Republic of Ireland V Scotland - Saturday, 11 June 2022 - 2022/23 UEFA Nations League

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Apart from Paul O’Shea who writes off all our young players as a rule, who’s been writing who off?

There were questions around Obafemi and his lifestyle and commitment put forth by his manager at Southampton and it’s widely recognized how crucial his move to Swansea was in getting his career back on the right track.

Similarly with Parrott, he himself talked about how this season he made a choice to put his head down and focus on hard work and application in every game.

If there were some writing these players off (not me fwiw), it wasn’t based on nothingness.

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Obafemi, in particular, got a fair bit of criticism with his ability, application, professionalism and his even loyalty being continually called into question. The same with Parrott, who has been praised for his work ethic and professionalism wherever he's been been yet has been labelled as someone with a poor attitude by some.

Aaron Connolly is being given a particularly difficult time at the moment, with some of criticism he's receiving over the top and rather personal - see the YBIG thread for confirmation.

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Originally Posted by Trequartista20

Ireland were full value for their win, there's no contesting that, and the players and management deserve full credit for that. But Scotland were really poor today and if I were the Scotland management I'd be questioning the application and commitment of a few of my players.

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fully agreed, Ireland got lucky today by a fluke goal with the knees, and then Parrott and Obafemi magic, the best asset in first half tactically was Knight with a free role, that then changed and Ireland went flat again and soo predictable, he need a 10 and today Kenny played number 9s Obafemi and Hogan and Parrott too

That was some day out in the Aviva. It’s hard to believe that performance. What a belter by Obfemi

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Originally Posted by D24Saint

That was some day out in the Aviva. It’s hard to believe that performance. What a belter by Obfemi

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Stephen Kenny " We went into this game after having real setbacks this week, we did concede a couple of chances and Scotland didn’t take them first and then we took ours"

Had we scored early in Yerevan or on Wednesday we probably have 9 points.

Delighted with the win and the goals, what's rare is wonderful. The other night I had turned on management. Did he just stumble on the right line up today? The evidence would suggest so as we've played so many wrong teams under SK.

McClean a vital component today injecting energy and danger down his side. All credit to him considering he has been benched but still turns up at his age ready to contribute when called.

Is it another false dawn? Its a brilliant win long overdue but so many questions remain. Ukraine on Tuesday will fill in a little bit more.

You would think Ogbene, Robinson and Hendrick need to be benched from now on. Plenty of opportunities but not the necessary qualities.

I said after the Ukraine game that I thought Kenny wasn't the man, mainly because of his lack of correct changes during the Ukraine and Armenia games.

IF the lessons that were learned from that continue like they did today then I was premature in turning on him and I'll be over the moon to be wrong... let's see what Tuesday brings. More of today and we are in business

That Coach Kenny is a diamond in the rough :) Though Scotland were cr,ap as well as nothing going right for them. It’s incredible considering our bad form that 46,000 turned up and created a great atmosphere. After that you’d almost think the good times were here to stay. I hope they are.

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Originally Posted by Trequartista20

Obafemi, in particular, got a fair bit of criticism with his ability, application, professionalism and his even loyalty being continually called into question. The same with Parrott, who has been praised for his work ethic and professionalism wherever he's been been yet has been labelled as someone with a poor attitude by some.

Aaron Connolly is being given a particularly difficult time at the moment, with some of criticism he's receiving over the top and rather personal - see the YBIG thread for confirmation.

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I’m not denying they received criticism at all, just that most of it was based on public comments by their managers and, in Parrotts case, his own words. It wasn’t baseless and I think it’s fair game to ask questions about whether they’d fulfil their potential or go the way too many before them have gone.

I’ve visited YBIG twice in my life (last time probably 5-6 years ago!) so can’t comment really about what it’s like there. It was so toxic so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it were as bad as you say. I find here to be, for the most part, way better discussion.

Worth noting it's now three countries left without a Nations League win - the North, Iceland and San Marino

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Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish

fully agreed, Ireland got lucky today by a fluke goal with the knees, and then Parrott and Obafemi magic, the best asset in first half tactically was Knight with a free role, that then changed and Ireland went flat again and soo predictable, he need a 10 and today Kenny played number 9s Obafemi and Hogan and Parrott too

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There’s a few posts on a few threads now where you’ve been touting the “lucky” line. I don’t think that’s the prevailing narrative after todays performance. It was just good. There were some hairy moments but that’s any game.

Excellent performance. It doesn't redeem Kenny in my eyes, but it has to be said. Brilliant all over the pitch, some well worked goals, clean sheet, everything just seemed to come together in a way it frequently doesn't for Kenny. Hopefully we don't turn around and get thumped in Poland.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

There’s a few posts on a few threads now where you’ve been touting the “lucky” line. I don’t think that’s the prevailing narrative after todays performance. It was just good. There were some hairy moments but that’s any game.

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Lost in translation... in the Argentina slang of the area Mr Biesla is from lucky means fantastically brilliant. The goals today were reminiscent of Cillian Sheridan at his peak. Shane Duffy is widely known as El Matador in this same region for his incredible ability to sucker the forwards in with what they think is a bad pass

Hard to make head or tail of that to be honest.

Obviously a great win, and the younger players being the top performers made it even better. Obafemi, Parrott, Knight and Molumby all outstanding. A real coming of age moment for the four of them.

But make no mistake, that wasn't a Kenny style performance at all. We had less possession and fewer passes than Scotland. We played with aggression and tenacity instead of trying to pass the ball through them, as we have tried (and failed) to do against everyone else. A real back to the future performance that was great to see, haven't seen one of those since 2017.

So what the hell happened? Has Kenny changed his approach? Did the players take things into their own hands and just decide to play a different way? Did the game being a local derby bring it about? I honestly don't know, but something was totally different today.

More importantly, is this going to be a welcome change of style going forward or will we revert to type in Poland? That's probably the most important question.

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Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter

Excellent performance. It doesn't redeem Kenny in my eyes, but it has to be said. Brilliant all over the pitch, some well worked goals, clean sheet, everything just seemed to come together in a way it frequently doesn't for Kenny. Hopefully we don't turn around and get thumped in Poland.

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Agree he got out of the gaol today because of some magic from Parrott and Oba, but ditto this he made some good decisions in formation i have to be fair on Kenny, played a much needed 3-4-1-2 .

Duffy looked very nervous today, maybe playing three games in one week took its toll on him , since his bad decisions I counted 3, the last one he had a yellow that could have been a red, tbh.

The next manager will get better results, Kenny is doing the Toshack hard work-

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Hard to make head or tail of that to be honest.

Obviously a great win, and the younger players being the top performers made it even better. Obafemi, Parrott, Knight and Molumby all outstanding. A real coming of age moment for the four of them.

But make no mistake, that wasn't a Kenny style performance at all. We had less possession and fewer passes than Scotland. We played with aggression and tenacity instead of trying to pass the ball through them, as we have tried (and failed) to do against everyone else. A real back to the future performance that was great to see, haven't seen one of those since 2017.

So what the hell happened? Has Kenny changed his approach? Did the players take things into their own hands and just decide to play a different way? Did the game being a local derby bring it about? I honestly don't know, but something was totally different today.

More importantly, is this going to be a welcome change of style going forward or will we revert to type in Poland? That's probably the most important question.

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Yeah I sensed the same, what is worrying was after Oba left the pitch, we had only two chances both from McClean actions, it was like a rugby match then all pushing and coming and going, we looked clever at the back, Duffy seemed very nervous vs Scotland dont know why?

That was a joy in fairness. It’s on premier sport one now for anyone else who was there and wants to watch it back.

Parrot, Obafemi and Knight worked so well together. Collins was superb, cut out some of the silly errors from other games. Kelleher was very solid. In fairness to Browne, a lot of doubt about him before but he was really solid, he might not have given as much width but he really helped Molumby and Cullen.

The players were clearly hugely motivated, which was great to see. The local derby element obviously didn’t hurt. The crowd really got behind the team and I though it was nice to let them take the applause after the game after a long hard season.

Will be interesting to see how they go without Duffy. He was probably due a rest anyway, but now we have to look at other options. His attacking threat will be missed but his jitteryness on the ball not so much.

Still need at least a draw in Ukraine to build some momentum. Hopefully Obafemi is ok. His goal and assist were, dare I say it, world class. He really seems to have turned a corner in his career as has Parrot. Delighted for the players and the management team. But the hard work is only beginning now. They can’t set back from this again.

Parrott becomes our youngest goalscorer in a competitive match since Stephen Ireland in 2006 in our biggest home win over a higher-ranked side since the 3-0 win over the North in 1989.

It'll be intresting to see if Steve Clarke is still in charge in September,pretty mad how bad they where with alot of players playing at a higher level than ours....

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Originally Posted by Trequartista20

Parrott becomes our youngest goalscorer in a competitive match since Stephen Ireland in 2006 in our biggest home win over a higher-ranked side since the 3-0 win over the North in 1989.

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Rankings weren't introduced until 1993?