Stephen Kenny

[Stuttgart88]

Bloody bats. The bane of 2020 everywhere.

In reply to Tets, I think we’ve managed to botch two transitions!

[tetsujin1979]

He didn't mention anything about shots on target?

Hitting the bat certainly counts as an opportunity for example.

Exactly, it's following on from the look at the stats between this nations league and the previous one. The issue is we're not scoring and part of that is not getting shots on target, but we are taking more shots in general and winning more corners, all of which could be considered as creating more chances.

Last night was poor though in fairness, 7 attempts and only 4 corners.

Fair enough, it's still a shocking stat in a home game. According to sofascore, the last time we had zero shots on target in a game was Martin O'Neill's last game, the 0-0 draw away to Denmark and we only one shot in total in that game.

I'm not sure how to make a fair comparison between Kenny's time so far and Mick games in charge last year. Mick beat Bulgaria 3-1 in a friendly, Kenny drew 1-1 and 0-0 with the same team a year later.
On average Kenny's team are attempting, and completing, about 170 more passes per game, but we're averaging the same number of shots, and have less shots on target.

Watching the Bulgaria game last night, and also against Wales at the weekend, I did think that they were happy to let us pass the ball in our own half, because our midfield doens't have the players to retain possession when they get forward into the opposition half, so the ball was easy to regain.

[seanfhear]

Duffy and Randolf are not suited to the type of game Kenny is trying to play at the moment. If these two are going to be starters then Kenny has to take that in to account. We have other alternatives for Duffy but do we realistically have an alternative to Randolph ?

[pineapple stu]

Fair enough, it's still a shocking stat in a home game

It's a thoroughly depressing stat.

The main caveat for me is that was essentially an Ireland B team. Half of them weren't even in the original squad. It's hard to bring in a new style of play with that much chopping and changing. I'd like to think it explains why last night seemed to be a big step backwards

[John83]

Damn poxing stupid typos that actually mean something else!

[geysir]

Back to batting Kenny.
The vital Slovakia game was the big loss, however it went to the wire, virtually a toss of the coin and that despite the effect of the absurdity of 2 players being quarantined due to being 20cm closer than they should to a false positive FAI employee.

I have to put aside that I don't like 433 for the team, that we don't have the midfield selected or available to properly defend or retain possesion in a 433.
I don't have an overall impression of what Kenny is capable of because the only constant recently has been the disruptive factors.

Aspects I didn't appreciate, the decision not to adjust formation to play against England who are a distinct class above our UNL/ play off opponents.
Stubborness not to play Byrne, currently our only player who for better or worse "gets on the ball" and makes the pass happen.
Maybe I have a different tolerance for enduring poor form/results in a transition from crap to something better, but the focus has to be on the positives, the young players coming through and best team selected performing on the field.

[passinginterest]

Right, I'm looking for positives and turning to the stats again. So, which team in our group had:

Most attempts on goal
Most corners
Most crosses
Most possession
Most passes attempted and completed
Best pass accuracy

The possibly surprising answer to all of the above is Ireland. I think it emphasises the fact that we've been pretty unlucky not to have at least fluked a couple more goals and that our finishing was brutal and we didn't make the most of our set piece chances from corners. Probably taking on shots from the wrong areas and putting in too many hopeful crosses from the wrong areas.

Team	Goals	Attempts	On Target	Off Target	Blocked
Ireland	1	68	17	42	9
Wales	7	63	25	23	15
Finland	7	54	18	22	14
Bulgaria	2	49	12	21	16

Team	Cross Completion %	Attempted	Completed	Corners
Ireland	35	128	45	25
Wales	49	100	49	23
Finland	43	72	31	17
Bulgaria	37	106	39	22

Team	Passing Accuracy %	Attempted	Completed	Possession %
Ireland	85	3170	2699	53
Wales	85	3038	2609	51
Finland	84	2934	2472	47
Bulgaria	83	2922	2432	49

All stats from https://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/teams/

[John83]

That's an interesting analysis, passinginterest. It suggests that Kenny's system could surprise us if we just find one forward with a bit of form.

[paul_oshea]

Right, I'm looking for positives and turning to the stats again. So, which team in our group had:

Most attempts on goal
Most corners
Most crosses
Most possession
Most passes attempted and completed
Best pass accuracy

The possibly surprising answer to all of the above is Ireland. I think it emphasises the fact that we've been pretty unlucky not to have at least fluked a couple more goals and that our finishing was brutal and we didn't make the most of our set piece chances from corners. Probably taking on shots from the wrong areas and putting in too many hopeful crosses from the wrong areas.

Team	Goals	Attempts	On Target	Off Target	Blocked
Ireland	1	68	17	42	9
Wales	7	63	25	23	15
Finland	7	54	18	22	14
Bulgaria	2	49	12	21	16

Team	Cross Completion %	Attempted	Completed	Corners
Ireland	35	128	45	25
Wales	49	100	49	23
Finland	43	72	31	17
Bulgaria	37	106	39	22

Team	Passing Accuracy %	Attempted	Completed	Possession %
Ireland	85	3170	2699	53
Wales	85	3038	2609	51
Finland	84	2934	2472	47
Bulgaria	83	2922	2432	49

All stats from https://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/teams/

Sorry PI, how do you format in that way? Do you go to Advanced, cos tablular/space isn't recognised by the VBulletin Text editor

[paul_oshea]

That's an interesting analysis, passinginterest. It suggests that Kenny's system could surprise us if we just find one forward with a bit of form.

I think thats what we had been saying before any stats? That hes playing a system that relies on a finisher which we don't have - Collins being the best one we had to that effect? And so if hes playing a formation/system that relies on a player we don't have then its stutts adage of square pegs and round holes, or maybe round pegs and square holes, we adapt/change the system to suit the players we have in the best positions we have.

[tetsujin1979]

Right, I'm looking for positives and turning to the stats again. So, which team in our group had:

Most attempts on goal
Most corners
Most crosses
Most possession
Most passes attempted and completed
Best pass accuracy
<stats snipped out>

Good research there PI, think it proves that the team setup in the final third just isn't working. Only one in four(25%) of our shots were on target, slightly better than Bulgaria(24.4%) who scored one more than us, and a lot worse than Finland(33%) and Wales(39.6%)

[passinginterest]

Sorry PI, how do you format in that way? Do you go to Advanced, cos tablular/space isn't recognised by the VBulletin Text editor

I go advance and then the top left button on the ribbon A/A (Switch Editor to WISIWYG mode) and if you copy in tables then is seems to pick up the formatting.

[Eminence Grise]

I think thats what we had been saying before any stats? That hes playing a system that relies on a finisher which we don't have - Collins being the best one we had to that effect? And so if hes playing a formation/system that relies on a player we don't have then its stutts adage of square pegs and round holes, or maybe round pegs and square holes, we adapt/change the system to suit the players we have in the best positions we have.

Or he's banking on being able to settle into a front three of forwards permed from Connolly, Idah, Robinson, Parrott, backed up by Collins and Maguire, where there's better mobility and all-round threat, rather than relying on an isolated forward supported by wingers which is largely what he was forced into in the last three games.

[Stuttgart88]

Fair enough, it's still a shocking stat in a home game. According to sofascore, the last time we had zero shots on target in a game was Martin O'Neill's last game, the 0-0 draw away to Denmark and we only one shot in total in that game.

I'm not sure how to make a fair comparison between Kenny's time so far and Mick games in charge last year. Mick beat Bulgaria 3-1 in a friendly, Kenny drew 1-1 and 0-0 with the same team a year later.
On average Kenny's team are attempting, and completing, about 170 more passes per game, but we're averaging the same number of shots, and have less shots on target.

Watching the Bulgaria game last night, and also against Wales at the weekend, I did think that they were happy to let us pass the ball in our own half, because our midfield doens't have the players to retain possession when they get forward into the opposition half, so the ball was easy to regain.

I think you can make any argument out of any set of circumstances sometimes in football, but while I enjoyed the 3-1 win over Bulgaria last year it must be remembered that we turned what should have been an easy win into a 1-1 through a brain dead penalty concession, and we only scored two late goals to win it, both after 80 mins I think. So you could (badly!) argue that last year's win wasn't as convincing as the result suggested.

[Stuttgart88]

This is mainly in reply to Razor’s last post in the Bulgaria match thread. Someone said earlier that the goal rot set in before Kenny and it’s true really. We were pretty poor in every game against the “lesser” sides under Mick and we were beyond brutal in O’Neill’s last year, which was wasted imho.

We were better against Denmark twice under Mick though and we played with good intensity in both games, and also at home to the Swiss.

We may be going backwards but at the same time I think the top end of European football is getting even better. Italy seem to be back. So too Holland. Spain ruthlessly dismantled an in experienced German team. France are good and have lots of know-how. Portugal have a production line of talent that defies belief. England have forward and midfield options we can only drool over. Belgium keep marching on.

We are so far away from that level now. We are clinging on to tier 2 status and that’s fair. That’s not Kenny’s fault.

[passinginterest]

This sounds a bit ominous: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-39767596.html

It's believed that some members of the FAI party, including players and at least one member of the coaching staff and a member of the non-football staff, were upset by what was described as overtly political content of a video shown to the players as a motivational tool ahead of the clash with England.

If there's people in the FAI with doubts about Kenny and they can show that there was anything that might be construed as leaning towards the sectarian end of "political" it could be a way to force Kenny to fall on his sword.

[Deckydee]

Didn't Big Jack play rebel songs on the bus back in the day.

[Trequartista20]

This sounds a bit ominous: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-39767596.html


If there's people in the FAI with doubts about Kenny and they can show that there was anything that might be construed as leaning towards the sectarian end of "political" it could be a way to force Kenny to fall on his sword.

Intriguing. What kind of 'political' video?

It's also seems to be rather slyly suggested in that article that this might have something to do with Alan Kelly opting out of the last game.

Hopefully this matter can be dealt with sensibly.

[tetsujin1979]

Hmmm, Kenny did say he wanted to have an Irish band play to the team before the game. Wonder if this was part of it?

[Kingdom]

This sounds a bit ominous: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-39767596.html


If there's people in the FAI with doubts about Kenny and they can show that there was anything that might be construed as leaning towards the sectarian end of "political" it could be a way to force Kenny to fall on his sword.

This is exactly my take on it.