more wins on the board, starting on Tuesday. But overall, the whole experience of following Ireland is a lot more enjoyable than at any point since 2016.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

we only starting playing at 0-1. denmark came to not lose and they did it.

Yes and they got to the semi finals of the euros. They are a very good team. If we played as good as that night under Kenny you would not be downplaying it.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Personally I think the improvement came when we were no longer losing 5 or 6 players every game to covid. Also when we were playing in front of fans and not an empty soulless stadium.

Kenny is so unlucky. We were the only country affected by covid.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

The "horrendous" results now stand at 7 games unbeaten, and 1 loss in 10. You can downgrade it all you want, but that's an indisputable fact, not an opinion.

It is true that McCarthy brought in players, but that was in his first campaign only. We had 3 attempts to beat Denmark at home in recent years, didn't do it once. Two of them were for direct qualification for tournaments. For all the bull and bluster beforehand, they were the ones celebrating at the end of the night both times.

If you want to qualify for tournaments, you have to have the resources to get there. Right now, we don't have enough of them. So we have to think long term beyond the next qualifying campaign, and that's what we are doing. If the price for that is the odd setback against Luxembourg or even conceding a goal during a win in Andorra, that's the price that has to be paid. Most people have seen the progress we're making, the direction we're going is the only way we're going to get back to where we want to be.

Horrendous results: losing at home to Luxembourg, drawing with Azerbaijan, unable to beat Bulgaria twice etc.

We failed to knock out Denmark but at least we were competing with them. Under Kenny we're competing with Luxembourg.

You're getting your excuses in early for Kenny. He has to get results. Full stop or he loses his job.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

On McCarthy, he was brought in - on double the money that Kenny is earning - to make us difficult to play against, and hope for a bit of luck along the way. No more than that. Don't worry about developing youth or changing the style Mick, we're kicking that can down the road for yet another two years.

He made us hard to beat, in fairness - and he got a boatload of luck. We were lucky to get drawn in a five-team group with no traditional heavyweight, and one of the genuine minnows as a fifth seed. In the first game, Gibraltar missed a sitter to equalise late on. Denmark inexplicably dropped points against Georgia. We could then afford to draw with Georgia (and what an absolute spectacle that was, being dominated and outclassed by the 91st-ranked team in the world).

And yet, with all that luck, we still couldn't do enough to take advantage.

As said above, there's more to football than hitching your wagon to a winning team. We're most likely never going to win a major tournament, so entertainment is important. We want a team with the bravery, confidence and character to play some heads-up football, showcase what talent they have, and go after the win. When you're playing negative, ten-men-behind the ball rubbish, the end has to justify the means. Otherwise, you're just alienating the fans, disillusioning the players, and creating toxicity around the team - and by association, negatively impacting how soccer is viewed by the general public in this country. There's nowhere to hide when hoofball fails.

I was at the match with my nephews (9 and 11) yesterday; it was their first time going to a big football match, and they really enjoyed it. The goals, the football, the atmosphere - it's what you want them to experience. Not some sh*tshow like the 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland, or that nonsense at home to Gibraltar.

I've criticised Kenny before, and will do again, no doubt. I thought 2020 was a chance missed; we wasted lots of development time on a formation that was too open, and never going to work; and some broken/mediocre players (Brady, McCarthy, Curtis, O'Dowda, etc) who were never going to feature regularly for us in the future. I thought he put too much on the shoulders of Connolly, Idah, Parrott and Molumby against Azerbaijan at home. We really need to get more wins on the board, starting on Tuesday. But overall, the whole experience of following Ireland is a lot more enjoyable than at any point since 2016.

There was some horrendous stuff under McCarthy. It just shows how bad a job Kenny has done to drive us backwards from there.

[mypost]

We failed to knock out Denmark but at least we were competing with them. Under Kenny we're competing with Luxembourg.

You're getting your excuses in early for Kenny. He has to get results. Full stop or he loses his job.

It's funny how it's ok for McCarthy to merely compete at home to Denmark, but Kenny has to get results instead.

Well he's got results and he kept his job. McCarthy had to get a result at home to Denmark, just one result. But he didn't get it, so just competing against them didn't keep his job.

[Diggs246]

Kenny deserves a pat on the back for playing Doherty and Coleman on the same team. McCarthy and MON deserve a slap across the face for not doing it

[third policeman]

It's funny how it's ok for McCarthy to merely compete at home to Denmark, but Kenny has to get results instead.

Well he's got results and he kept his job. McCarthy had to get a result at home to Denmark, just one result. But he didn't get it, so just competing against them didn't keep his job.

To be fair to Mick, the preceding results set up the opportunity against Denmark. His football was pragmatic maybe even ugly at times, but he was working to a brief which was to qualify for a tournament. Kenny had a different brief and has been given the opportunity to experiment and fail with an emphasis on the longer term. Things have improved and it would be ludicrous not to give him credit for that. The style is easier on the eye, young players have been given a chance and results have been more encouraging. But the hype is as yet a bit premature. The NL games are the acid test. We can look forward to them with more hope and confidence than a year ago, but we still don’t know for certain how this team will prosper in competitive games against better opposition.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

It's funny how it's ok for McCarthy to merely compete at home to Denmark, but Kenny has to get results instead.

Well he's got results and he kept his job. McCarthy had to get a result at home to Denmark, just one result. But he didn't get it, so just competing against them didn't keep his job.

As I said, things weren't great under McCarthy but we were competitive. The bar wasn't that high but Kenny hasn't even come close to it.

[Jd2793]

re writing history under mccarthy. he struggled against gibraltor and georgia. delighted hes gone , a waste of 18 months. onwards and upwards under this management.

[pineapple stu]

Ah that's harsh. Yeah, Gibraltar and Georgia were painful, but he did a job. He's a good manager and got us to the Euro playoffs. Given a longer contact, would he have taken the same longer-term view Kenny could? His previous spell in charge suggests he could well have.

I think he deserves huge respect as Ireland manager

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

re writing history under mccarthy. he struggled against gibraltor and georgia. delighted hes gone , a waste of 18 months. onwards and upwards under this management.

He only had 10 games in charge. He won 5, drew 4 and lost 1. He was in a group with Switzerland and Denmark who made it to the later stages of the European finals. The only rewriting of history is from Kenny fanatics who want to paint us as minnows prior to his arrival only to be saved by the Messiah.

McCarthy wasn't great but we would have qualified for the euros if he was left in charge, instead we've had a miserable few campaigns under Kenny.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Ah that's harsh. He did a job. He's a good manager and guy us to the Euro playoffs. Given a longer contact, would he have taken the same longer-term view Kenny could? His previous spell in charge suggests he could well have.

I think he deserves huge respect as Ireland manager

Everyone is fair game when it comes to defending Kenny. Trapatoni, O Neill, Keane, McCarthy, Randolph, Obefami, the list goes on. It's like a cult, you dare not disrespect the glorious leader.

[Jd2793]

McCarthy wasn't great but we would have qualified for the euros if he was left in charge, instead we've had a miserable few campaigns under Kenny.

no evidence to back that up given what we produced under him. ireland should have won in the 120 mins with kenny in charge. those sitters from browne and hourihane were a joke

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

no evidence to back that up given what we produced under him. ireland should have won in the 120 mins with kenny in charge. those sitters from browne and hourihane were a joke

We were undefeated against the Euro semi finalists under McCarthy. Slovakia had a covid crisis and we had a full squad including Mcgoldrick. A perfect chance for Kenny to kickstart his reign but he failed.

The way you and others are acting, you'd swear Kenny's and McCarthy's records were the other way around.

[Kingdom]

. The lunatics who worshipped Aiden McGeady, David Connolly and St. Ledger, and got hysterical if you praised any challengers for their place in the team/squad..

HEY!!!

McGeady deserved your worship, still deserves it.

All hail McGeddy.

[Razors left peg]

Ah that's harsh. Yeah, Gibraltar and Georgia were painful, but he did a job. He's a good manager and got us to the Euro playoffs. Given a longer contact, would he have taken the same longer-term view Kenny could? His previous spell in charge suggests he could well have.

I think he deserves huge respect as Ireland manager

Did we not get to the Euro playoffs based on being 4th in our group in NL under O'Neill and were basically in playoffs by default?

[Kingdom]

Anyone who wants to know anything about Mick v2.0 just needs to look at the first 30 seconds in Gibraltar. He had the chance to set the tone and literally kicked it away up up up into the sky in the middle of a hurricane.

[Razors left peg]

Darren Randolph wasting time on a goal kick 20 mins into the game in Georgia was the pinnacle of my frustration with McCarthy. Played for a draw in a game we really needed to win

[DCWA]

Everyone is fair game when it comes to defending Kenny. Trapatoni, O Neill, Keane, McCarthy, Randolph, Obefami, the list goes on. It's like a cult, you dare not disrespect the glorious leader.

Aye well this is basically it so knock it on the head mate.

THE BOSS is THE BOSS

Really not much more to say

BOOMSHAKAKENNY!!

[CraftyToePoke]

It's like a cult, you dare not disrespect the glorious leader.

Nutshell.

Cult SK has risen to power led by Stephen himself & were all enjoying the journey. Big happy cult bus of real soccer people. Been waiting since 86 for this day.

So you might as well save your fingertips there ( as several of your equals are doing ) because we're only laughing at you between reading about his new contract, again and again.

[ontheotherhand]

Did we lose to Belgium? The utter miserable state of half this thread. Ignore and move on folks. You're wasting your time on someone who sees themselves in some sort of weird righteous opposition to fanaticism and Messiah worship where none exists.