Stephen Kenny

[Bielsa´s irish]

I was born in 1983. This is by far the weakest group of players we've had to pick from in my time watching football. Qualifying for the World Cup in 2026 is not a realistic target, never mind 2022.

I dont agree with the mantra we dont have the players, this is international football, no prima donnas could be a key factor, to play the underdogs, we must frustrate Serbia away, the thing is Kenny plays it very openly, and the serbs as the balkans players most have that bit of flair and craft to see a killing pass. From Safet Susic and Dragan Stojkovic till this date.

Kenny's structure must be compact, concrete performance, a tactic performance, a 4-5-1 with quick players from the sides, mistakes will be there, distractions as usual from them, they are drifters when frustrated.
Just to make it work later on, we need a point in Belgrado at least, and a Portugal victory 3 days later, we need 5 wins a 2draws and we might get a chance.
17 points is what we need

Another situation is the attendance, no pressure can help the bigger nations, the fans they always lift the underdogs, as long as there is no attendance, Portugal will win it easily, we must get something from them, our first game is a 6 point match.

Then we could try an all out attack vs the 4th and 5th plus qatar.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Have you seen how our squad now compares to the squad for the last World Cup campaign?


This is absolute nonsense. Seriously. There's nothing more to be said. Serbia have a player who's scored almost as many international goals in the last 5 years as the entire Irish team have. We are odds against to finish second in the group. Something that's odds against cannot be the minimum expectation.

Yeah Mitrovic, but what if they cant bend it from crucial places from the sides or corner kicks into the box, then this" Cascarino type of player" is nullified, as long as he is outside the box we will be fine, of course Mitrovic will try to get near Coleman on the far post so if seamus plays he must be very prepared the height difference is huge. Tactic is super important to defend a big guy like Mitrovic, plus he doesnt track back, he isnt good as a teamwork player, so in a way Mitrovic is a luxury player, of course a guy who can score at international level at his prime is something to consider, but as I said we must be smart...avoid silly free kicks from the sides, and keep this fellow out of the box as much as Kenny can set his game plan

[Bielsa´s irish]

I would play it tight in Belgrado with a high line if Mitrovic plays from the start, a bit of width from the sides, good height from the back, I wouldnt play Dara yet.

I would go with

Randolph 33 1,88
Doherty 29 1,86
Egan 28 1,85
Clark 31 1,85
Stevens 30 1,83
Coleman 32 1,77
Cullen 24 1,75
McCarthy 30 1,79
Brady 29 1,76
Connolly 21 1,75
Robinson 26 1,78

[brine3]

Have you seen how our squad now compares to the squad for the last World Cup campaign?


This is absolute nonsense. Seriously. There's nothing more to be said. Serbia have a player who's scored almost as many international goals in the last 5 years as the entire Irish team have. We are odds against to finish second in the group. Something that's odds against cannot be the minimum expectation.

They also have Dusan Tadic

[tetsujin1979]

Alan Kelly to leave goalkeeping coach position: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/alan...m-ireland-role

[elatedscum]

I wonder will we ever know the reality of the situation

[Colbert Report]

Normally I'd be calling for Stephen Kenny to get the sack based on our absolutely awful performances under him, but I don't think it is fair to judge the guy when he's basically just putting together whatever players are eligible and don't have covid. Once this thing is all over, and I hope that will be soon, I think we should give him a full qualification campaign before judging him, as we would with any other manager.

[brine3]

A few pennos gone the other way against Slovakia and who knows

A few years from now, when people are talking about news and sporting events of 2020, the Nations League is not going to be high up on the list.

[Straightstory]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021...hing-position/

'No reason has been given for Duff's departure, although it is understood he was unhappy at an investigation launched into a video shown to the Ireland players before their friendly against England at Wembley in November last year.'

Most peculiar... what's going on here?

[NeverFeltBetter]

If I was to speculate, I'd say he was ****ed off there was an investigation at all. A lot of players probably think that.

[tetsujin1979]

would there have been an investigation without a leak?

[Diggs246]

If things were going ok in the camp, its hard to believe that video has prompted Duff and kelly to resign. You would have to wonder if they think kenny isnt up to it or the player arnt up to it or both. Deep down do they give a **** about a video

[seanfhear]

You’d like to think that both of them had the upfront-ness to contact Stephen Kenny directly to explain their points of view / position. Maybe they did.

[Diggs246]

They probably did to be fair, the more I think about it, the video is a red herring Damien Duff is a national hero, he hasn't quit over a video or the FAI's poor handling of it
Alan Kelly had asthma and covid was here for quite sometime before he quit

[jbyrne]

They probably did to be fair, the more I think about it, the video is a red herring Damien Duff is a national hero, he hasn't quit over a video or the FAI's poor handling of it
Alan Kelly had asthma and covid was here for quite sometime before he quit

if duff left over the video then i would be very disappointed in him. yes, the FAI pay his wages but he is working for the betterment of the team on behalf of the fans

[pineapple stu]

Alan Kelly had asthma and covid was here for quite sometime before he quit

It's hard to tell with Kelly - there's a lot more games being postponed now because of covid and he may well have wanted to give it a couple of months to see how things panned out before deciding that it wasn't really safe to return to that environment with an underlying health condition. Or it may just be a convenient excuse. We'll probably never know really. At least there's time there to sort a replacement.

[irishfan86]

If anyone has ever been involved with a B.S. workplace investigation you know how toxic that can be. For guys like Kelly and Duff, the Ireland job is a labour of love. Kelly has a full time gig already with Everton and Duff sounds like he was dragged into the setup to start with.

Neither were doing it for the money and in that situation if you or your boss is accused of something stupid I can understand walking away.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Just for your knowledge, Charlie Queiroz was fired by Colombia a month ago after a fall out with players in the dressing rooms, and popular fans favourite former player and taxi driver Joe Pekerman is also available, and he is the more famous neighbor of the whole Hurlingham City area and zip code.

[Trequartista20]

It starting to feel a bit like we're wasting our time with an obviously out-of-his depth Kenny, used to dealing with semi-pro players. But I'd love to be proved wrong.

After recent events (player/coaching defections, the video scandal and our lack of credible results and performance in previous matches under his stewardship) in the possible event of Kenny falling on his sword/being relieved of his duties who would be best placed to take over from the hapless management currently in place?

Any views?

[Eirambler]

I have been far from impressed with what I have seen so far, both on and off the field, but he does deserve a run at the world cup qualifiers all the same. Things could get very messy if we slipped up against Luxembourg or were heavily beaten against Serbia though.

As for replacements, it's hard to know. I have a feeling Hughton will get the job at some stage, whether he's next in line it's hard to know, possibly it will depend if he's out of work when the job comes up again. Maybe the one thing in Kenny's favour is a lack of alternative options.