Guardian Article on Kerr

The fact that Keane (of all people) turned up for one of the all time meaningless friendlies, China, (although we do need asian competition) shows that he is fully behind Kerr and obviously belives what kerr is doing is right.

Roy is no idiot. He is still a truely competitive player and knows if a manager is a bluffer or not. We were always muck away from home, the fact we took points off everyone is a major plus. We looked like winning 2 of the matches.

To be honest, I think the most important thing is that Roy and Kerr are on the same wavelength. Roy still raises everyones game (even Morrison admitted as much). Some of the players are going to be whinging but thats no major loss.

Israel are missing players now, if their goal is to get a draw against us at home you cant expect a lot from them in lansdowne. Were a lot mentally stronger now, Kerr has hit the ground running and hasnt made one mistake yet IMO. Reid shouldnt have been played.

Kerr can prepare as best as possible, he can pick our best team (which he did each time), have the best facilities etc, but he cant (yet) fix the Irish britle mentality for away matches. The players let themselves down.

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Originally Posted by pronane

kerr should be able to motivate them and "make" them do what he wants if he were a good leader. it appears to be there is conflict of interests here somewhere.

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Has Kerr lost his motivation skills? Have the players lost their respect for Kerr?
If so we're in deep s**t. :eek:

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Who's written him off? I'm a great fan of Reid's and was all for him playing instead of having two right fulls on the pitch. He hasn't been outstanding for Spurs and I think he does need to get a few pounds off.

I've been raving about Reid for a number of years having seen him in the Championship in previous years against Wednesday etc but I'm just not sure whether he's hit a wall now. He needs to get in better shape and kick on and with a bit of luck become the next Ray Houghton. If you visit some Spurs sites you'll see jibles like "who ate all the pies" etc. I've no doubt ANdy has the ability - I just hope he uses it.

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Stop harping on about his weight ffs. Andy Reid is not over weight and is one of the fittest players at Spurs, according to Martin Jol and the Spurs medical staff who have done tests on this. He may look overweight but look at his game, he's one of the quickest players we have and never stops running. Ronaldo is overweight, Andy Reid is not.

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Originally Posted by donalfitz

Has Kerr lost his motivation skills? Have the players lost their respect for Kerr?
If so we're in deep s**t. :eek:

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I'd love to know exactly what was said in the dressing room after the game and by whom. If it was a players revolt we probably won't know for years: the pro-Kerr camp like Humphries will keep mum about it, the likes of Paul Doyle wouldn't say anything, just drop hints here and there, to protect their sources. Or maybe Kerr had a go at the players. Or maybe it just was a mutual "what the **** happened"?

Living over here I've heard nothing but Eirebhoy says over half the team have gone on record saying the game plan wasn't the problem.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I'd love to know exactly what was said in the dressing room after the game and by whom. If it was a players revolt we probably won't know for years: the pro-Kerr camp like Humphries will keep mum about it, the likes of Paul Doyle wouldn't say anything, just drop hints here and there, to protect their sources. Or maybe Kerr had a go at the players. Or maybe it just was a mutual "what the **** happened"?

Living over here I've heard nothing but Eirebhoy says over half the team have gone on record saying the game plan wasn't the problem.

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I think if the game plan was the problem, we'd definately know about it. RMK couldn't stop talking about how impressed with the preperation for games was improved, surely he'd speak up now if it wasn't for this game?

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Originally Posted by Tuff Paddy

Lads, as I've said before, can we get behind the Ireland team for the next six months. There will be a long summer of nothing ahead when we can have recriminations.
For now, I'm supporting my country, the players and the manager. Don't know about ye?

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Don't get me wrong, I am too. You wouldn't believe how much.

The post wasn't intended to be scurrilous. I'd just love to have been a fly on the wall in the dressing room. I think all of us would.

As you say, it's all happened now. I'm hoping everyone will respond positively and finish the job.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I'd love to know exactly what was said in the dressing room after the game and by whom. If it was a players revolt we probably won't know for years: the pro-Kerr camp like Humphries will keep mum about it, the likes of Paul Doyle wouldn't say anything, just drop hints here and there, to protect their sources. Or maybe Kerr had a go at the players. Or maybe it just was a mutual "what the **** happened"?

Living over here I've heard nothing but Eirebhoy says over half the team have gone on record saying the game plan wasn't the problem.

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I'm curious about the isreal match about what happen in the dressing room. Someone said there was no interviews after the match. Was kerr furious?
He was egging on the players during the match and getting annoyed at times.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

McCarthy could plausibly claim to have an excuse for such caution - he was a member of the Irish squad that was pipped by England to qualification for Euro 92 after carefree attacking saw them squander a 3-1 lead in Poland to draw 3-3.

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Just remembered this, McCarthy didn't play in the 3-3 game, in the analysis after the match, Dunphy pointed out that for the second Polish goal, O'Leary (I think) tried to play the ball out of defence, rather than hoofing it into the stands to give the defence a chance to regroup. This sticks in my mind because he said it was what McCarthy would have done, and is probably the only time he's ever come close to complimenting Mick.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Just remembered this, McCarthy didn't play in the 3-3 game, in the analysis after the match, Dunphy pointed out that for the second Polish goal, O'Leary (I think) tried to play the ball out of defence, rather than hoofing it into the stands to give the defence a chance to regroup. This sticks in my mind because he said it was what McCarthy would have done, and is probably the only time he's ever come close to complimenting Mick.

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That's right. In fact Dunphy even went as far as admitting that despite his lack of ability compared to O'Leary & Moran(?) the Irish defence was far better with McCarthy in it than without him.