Republic of Ireland V Latvia - Wednesday, 22nd March 2023 - Friendly

[ontheotherhand]

I agree. They're two vastly different games where we'll have to be set up differently. What's the point in lining up at home against Latvia set to counter Coman and Mbappé's pace? What's to learn when, having done that, you're facing guys from Jablonec and Raków Czestochowa instead? You might want an outlet up front against France who could hold the ball up with back to goal, and allow the mid time to break - that could even be Idah, based on his performance in Portugal, but based on every other performance from him he'd be as useful as tits on a bull against Latvia.

If we have even 45 minutes of being set up defensively against Latvia at home, Kenny deserves to go.

I don't understand what the counter argument here is.

I don't feel strongly about it but I suppose there's an argument for putting out the same 11 for at least a while so they can get familiar? I'd be looking at the front 3 and maybe the midfield pairing outside of Cullen there for the most part. Other areas pick themselves for better or worse. I'd rather we were looking at different options everywhere but the timing of this game makes it a warmup and nothing more really. Kenny missed his chance to experiment in the last round of games.

So I'd like to see Ferguson and whoever will partner him against France play for at least 45 against Latvia. Maybe himself Parrot and Ogbene. It's a shame Obafemi hasn't played more. Could use each half against Latvia to see which combo looks the most effective. Maybe we even score a few to get them a bit of confidence.

But who knows what Kenny will do at this point.

[pineapple stu]

I don't feel strongly about it but I suppose there's an argument for putting out the same 11 for at least a while so they can get familiar?

Isn't that what training's for though?

How familiar will three at the back get if they have (touch wood!) little to really stretch them in that time?

You could make a good argument for individual positions, sure (eg a front pairing like you suggest) but but the whole 11 I'd have thought

[ontheotherhand]

Isn't that what training's for though?

How familiar will three at the back get if they have (touch wood!) little to really stretch them in that time?

You could make a good argument for individual positions, sure (eg a front pairing like you suggest) but but the whole 11 I'd have thought

We don't get a lot of time to train together at international level but yeah I agree with you in that I'm more interested in looking at combos up front and in the middle. Maybe down either flank as well but the options aren't really there. Hopefully the back 3/4 don't have much to do......cue 2 long range goals for Latvia.

What's the best front 3? I'm sort of leaning towards Obafemi, Ferguson and Ogbene but Kenny will probably play Parrot. He might be good slightly behind Obafemi and Ferguson.

I just hope Ferguson plays both games. Been a long time since I've been this excited about an Irish player breaking through.

[paul_oshea]

If Ireland draw or lose to Latvia they are on the back foot straight away heading into the biggest game this far of Kenny's era , yes it is , he's not going to want a poor performance or bad result. He's a lot more rigid the last few windows. If he starts experimenting with the starting 11 it could go awry quickly. He'll line them up fairly strong to start with.

Agree re the front options. Try 2/3 with Ferguson. Parrot , ogbene and obafemi. Id prefer to see 50 mins of obamfemi and then maybe parrot and ogbene( but still Ferguson). I think he'll go with obafemi to start the France game.

I said back in the September (the previous year)window when ogbene shone in the fai videos was that a signal for a starting spot. Will be keeping an eye on the videos this time around.

[Razors left peg]

For me it's simple, the time for experimentation is over, we have a run of matches between now and November where the messing around needs to be done with. There'll be plenty of friendlies after that where we can experiment if necessary. If players need to be thrown in at the deep end in qualifiers so be it, playing 45 mins vs Latvia will change very little.

[Kingdom]

i dont see a purpose of going with the france team. this friendly means little in the scheme of things. he already wasted the malta game using players we know enough about in a formation that cant break teams down. bit more expansive this time around with a mix of newer caps + first team certs

That was my thinking. Plus he's got to get to a stage where we need to be giving squad players some game time.
Latvia are poor, very poor, and we're going to have a lot - nay, we should have a lot - of the ball. It will be night and day in terms of how we'll be playing vs france. That said, I think we could have more of the ball than we'd expect to vs les blues.

That said, I do fully appreciate the merits of giving the actual team to start/finish vs france some time together. Also appreciate that players can get injured at any time.

[Kingdom]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...gainst-france/

Andrew Omobamidele might well get the chance to measure himself against Kylian Mbappé next week, but only 12 months ago he was stuck at home weighing up another tedious day in a back brace.

In late 2021 the Norwich City centre back was informed he had a stress fracture in his back and would need to rest. Omobamidele started for the Canaries in their Premier League defeat away to Spurs on December 5th but did not play another game all season – sitting out the remainder of the campaign.

The former Leixlip United player had featured regularly for Ireland in 2021, making his senior debut in the World Cup qualifier away to Portugal.

Thankfully, he has recovered from that injury speed bump and has made 28 appearances for Norwich this season, 21 of them as a starter.

The 20-year-old has also been included in Stephen Kenny’s Ireland squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Latvia and Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against France. Omobamidele is clearly relieved to have moved away from those humdrum laid-up days of last year.

“It’s not like a normal injury, where you’d have to do rehab and stuff,” he explains.

“With my back, it was just a complete shut down and I had to wear a back brace for about two months. I couldn’t do anything. I’d get up in the morning, go in, get a massage, go home again. That was my life. I had to wear it all the time except when I slept.

“Looking back now it was difficult. It made me find my way in certain areas that maybe I wouldn’t have found. I had good support back at Norwich and I’m just thankful I got through it.

“The worst part was they were not able to tell me, ‘you’re out for six months’. It was more like, ‘we’ll keep scanning every three weeks to see how it’s progressing’. That was the gruelling part for me, sitting there not knowing when I’d be back, wondering if it was a month, two or three. I could never plan anything, it was difficult.”

Having missed the second part of the 2021-22 season, during which Norwich suffered relegation, Omobamidele finally returned to competitive action when their 2022-23 Championship schedule kicked off against Cardiff at the end of July.

But he admits it took him several matches before that Cardiff encounter to restore confidence that his body could absorb the shunts.

“I think we played King’s Lynn away in a friendly, I was starting and I was proper nervous. I was going over it in my head, ‘what’s going to happen with my back?’ Stuff like that. But just a couple of passes, and stuff you take for granted when you’re playing football, stepping up with the line, I just kind of forgot about it,” Omobamidele says.

“I remember coming in with the boys at half-time and they were saying, ‘how’s your back?’ I was like, ‘it’s gone, I don’t feel it.’ That was probably the moment.

“That had been the first time in my whole career that I was out for more than a month. I had to ease myself back in and I was a bit anxious because you do everything with your back. I got a lot of confidence from those first few weeks when I got no pain.”

[ Robbie Brady misses cut for Stephen Kenny’s Ireland squad ahead of qualifiers ]

He has had some ankle and groin issues in recent weeks, but nothing serious enough to keep him away from linking up with the Ireland camp this week.

One of Omobamidele’s key strengths is his pace, so if he gets selected next Monday night at the Aviva and Mbappé happens to come his way, that’s a challenge he would relish.

“I’d be happy, I’d embrace it, because after the game you are walking off knowing where you are as a player, because that is the ultimate test for any defender in the world, really,” he says.

“I think everyone agrees that he is a good player, he is quick, and I’d like to think I’m quick as well, so I’d love to do a foot race or something like that, see how quick I am!”

[ Kevin Kilbane: Relying on Evan Ferguson to be everything, everywhere, all at once, is foolish ]

[ Belfast boy Mark Sykes ‘all positive’ about decision to declare for Republic of Ireland ]

From his training stats, Omobamidele says he can scorch out at a blistering 10.4 metres per second. Some reports have Mbappé clocking 10.6.

Either way, Omobamidele knows it is important Ireland do not get their Euro 2024 qualification campaign off to a sluggish start. He didn’t watch the rugby last weekend, but reckons the feel-good momentum of that victory can be harnessed by Stephen Kenny’s squad.

“When you see the rugby boys, when they won it gives you that, ‘oh we want to do that as well.’ These two games coming up, I know it’s a friendly with Latvia, but we want to go and beat Latvia, get confidence from Latvia, and bring that to the French game.”

[tetsujin1979]

There was a real chance for experimentation against Norway and Malta in November, and, even with the debuts of Ferguson and Sykes, it wasn't taken IMO. Smallbone was an unused sub, Ebosele wasn't in the squad, no LOI representation, and Travers didn't play a minute in either game

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

The premise in almost every single post, is that when something good happens, it's root cause is somebody else apart from Kenny. and those good things, or positives are mitigated.
When something not ideal, undermining, or just bad happens, it is all Kenny's faults, with zero mitigating circumstances.

Very long post so not going to quote it all. It's all about different opinions. For the life of me, I can't understand how Kenny is still in the job. I think I back my opinion up with facts. For me and some others, it's been a complete waste of the last two/three years where we've gone backwards. I don't think McCarthy was a good manager, yet he got far better results. For others, they see some merit in what he's tried to do. I think his ideas on how to play etc was the correct path but he proved quite early into his reign that he was incapable of getting his ideas across to our players and actually set them up effectively. Like it or not, Anthony Barry did come in and change the tactics and formation. You can't just ignore this. 433 Kenny changed because of this.

A lot of your post is just the usual failed excuses for Kenny. Talking down our players while talking up other teams. Firstly, our players aren't nearly as bad as some would have us believe. The strength of the premier league now with the finance and access to players globally means that our best now won't get to a level as high as our best in the past did. It doesn't automatically mean they are worse players. And they are far better than a lot of the teams we have played under Kenny. I believe it was you who said that Luxembourg at home was Kenny's first 'gimmie' match prior to playing them. Now you're trying to talk up teams like this. It's all revisionist nonsense.

In my opinion, at the end of McCarthy's time, it was set up perfectly for someone to come in with a positive approach and use the experienced squad we had and mix it with these exciting players coming through. Kenny was given that chance and he blew it. That has damaged our development badly. The next manager will have to repair that damage. I believe we got the appointment horribly wrong. With a manager capable at this level, just think how different it could have been. Even a reasonable level of results would have seen us at Euro 2020, competed strongly in our Nation's League groups as well as for the World Cup and we would be in a much stronger position in terms of qualifying for the next Euros.

This could have been done with a more progressive style of play also. They're not mutually exclusive. Instead, our new players have been introduced to a squad with a loser's culture. Where our manager is telling them they're not good enough to compete for qualification for major tournaments. Where some supporters are saying that losing at home 3-0 would be acceptable and coming third in a group would be a good outcome. It's crazy how low expectations have been dragged. And that's down to Kenny.

[Jd2793]

There was a real chance for experimentation against Norway and Malta in November, and, even with the debuts of Ferguson and Sykes, it wasn't taken IMO. Smallbone was an unused sub, Ebosele wasn't in the squad, no LOI representation, and Travers didn't play a minute in either game

nobody playing loi who is within an asses roar of being international level.

[elatedscum]

nobody playing loi who is within an asses roar of being international level.

Andy Lyons?

[Jd2793]

Andy Lyons?

lyons was excellent for rovers. our right sided defensive options are fine and i think hes behind someone like mcnamara who has been playing regularly in the championship for a while. the real outstanding talent(s) over the past 5 or 6 years in LOI have been maguire + byrne (mid 2019-2020 pre covid) . those are the only two whose ability stood out massively to me anyway as lads who could do it at international level while playing here. unfortunately maguires hamstrings gave up on him and JB hasnt hit those highs again imo. lyons has great potential, think he needs to establish himself at a good level in england first.

[LurcherLover]

lyons was excellent for rovers. our right sided defensive options are fine and i think hes behind someone like mcnamara who has been playing regularly in the championship for a while. the real outstanding talent(s) over the past 5 or 6 years in LOI have been maguire + byrne (mid 2019-2020 pre covid) . those are the only two whose ability stood out massively to me anyway as lads who could do it at international level while playing here. unfortunately maguires hamstrings gave up on him and JB hasnt hit those highs again imo. lyons has great potential, think he needs to establish himself at a good level in england first.

McEleney is bigger talent than Jack Byrne.

[Kingdom]

Very long post so not going to quote it all. It's all about different opinions. For the life of me, I can't understand how Kenny is still in the job. I think I back my opinion up with facts. For me and some others, it's been a complete waste of the last two/three years where we've gone backwards. I don't think McCarthy was a good manager, yet he got far better results. For others, they see some merit in what he's tried to do. I think his ideas on how to play etc was the correct path but he proved quite early into his reign that he was incapable of getting his ideas across to our players and actually set them up effectively. Like it or not, Anthony Barry did come in and change the tactics and formation. You can't just ignore this. 433 Kenny changed because of this.

A lot of your post is just the usual failed excuses for Kenny. Talking down our players while talking up other teams. Firstly, our players aren't nearly as bad as some would have us believe. The strength of the premier league now with the finance and access to players globally means that our best now won't get to a level as high as our best in the past did. It doesn't automatically mean they are worse players. And they are far better than a lot of the teams we have played under Kenny. I believe it was you who said that Luxembourg at home was Kenny's first 'gimmie' match prior to playing them. Now you're trying to talk up teams like this. It's all revisionist nonsense.

In my opinion, at the end of McCarthy's time, it was set up perfectly for someone to come in with a positive approach and use the experienced squad we had and mix it with these exciting players coming through. Kenny was given that chance and he blew it. That has damaged our development badly. The next manager will have to repair that damage. I believe we got the appointment horribly wrong. With a manager capable at this level, just think how different it could have been. Even a reasonable level of results would have seen us at Euro 2020, competed strongly in our Nation's League groups as well as for the World Cup and we would be in a much stronger position in terms of qualifying for the next Euros.

This could have been done with a more progressive style of play also. They're not mutually exclusive. Instead, our new players have been introduced to a squad with a loser's culture. Where our manager is telling them they're not good enough to compete for qualification for major tournaments. Where some supporters are saying that losing at home 3-0 would be acceptable and coming third in a group would be a good outcome. It's crazy how low expectations have been dragged. And that's down to Kenny.

Mick McCarthy left the Irish senior squad perfectly set up for someone to come in? Are you on a wind-up? I'm not sure we could even say that he had the team playing better than MoN's end of tenure horridness. Mick McCarthy was offered a job he shouldn't have been offered on good money. He had one mission - to qualify for the Euro's and he failed. He failed from the first moment of his first match in charge. It's an oft-repeated comment from me, but that's because it's relevant. He allowed, into a gale-force wind, in Gibraltar, to allow us to try and muscle and hoof them off the pitch. and it didn't work because we were ****€ and our tactics were ****€. We were blessed to win and should have gone behind only for a wonder save from Randolph.

This was the side from the final match at home vs Denmark.
23 Randolph (GK)
2 Doherty
3 Stevens
4 C Duffy
5 Egan
6 Whelan
Hendrick
8 Browne
Hourihane
9 McGoldrick
11 McClean

Subs
1 O'Hara (GK)
16 Travers (GK)
7 Maguire
10 Brady
12 Robinson
15 K. Long
17 Clark
18 J. Byrne
19 Judge
20 Cullen
21 Parrott
22 J. Collins

Of that experienced final squad, it was so experienced, that 4 of them have been shot as they were that old. Of the others, either their careers have plummetted, they aren't playing at all, or they just weren't up to standard.
We are talking and have been talking about blooding League 1 players that aren't exactly 17/18 to try and come up with some sort of coherent attacking squad. At no point in our past have we been this low on options. You and others are using the analogy that today's Irish Championship players are yesteryears Irish Premier League players - that's total bullocks, no matter what way you dress it up. And even if it wasn't, and I'm not willing to concede that point, given how much bullocks it is, but lets say that is the case, we still aren't replacing championship players with championship players, we are dipping into League 1 for squad options.

David McGoldrick was often Ireland's centre midfield, Ireland's playmaker and Ireland's striker at the same time. As a result we were constantly breaking down positive play, as Ditsy was usually directing it from deep with nobody in front of him to link with.
That's either how bad the tactics were, or the players were. If Mick had continued on, we'd still be waiting for Josh Cullen to be a regular. Our poor-performing (career-wise) youngsters are now fully blooded into international football. There's no awe anymore for Parrott, Connolly, Cullen, Molumby, O'Shea, Collins, Kelleher, Knight, Ogbene, Bazunu, Omabamidele. Kenny did that - there's nothing to say that any other manager would have done that. The squad is in a better place now to push forward, whether that is with Kenny or not. The core rebuilding is done.

Look at the managers before Kenny.
McCarthy - McGoldrick
ONeill - Robbie Brady/John Walters
Trappatoni - Robbie Keane/Damien Duff/Aiden McGeady
Kerr - Robbie Keane/Damien Duff

This is the first Ireland manager that I can remember who doesn't have a natural established/experienced outfield 'out' card to focus his team around. It's undeniable. If you have a squad - in entirity where not one players is a core part of their club side in a offensive manner - it's beyond debilitating. and that's what we had for the best part of the last couple of years. It was Callum Robinson for a short while for Kenny, but the lad is not even consistently playing club football, or scoring.

So I do not accept that this is all Kenny's fault. I accept that is the fault of the FAI who instead of pushing financial resources into youth and domestic football to try and be proactive about the long-term, they pushed money into the hands of managers who by and large couldn't give a fook about Ireland, and who weren't exactly cream of the crop at the moment of their appointments, in order to sate the short-term hard-ons of 'fans' who only give a **** about the big occasion.
Why I'm happy Kenny is still in a job, is that it finally means the FAI are looking at the coffers, and realise we don't have the money to splurge our way out of this nadir with zero guarentee of anything especially given our playing resources, but that splurge would absolutely endanger the good work finally being done underage (meagre and all that it is).
If it takes an extra campaign, I don't care. I'll gladly sacrifice it, if it means that we're in a better position to qualify for more tournaments more consistently, whether that is with Kenny or not.

[elatedscum]

lyons was excellent for rovers. our right sided defensive options are fine and i think hes behind someone like mcnamara who has been playing regularly in the championship for a while. the real outstanding talent(s) over the past 5 or 6 years in LOI have been maguire + byrne (mid 2019-2020 pre covid) . those are the only two whose ability stood out massively to me anyway as lads who could do it at international level while playing here. unfortunately maguires hamstrings gave up on him and JB hasnt hit those highs again imo. lyons has great potential, think he needs to establish himself at a good level in england first.

in fairness, i would have preferred Git Forrester coming on against Armenia to Conor Hourihane ;)

[JR89]

lyons was excellent for rovers. our right sided defensive options are fine and i think hes behind someone like mcnamara who has been playing regularly in the championship for a while. the real outstanding talent(s) over the past 5 or 6 years in LOI have been maguire + byrne (mid 2019-2020 pre covid) . those are the only two whose ability stood out massively to me anyway as lads who could do it at international level while playing here. unfortunately maguires hamstrings gave up on him and JB hasnt hit those highs again imo. lyons has great potential, think he needs to establish himself at a good level in england first.

I wouldn't have Andy Lyons behind McNamara. For me McNamara is too defensive and going forward he's meh. For a team that's up in the play offs his only goal involvement all season is one assist and in his 91 appearances for Millwall he's got two goals. Lyons passed out that goal tally in 11 games for Blackpool. I like McNamara but if you're playing with three CBs then you need WBs that are attack minded.


He also covers LWB as well as RWB and tbh I think a call up in November could have been justified even if it was just to train like Smallbone did. See how he got on and maybe give him a run out at LWB because he was impressive for Rovers in that position and similar to Stevens he was someone that would find himself in goal scoring positions coming inside.

[joey B]

Trouble brewing!!!!!

[Kingdom]

Trouble brewing!!!!!

Edit, saw on the mobile. Interesting. Imagine it's just le Figaro sh!t-stirring (hopefully not).

[joey B]

That tweet doesn't show up for me. anyone else?

https://mobile.twitter.com/GFFN/stat...-2023%2Fpage12

[tetsujin1979]

In the midst of all this, Latvia announced their squad last week, but I don't think I know any of their players.
Average age is 26, average of 24 caps each, and 56 goals across the squad
By comparison the Ireland squad's average age is 25, with an average of 20 caps, and 34 goals in total in the squad

https://lff.lv/zinas/14678/pazinots-...irija-un-velsa