Scotland v Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 24th September 2022 - UEFA Nations League

Feels like a very relaxed start to the international window considering the situation we are in. That probably comes from taking 4 points from the last two games, but at the same time there's an outcome in the next week where we come fourth in the group and that's surely the end of the road for Kenny as manager. Even scraping third with 1 point from 6 would probably make his position untenable.

I expect we'll beat Armenia and he'll continue on into the groups for better or worse, but the precarious situation he's currently in seems oddly unmentioned this week so far.

Even if he loses both games. He is getting the euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

He's done well to finish the last couple of windows on a high I think. June - two dire performances followed by two really encouraging ones. March - dross against Lithuania, 30 minutes of not getting a touch of the ball against Belgium, followed by a change in tactic and a much-improved final hour. Or take last year as a whole - largely poor stuff (the draw in Portugal aside) but we ended the group strongly with those two away wins in particular. And finishing well creates optimism for the next window.

I think your prediction of beating Armenia and he'll continue on is correct but I think two consistent (and decent) performances are vital here. I'm not sure I agree with otoh's point on our forwards' form dictating the team form. It's not entirely untrue, but some of the turgid, pedestrian stuff we've played goes beyond having nobody up front. Probably CSAD is closer the mark in terms of our more experienced players not stepping up to the new style, and yet there's no particular reason why that should be. Maybe Coleman, Stevens and Hourihane are just past their peak now (cue obvious comments as to what Hourihane's peak ever was)

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Even if he loses both games. He is getting the euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

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Even if we lose home and away to Armenia - how low is the bar being set for this man, Armenia are absolutely awful?!

He surely can't continue if that happens.

Stephen Kenny has never been more than 2 games away from getting the sack. Looks like that continues for moment.

Unless we win in Glasgow it's going to be one game I think. Albeit the game is at home against one of the worst teams in Europe.

But that's a rod he has made for his own back with the bad results against Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Armenia, mostly caused by poor choice of formation/selection on his part. He has never given himself a comfortable buffer despite having had opportunities to do so.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

He's done well to finish the last couple of windows on a high I think. June - two dire performances followed by two really encouraging ones. March - dross against Lithuania, 30 minutes of not getting a touch of the ball against Belgium, followed by a change in tactic and a much-improved final hour. Or take last year as a whole - largely poor stuff (the draw in Portugal aside) but we ended the group strongly with those two away wins in particular. And finishing well creates optimism for the next window.

I think your prediction of beating Armenia and he'll continue on is correct but I think two consistent (and decent) performances are vital here. I'm not sure I agree with otoh's point on our forwards' form dictating the team form. It's not entirely untrue, but some of the turgid, pedestrian stuff we've played goes beyond having nobody up front. Probably CSAD is closer the mark in terms of our more experienced players not stepping up to the new style, and yet there's no particular reason why that should be. Maybe Coleman, Stevens and Hourihane are just past their peak now (cue obvious comments as to what Hourihane's peak ever was)

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I don’t think the players not stepping up is necessarily because they are past their best but more so that they are not comfortable playing out from the back (eg Duffy).

I see from the other side that UEFA have changed the rules a bit and third in our Nations League group is now unlikely to get us into the playoffs for the Euros, we'd need to finish second ahead of Scotland. Added pressure for the Glasgow game now, it's no longer a free hit in terms of Euros playoffs qualification.

I think we'll get four points. If we lose both games, it would be an abomination should Kenny keep the job. Losing at home to Armenia would be the definitive sackable offence.

Think it was already likely known that a third place finish would be stretching it for a play off spot once they extended League A to 16 teams.

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Originally Posted by Snapshot

I think we'll get four points. If we lose both games, it would be an abomination should Kenny keep the job. Losing at home to Armenia would be the definitive sackable offence.

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I have given up trying to figure out what Kenny needs to do to get sacked. Lunge wildly at the pope, maybe.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

He's done well to finish the last couple of windows on a high I think. June - two dire performances followed by two really encouraging ones. March - dross against Lithuania, 30 minutes of not getting a touch of the ball against Belgium, followed by a change in tactic and a much-improved final hour. Or take last year as a whole - largely poor stuff (the draw in Portugal aside) but we ended the group strongly with those two away wins in particular. And finishing well creates optimism for the next window.

I think your prediction of beating Armenia and he'll continue on is correct but I think two consistent (and decent) performances are vital here. I'm not sure I agree with otoh's point on our forwards' form dictating the team form. It's not entirely untrue, but some of the turgid, pedestrian stuff we've played goes beyond having nobody up front. Probably CSAD is closer the mark in terms of our more experienced players not stepping up to the new style, and yet there's no particular reason why that should be. Maybe Coleman, Stevens and Hourihane are just past their peak now (cue obvious comments as to what Hourihane's peak ever was)

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It hasn't been every game but quite a few would have been very different if we'd stuck away one of the early chances. When you plug away at a gameplan but can't convert when it works you start to lose faith on the field. It's not the primary reason for our struggles but it hasn't helped. When Robinson hit his little streak we looked dangerous. That said we've struggled in every area of the pitch at times....it's just hard to win football games when your strikers can't score.

The experienced players have been a mixed bunch. Hendrick and Duffy have done ok. Doherty has been good. Egan's been solid. Coleman, Stevens and Hourihane are just on a downward trend and shouldn't be around much longer.

It's a shame Omobamidele is out. Would love to see a back 3 with himself and Collins together with Egan maybe.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

I see from the other side that UEFA have changed the rules a bit and third in our Nations League group is now unlikely to get us into the playoffs for the Euros, we'd need to finish second ahead of Scotland. Added pressure for the Glasgow game now, it's no longer a free hit in terms of Euros playoffs qualification.

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Originally Posted by JR89

Think it was already likely known that a third place finish would be stretching it for a play off spot once they extended League A to 16 teams.

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A third place finish is still likely to get us qualified for a playoff. Very few 4th, 5th and 6th seeds qualify. You'd expect 1 to qualify - (min 0, max 2) and in that case 2, 3 or 4 of the 3rd place teams will go to a playoff. If we were to beat Armenia, that'd put us in a good position.

We will learn another about the parrott/ obefemi axis on Saturday. Away game if they do the business then we could have something there.
I know some people think ogbene should start i would be surprised at that. He has the heart of a lion and he's as fast as one. But the 2 boys are just better players

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Originally Posted by JR89

Think it was already likely known that a third place finish would be stretching it for a play off spot once they extended League A to 16 teams.

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Nah, wouldn't be stretching it too much... but definitely getting into the second spot would make it much easier

Scotland leading one nil against Ukraine.

Make that two. Second place could be a tall order at this rate.

Make it 3. All to do for SK.

Makes it simple.. two wins to give ourselves even a squeak of a chance of second

Ukraine look like they have run out of adrenalin, a far cry from their 2 WC play-off games and even their performance in Dublin. Could be interesting should Armenia (perhaps benefitting from the Nancy Pelosi bounce) take something from their game v Ukraine.