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

I do see a positive here in that the weaker teams are often better equipped to defend against the, shall we say, more traditional Irish style of play. They can make a good stab of sitting deep and defending against long balls and being physical. Gibraltar holding us to 3-0 on aggregate recently being a good example.

If we try to move the ball about, I think we've the potential to open them up more than usual and create decent chances - which is what Kenny wants.

The question then is whether the squad (and coaching staff) are good enough to achieve that. And that brings us back to the discussion we've been having this past 18 months of course

Team is -

Bazunu
Doherty
O'Shea
Egan
McClean
Cullen
Hourihane
Knight
Parrott
Curtis
Collins

Don't understand Bazunu in nets tbh. Leaving aside the already-had discussion as to whether he's ready for it yet, surely Kelleher has to be brought in at some stage anyway here? Or is he being held for the Hungary game?

Other than that it's probably predictable enough, and there's probably no way of making a silk purse out of the sow that is our forward options.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Team is -

Bazunu
Doherty
O'Shea
Egan
McClean
Cullen
Hourihane
Knight
Parrott
Curtis
Collins

Don't understand Bazunu in nets tbh. Leaving aside the already-had discussion as to whether he's ready for it yet, surely Kelleher has to be brought in at some stage anyway here? Or is he being held for the Hungary game?

Other than that it's probably predictable enough, and there's probably no way of making a silk purse out of the sow that is our forward options.

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Might have just come down to who did better so far in training but I'm surprised Kelleher isn't getting the nod as well.

For the rest..no real shocks I suppose. Was hoping McGrath would start but mainly because I'm not sure how much he has improved since he left Dundalk and that would be interesting to see. Curtis/Parrot instead is reasonable.

Doherty as rb is worrying but I guess Kenny thinks he will be able to bomb forward enough to be comfortable. He really needs to put in a performance.

Agreed on Doherty, high time he put in a decent performance in a green shirt. Hopefully he puts the stop start season at Spurs behind him today

I feel a 10-0 coming on ............to us.

That selection feels very narrow - so presuming Doherty and McClean will play more advanced to add width.

The FAI has been posting videos from training and pretty sure Kelleher had strapping support on an elbow. Guessing he's not 100% but I'd pick Bazunu in goals out of the three available anyway.

McClean has almost half of the caps total of the starting XI

Not a great watch so far very stop start. Ball in the air far too much.

Very, very poor again from Kenny's Ireland. Andorra have been at least our equals. Were the Andorrans to show a modicum more ambition I could easily see them winning this.

Still waiting for Matt Doherty to have a decent game for Ireland.

We're practically incapable of playing a decent forward pass. So many times we get to half way and run out of ideas

How is an international match being played on a poor astro pitch?

Doesn’t excuse our performance though

Few voices in the world are more annoying than Stephen Kelly.

I see a better standard of football on a Sunday morning.

Zero imagination.

It's actually an embarrassent. Is there an Irish player on the pitch that understands what a midfielder is supposed to do. Get the ball off the defence, pass, move, dictate the game, control the tempo.
You see those things in Division 1 League of Ireland ffs.
Kenny always seems surprised how badly we play after the games we've played so farin his reign - these players certainly have no interest it would seem.

Every Andoran tackle has been a foul so hard to have any cohesion but doesnt excuse an international footballer being unable to control a ball from a 10 yard pass.

Have we had a shot yet?

One shot blocked from Doherty maybe - is that it?

Edit - there's a shot there from us. A bloody awful one

Quote:

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Originally Posted by placid casual

It's actually an embarrassent. Is there an Irish player on the pitch that understands what a midfielder is supposed to do. Get the ball off the defence, pass, move, dictate the game, control the tempo.
You see those things in Division 1 League of Ireland ffs.
Kenny always seems surprised how badly we play after the games we've played so farin his reign - these players certainly have no interest it would seem.

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It’s quite clear the players have no interest, that’s why they magically have injury problems when the international fixtures come around.

The players excuse doesn't wash when we're playing a side as lowly as Andorra.

We patently haven't been set up or organised properly again. Again we're ponderously knocking the ball about in front of the opposition to no effect. No imagination in general play nor with our set-pieces.

Andorra have scored a couple of times against us before. If they score today I can easily see the unimaginable happening.

Good passage of play there - and then Curtis with an awful header. How do you head six yards wide when six yards out and central?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Good passage of play there - and then Curtis with an awful header. How do you head six yards wide when six yards out and central?

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Collins

Better last 5-10 mins. Not sure how Collins made such a hash of a simple free header. The lack of any creativity in midfield is so hard to watch.

I was actually very optimistic after th3 2nd international window...it appears the players lost interest since they fialrd to qualify for the euros as the lack of effort on the pitch and all the pull outs says it all.

How can a manager set a team up when it’s clear the players have no interest judging my the lethargic play on the field and the pull outs off it.

I am hoping this will be Kenny's last game as he is taking us nowhere but rock bottom. He is clearly not up to managing the national side. The players are putting in very poor performances too by the way.

This passing possession game definitely isn't for me. It's awful stuff to watch. I'll never not watch them or say I don't want to see us at a championship but it's brutal stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Good passage of play there - and then Curtis with an awful header. How do you head six yards wide when six yards out and central?

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He nearly knocked someone out in row Z when one on one with the keeper against Bulgaria, it seems he’s trying to find new impressing ways to miss.

I feel like we are watching the end here. It is just nothingness.

Same old players like Hourihane and Collins showing they are poor, but I think Im finally waving the white flag on Kenny after that 1st half.

The players look like we have gone backwards since his 1st few games now. I think I'll admit that its time for a change unless something drastic happens in 2nd half

Quote:

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Originally Posted by placid casual

It's actually an embarrassent. Is there an Irish player on the pitch that understands what a midfielder is supposed to do. Get the ball off the defence, pass, move, dictate the game, control the tempo.
You see those things in Division 1 League of Ireland ffs.
Kenny always seems surprised how badly we play after the games we've played so farin his reign - these players certainly have no interest it would seem.

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Whats wrong with 4-4-2 ? with 4 actual midfielders ~ Hopefully we see McGrath soon.

Certainly feels like the end of the Kenny regime is occuring. As bad as the ref and the surface are, it's Andorra. They have to win or he has to go.

Absolute rock bottom stuff,I don't think we can get any nearer the bottom of the barrel without scraping the underside of it,abysmal first half.

It’s a really painful watch. How have we not managed to trouble the Andorran goalkeeper? What exactly is our plan? Is Parrott on the pitch? Has McClean forgot how to cross a ball?

The passage of play in the built up to the Collins chance (how did he miss that?) was really good and exactly what we should be doing. Otherwise - terrible. Aired passes don't work on astros with the bounce, needs to kept on the ground. No shots on goal - unacceptable after a week's training camp in preparation.

Andorra concede a significant amount of their goals in the last half hour - not surprising if they're mostly part-time - so there's hope for a win yet, but the performance is just bad. This is deeply concerning tbh

Have to say I have been behind Kenny up to now but he has to go. Watching us play backwards and sideways against a park team is the last straw.

This is bad. I had low expectations for the game, but you'd think after a week of working together the team would be able to put some plays together. This game was pretty much chosen to help us get some kind of momentum going, but they are just not showing up. I expect us to win by a goal or two but am genuinely starting to fear a draw here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RiffRaff

Have to say I have been behind Kenny up to now but he has to go. Watching us play backwards and sideways against a park team is the last straw.

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I'm finding it very hard to argue with this point now.

Yep lot of players hiding. Doherty couldn't care less.

The biggest surprise here is that so many stuck with Kenny for this long. People said he was unlucky but he's actually fortunate to have been allowed to carry on for as long as he has been. It was clear after the first two international windows last year that the setup was all wrong. Nothing has changed since. There is no logic to how we are set up, how we are trying to play. Honestly worse than Staunton's time in charge. That half was another new low, in a year of many. 0 attempts on target. Against Andorra.

Would be quite happy for us to not win here as long as it definitely meant he would be gone after the Hungary game.

I find the lack of heart or commitment from the players incredibly disappointing, I can live with us not being great if we atleast show some heart, that atleast makes me proud as an Irish man but these players honestly couldn’t give less of a f*%k and it sickens me. Genuinely think Shanrock Rovers would give this lot more of a game and that’s a damning indictment.