QuotePlease give link to your source or at least mention it.
Time for Kerr to take a little blame
.................................................. ...............................
Never slow in coming forward when there’s praise to be dished his way, Brian Kerr is something of a shrinking violet when the blame game starts – especially when the fingers rightly point in his direction.
Unsurprisingly, Kerr was quick to deflect any criticism laid at his door in his post match comments following the unholy surrender in the Holy Land. After taking an early lead, Ireland’s collective decision to sit on that slender and tenuous lead had nothing to do with him he claimed. In fact, at half time, he even told the players to go out and get number two – kill the game.
Clearly, reading between the lines, the team were unable to execute his orders – and so, the concession of a late goal was their fault – and not his. Surprise, surprise! So much for the buck stopping with him – so much for collective responsibility.
OK, once the game is afoot, the opportunities for a manager to affect the course of a game are limited. But that doesn’t mean he can abdicate all responsibility. If Kerr did indeed tell his players to go for it – then questions must be raised about the fact that his team did more or less the opposite, getting their just reward.
Kerr is ostensibly a defensive coach. His team selection for the game bore this theory out. Dropping the increasingly influential Reid for Finnan is proof positive. Failure to bring on Reid in the second half – a clear statement of intent. Kerr may claim that he sent out a positive message at the break – but actions speak louder than words. And it’s Kerr’s deeds rather than his words that seem to influence this team.
You may think this a little harsh – but this isn’t the first time this has happened in this campaign. Saturday’s debacle was almost a carbon copy of the Swiss game in Basel at the start of the qualifying tournament. In that instance, we again failed to capitalise on an early Morrison goal – withdrawing into our shell, and escaping luckily with another draw.
On the surface, points garnered in Tel Aviv and Switzerland are valuable. But having been in winning positions in both instances has devalued our haul. Automatic qualification would almost be guaranteed had we prevailed in both instances. Instead, we left our rivals off the hook – and have left ourselves embroiled in a dog fight.
Failure to capitalise once might be seen as unfortunate, failing to do it twice is downright Kerrless. If the manager goes on burying his head in the sand and continues his Houllier style conservatism, then qualification could slip through our fingers. But if he learns from his mistakes – and he must be allowed to do so – then he will rightly get the praise he craves by taking us to Germany.
Please give link to your source or at least mention it.
Wouldn't say its worth mentioning. Accusing Kerr of lying even though Kilbane, Given, Cunningham and Roy backed up what he said in separate interviews after the game.Originally Posted by pete
Of course he was conservative in Israel by not playing Reid but you can hardly blame him considering Reid didn't do a lot in Switzerland and proved last night that he can be a liability at times. He told the team to go out and get another. They couldn't. Just like they couldn't score last night. He should have brought Reid on in the second half and that is one of the few things I'd blame him for. But, if all the players played as good as they could have we would have won by a big enough margin and Kerr would have been praised (which is ludicrous since it is completely out of his hands whether someone plays good or bad).
Last edited by eirebhoy; 30/03/2005 at 11:22 AM.
The away performance isn’t a Brian Kerr problem as such, Ireland teams have been putting in away performances like this since the dawn of time. I think however Brian Kerr’s unwillingness to use substitutions at times can be frustrating.
Brime3.Well said..I agree away form has always been very similar no matter what manager we have but it does not mean we should not try and change it.One other thing..Why do we not play more friendlies away,surely it would benifit us.
Because Lansdowne is going to be closed for 2 years, the FAI are trying to make as much money as possible in the time before that happens
Yeah there should be a poll done up, I think its possible to critisice Kerr without calling for his head but some people seem unable to do that. I think any manager should get at least 2 campaings before He is sacked unless what he is doing is totally mad and we finish bottom of a group or something
In Trap we trust
There are people who were gunning for Kerr from day one because he wasnt "high profile" enough, they're coming out of the woodwork now.
Draw your tough away games, win the home games and you go through, simple as that really. We're on course, happy days.
Oh no not them again
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks