Andorra V Republic of Ireland - Thursday, 3rd June 2021 - Friendly

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Kenny's never been great when speaking to the media, but these are especially bad
"let's have a bit of fun". No, let's start winning games, then we can have some fun
"how would you define a must win game" - really? Surely a "must win" game is pretty self explanatory

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I understand what hes trying to do, he's trying to relax the squad, he realises they are going to be together for 10 days or so at the end of a strange and long season. If its not fun its going to be awful and no ones going to want to be there or perform on game nights. By removing the "must win" element also helps to nourish a fun element. I think he's also saying must win is more about games in qualification rather than end of season friendlies, the emphasis drawn there. Beating Hungary when they are preparing for the Euros is hardly must win. Beating Azerbaijan is or Luxenbourg was too.

Strange and worrying squad. Mandriou will be one of the worst players to have ever represented Ireland. Second only to his clubmate Burke ye would think.

It's not an international window until Paul posts for the first time in weeks to tell us he was right about something

Surely it would have made sense to include Mipo Odubeko and Obafemi - both making appearances in the permiership over recent weeks.

I think he will be gone a lot quicker that most people think. A hiding from Portugal followed by poor result v Azerbaijan and it could be Goodnight

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

Surely it would have made sense to include Mipo Odubeko and Obafemi - both making appearances in the permiership over recent weeks.

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He explained the thinking re Obafemi and managing his injury, and that he may well appear at the camp. I think we need to accept at this point Odubeko does not want to be involved with Ireland at the moment. That may change in time, but he's out for the moment and i wouldn't stress about it too much.

Andorra game moved to Andorra (not that it really matters if it'll be behind closed doors)

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

Surely it would have made sense to include Mipo Odubeko and Obafemi - both making appearances in the permiership over recent weeks.

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Kenny must be removed if we lose to Andorra. That surely is the nadir from which there's no return. Must win or must go.

That must be one of the few benefits of being Andorra. Sure, you never win anything, but any time you get a result at all, you have a chance of getting someone fired.

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Originally Posted by John83

That must be one of the few benefits of being Andorra. Sure, you never win anything, but any time you get a result at all, you have a chance of getting someone fired.

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For Sado-masochistic tendencies types.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

For Sado-masochistic tendencies types.

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Any port in a storm.

I will say someone like Jamie McGrath could just be what the doctor order in the 10 role we crave... who knows

Anyone pick up on this line from Kenny:

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The Premier league have a lot of games on Sundays now, with five different kick-off times sometimes ......

...Because they're going up a level into international football

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Fair point, if slightly worrying as well in that we're now so stuck in some areas that we're calling up players who aren't even the top players in a part-time league. Byrne was an obvious call as he stood out at Rovers.

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You make this "part-time" league a comment a lot for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

There's a Jeremy Corbyn feel to the whole thing (for anyone who follows British politics). He's taking us off a cliff but some would rather go over the edge with him that than accept that the whole things a disaster.

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Well if you want to continue that metaphor, Labour have now replaced their Stephen Kenny with Roddy Collins and are even worse off than they were before, so if the decision is to replace Kenny it still matters who is brought in, it can't just be anyone.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

You make this "part-time" league a comment a lot for some reason.

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Cos it's a part-time league for the most part?

Rovers (and Mandriou) aren't of course. But playing Drogheda/Harps/Longford and the likes really isn't great prep for international football

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Cos it's a part-time league for the most part?

Rovers (and Mandriou) aren't of course. But playing Drogheda/Harps/Longford and the likes really isn't great prep for international football

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Im a big LOI fan, its the only club football Im actually enjoying right now, but I 100% agree that its too big a step up to International football. We've seen too many players that were great in LOI go to England and be pretty average at best. Theres the obvious outliers like Coleman but the majority only do ok in the lower leagues.

I did think Byrne was exceptional but I even wondered how he looked when he was training alongside Premiership and Championship players. He wasnt being picked by international managers so it stands to reason that he didnt stand out in training. Hopefully the move will do him good next season.

Mandriou being called up really doesnt excite me. Hes been pretty good for Rovers and he definitely has talent, but he doesnt strike me as a player who will go on to bigger and better things.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Cos it's a part-time league for the most part?

Rovers (and Mandriou) aren't of course. But playing Drogheda/Harps/Longford and the likes really isn't great prep for international football

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Well for the most part it's a professional league with some part-time clubs and some clubs that are a bit of both.

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Originally Posted by DCWA

Strange and worrying squad. Mandriou will be one of the worst players to have ever represented Ireland. Second only to his clubmate Burke ye would think.

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Taking strange little swipes at Rover's players and managers on an internet forum isn't going to get the throw in retaken. Let it go.

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Originally Posted by DCWA

Strange and worrying squad. Mandriou will be one of the worst players to have ever represented Ireland. Second only to his clubmate Burke ye would think.

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Danno is a baller. I remember first time I ever saw him was Kenny’s first game against Luxembourg U21s. He was on the bench and I was watching the subs warm up at half-time. Towards the end, he started shooting at I guess Bazunu from just a touch short of the halfway line. Bullet after bullet, effortless. Honestly the purest striker of the ball I’ve ever seen.

He was always very good for the 21s. Anytime I’ve seen him play for Bohs or Rovers, he’s always been good to very good. He’s technically excellent. He can pass, he can dribble, he can shoot and he’s pretty quick. He’s also an excellent freekick taker.

There were obviously some issue regarding his application in training at Bohs. Derek Pender was pretty public about it when he retired, basically saying “all the ability in the world but seriously needs to knuckle down”. Then Keith Long didn’t play him for good portions of last season, which I’m sure was more to do with off the field stuff than on.

Anyway, I have no problems with him or Ogbene or McGrath. They’re all players with enough ability and limited exposure to quality opposition. If you can’t take risks in an end of season camp against Hungary and Andorra with a dozen injuries, when can you?