Originally Posted by
Colbert Report
I don't want to be accused of winding anyone up, and I understand that this is a LOI fan forum, so I'm genuinely not trying to get a rise here. The standard of play in the LOI is terrible. I watched the best team in the league get outplayed over two legs a couple of weeks ago by a team by Estonia. One of the goals that the goalkeeper from Shamrock Rovers conceded would have him dropped from a recreational five-a-side team instantly. It was embarrassing to watch. The LOI is really holding the national team back because you have a bunch of fans that support these no-hoper clubs clinging onto a guy like Stephen Kenny who did well managing against a bunch of part-time players. The fully professional leagues are a huge step up.
Of course he doesn't have a great pool of players to pick from, but we have a group of players mostly playing in the English Championship, and a few in the Premier League, although I note that he somehow didn't even call up Ciaran Clark, who has over 200 Premier League appearances to his name and was fully fit and available for selection. We should be able to handle the likes of Azerbaijan handily. I get that his whole thing is taking us away from playing hoofball and keeping the ball on the ground, but at some point he has to admit that we just don't have the players for that style of football. As others have mentioned, at the international level, you adjust your style to fit the players available, not the other way around. Kenny's unwillingness to inability to change things up when they're clearly not working is why I'm calling for him to be sacked. Surely any reasonable person would expect him to change his ways or resign?