2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

[Kingdom]

In my opinion there's definitely an element of lads playing off reputation, and the captain is one. He looks a million miles away from the player he could have been when he broke through first.

[pineapple stu]

Is Abankwah any good at all?

Has had a strange career. Early games at Pat's and a big number move to Italy. No game time to speak if there before a loan to Charlton - but short after a couple of games in realisation at how bad he was. Back to Italy, starts to get some games. Mixed to Watford - now a Championship regular. But never mentioned in terms of a senior call-up, and seems he's the main culprit now against Andorra (and we shouldn't be worried by them even if they are playing full internationals)

[passinginterest]

They’ve definitely lost all the focus and intensity that they brought to the England game and the captain is the exemplar of it. Such a frustrating player because he can be brilliant but when he’s bad he’s very, very, bad.

[Kingdom]

They’ve definitely lost all the focus and intensity that they brought to the England game and the captain is the exemplar of it. Such a frustrating player because he can be brilliant but when he’s bad he’s very, very, bad.

That's it to be fair. Even there at the end of the half, does great work to work space into the box, the easy part was squaring it properly, or lifting it to the back post and he just lazily hits it towards the box. Head-wrecking.

[Kingdom]

Goes from bad to worse.
3-0

[SkStu]

Three goalscorers:

Ahladz
Gjaysus
Fukov

[pineapple stu]

Three goalscorers:

Ahladz
Gjaysus
Fukov

And here's a penalty for Andorra, to be taken by Ourrada

[passinginterest]

Getting farcical now. Pretty unforgivable performance. Way too lethargic. Certainly didn’t learn not to underestimate them after the home game.

[SkStu]

And here's a penalty for Andorra, to be taken by Ourrada

Is that Gerrup Ourrada?

[pineapple stu]

Couldn't tell if it was him or his twin brother, Fukov Ourrada

[SkStu]

They have a younger brother, Willyegoway.

[Eirambler]

Fair to say my twitter feed has been a horror show today. Under 17s soundly beaten, under 19s knocked out, away playoff semi final incoming, Austria and Denmark heading to the playoffs as potential opponents as things stand.

But the 21s is the worst of the lot, and it's all on us. Crawford's teams have been underperforming for five years and yet he's still being left there. With a weaker group this time around he was always more likely to be found out, but this is beyond embarrassing.

[rebelmusic]

Yeah the tactics and inability to change the approach today sums him up. The repeat of Don Givens. I don't know what it is with the FAI so happy to fire some folks but then leaving relics in place despite terrible job performance.

Edit: I was way too angry when I wrote that at first 😂

[Eirambler]

There's an alternate universe where Stephen Kenny was overlooked for the senior job in 2020 in favour of an experienced, steady hand type manager, therefore didn't tank our world ranking to the extent that we're still paying the price for it today in the form of an away playoff, instead stayed with the Under 21s where he was doing a great job with our emerging talent and had the success he deserved at that level by qualifying us for two or three Under 21s Euros, before leaving for a decent club job overseas. What might have been...

[tetsujin1979]

He was always lined up for the senior job, the U21 position was to help him transition from club to international management. COVID forces the FAI's hand
What's often overlooked if that he took some of the better performers from the U21 squad at the time into the senior setup, leaving O'Brien to rebuild a team halfway through that qualification series

[Eirambler]

Yeah, I know. But he was so well suited to that job (and so unsuited to the senior manager job), that it feels like we lost out on the double as a result of him switching across. And, in the long run, I think he lost out too. John Delaney's parting gift to us all.

[rebelmusic]

Agreed, Kenny could have done wonders in the U21 role for a few years. To be honest, if and when Crawford leaves I hope they'd consider Kenny again

[gastric]

I know he has burnt his bridges with the top brass at the FAI, but I would love it if Damian Duff became the U21 coach.

[Fixer82]

Kenny should never have gotten the reins of the senior team before McCarthy could see out that campaign.

[Eirambler]

Agreed, Kenny could have done wonders in the U21 role for a few years. To be honest, if and when Crawford leaves I hope they'd consider Kenny again

Would agree with this actually. I could see it not ending well at St Pat's for him the way things are going, and hopefully now we'll finally be rid of Crawford after this campaign. I'd absolutely take Kenny back as Under 21 manager. He might not want to go back to it but, if he fails at Pat's, he might not have many better options either.

[ifk101]

Kenny’s on a 5-year deal with Pats and without knowing the numbers, I’m sure its more than the U21 role could offer. I’d rather look elsewhere at somebody younger that could potentially be a senior manager in the future. The U21 role should be a stepping stone for the senior job.

[Eirambler]

Personally I'd rather keep the two completely separate for the most part. We do produce good underage teams from time to time,.but that can create a situation where an underage team makes a manager look better than he is, or it can be the case that a manager works well with younger players but it doesn't translate to experienced pros. We've tried it twice in modern times - with Kenny and Kerr - and neither was a success.

Ultimately, if a manager is in the frame for the Under 21 job and is gettable at the rate that role pays, that in itself may be a sign that he's not ready for the senior job. I think there almost always needs to be something in-between to prove suitability for the senior role, either at club level or with another national team.

[zero]

Would Colin O'Brien be interested? A step up and a different kind of challenge than with the u17s but he'd obviously be aware of most of the young talent coming through. I think we'll all assuming Crawford won't be retained, though unsure what his contract status is.

[Eirambler]

Crawford has signed a separate contract for the duration of each campaign he has managed (failed) in. So it's almost certain that his contract will end once this qualification campaign ends and we can finally see the back of him. At the moment O'Brien seems as likely as anyone alright, and he would be working with many of the same players he has worked with before.