This 100%
One of the very few things the FAI got right was the formation of the underage National Leagues.
The structure is there and some money invested in full time coaches would make the difference.
For anyone who wants to see reason for hope i would urge you to pop along to an underage game in the National Leagues and see the way we are playing football there.
The wave of immigration that has manifested itself in Athletics is coming through also in football.
i would say the under 14 and 15 leagues are the best ones to look at as the older 17's and 19's have transitioned through the move to "total football" rather then being indoctrinated since early days.
We will be better then we are now (low bar indeed) over the next few years as the talent comes on stream
A heroic performance of epic proportions. But we were abysmal.
An excellent performance against a team who were beaten as if they were adopted in the 60s (I was adopted in the 80s), and were happy to commit hari kari.2011-11-11 Estonia 0, Ireland 4 (playoff)
Hmmkay, good one.2013-03-22 Sweden 0, Ireland 0 -
Resolute in defence and went all guns blazing for the final 5 mins. Traditional away performance, untraditional away result.2014-10-14 Germany 1, Ireland 1 -
- "imitates Gorilla Monsoon voice" would you schtop? is your name Bobby Heenan?2015-11-16 Bosnia 1, Ireland 1 (playoff)
- absolutely. A very good performance. A very good result.2016-11-12 Austria 0, Ireland 1
- absolutely. I think this is probably the best traditional Irish performance away from home that I've seen. And it was Wales who fancied themselves to do us. And we got the result to boot.2017-10-09 Wales 0, Ireland 1 (eliminated Wales)
- get off the stage.2019-06-07 Denmark 1, Ireland 1
Wales
Austria
Portugal
Estonia
Germany / Serbia
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
So you are ranking a loss away to Portugal ahead of a draw away against the World Champions three months after they won the World Cup.Wales
Austria
Portugal
Estonia
Germany / Serbia
Now, if we had absolutely played Portugal off the park and lost unluckily, then fair enough. But we didn't. It was backs to the wall stuff. 28% possession. "Traditional Irish" as you refer to it. I mean, I certainly wasn't sitting there with 30 minutes to go thinking, yeah, we're gonna close this match out, no bother.
I agree wholeheartedly with the posts about the problem starting with domestic football structures. Those structures here are geared to send players to an English system that has changed remarkably in the past couple of decades and started to produce fantastic players for England ... and left us completely behind. That's why we went to Euro 2016 with an ancient team, and that's why we've been on a hiding to nothing since.
That doesn't excuse Kenny. His results are completely unacceptable, even accounting for the challenges he's faced. The only thing keeping him in the job is the FAI's finances (thanks, Delaney!).
You can't spell failure without FAI
The post after your original refers to performances not results. That's the context - the manager referred to performances himself. We played more football in the 45 mins against Portugal, than we did against Germany, Russia and Denmark combined.
I never said anything about playing anyone off the park. Portugal away was very reminiscent of Amsterdam 2000. It was very similar to what happened to us against Azerbaijan. And it's with the players that were utilised too. Germany away off the top of the head: John O'Shea, Darren Randolph, Jon Walters, Aiden McGeady, Wes Hoolahan, Robbie Brady, Glenn Whelan perhaps?
As for closing the match out - I wouldn't think that's a statement anyone has associated with many Irish senior teams over the past 15 years, so I've no idea why you'd mention that.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
He can say that for as long as he likes. What's near sightedness in terms of timespan in international football? 16 games is definitely coming to the medium term. Would it be fair to say the average career of an international manager is 25-30 games? He and others can bang all the drums he likes but until he starts fashioning results evrryhting else is just soundbites.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
Some players lose form, some players gain form and some players remain at the same standard. As I've said, both McCarthy and Kenny had pluses and minuses but the standard of the squad has remained broadly the same.
Mick's only defeat was away to Switzerland who made the Euro quarter finals only losing to Spain on penalties. He drew away to Denmark, European championship semi finalists and then we battered them at home and were very unlucky to draw. This is the level we were at when Kenny took over. McCarthy had the same issues with a very poor squad and attackers who didn't score goals. It's a clear fact to state that Kenny has taken us backwards and by a long way.
Talk of imposing a certain style of football starts from the ground up. Its not the job of a senior international manager who will have a group of senior pros for no more than 2 weeks at a time max.
Always thought talk of "getting it down and playing" was a load of PR rubbish to be honest. The idea that MON/Trap/whoever actively told players not to be positive and pass to each other is bullsh*t.
What happened in the last week is symptomatic of this, we can epouse this positive football argument all we want, but when you have players of a certain level you will have days when they play out of their skin (Portugal), and days when they let you down (Azerbaijan). Consistent high levels of performance are not possible, its really that simple. Hence managers use tactics to negate opposition, mitigate risk etc... in order to maximise the point total. Its not rocket science.
Kenny telling people he didn't enjoy watching the national team, and was seeking to encourage good football is naive, and pandering to the crowd who want to be entertained but also want to go to major tournaments.
Our philosophy at senior level was to cobble together the best XI we could and eek every last drop out of them, there was no joined up thinking with domestic football, our underage setup or the like. Its a case of dipping into the talent pool we sent to England. Changing the philosophy would involve making huge changes at underage level which in time funnell into senior set up, so we are not as top heavy (i.e hiring a semi big name manager on huge money whose only job is getting us to Euros whilst the future of the next generation looks bleak).
Hopefully in time, the rising tide will lift all the boats (youth and senior), and as previous posters put it, the underage national leagues are a huge step forward.
I am addressing it. Some players got older and dropped to the bench, some players improved and got into starting positions, some players remained at the same level. When you weigh all of that up, Kenny has a slightly stronger squad than McCarthy. A big example of that is McCarthy had an over the hill Whelan while Kenny has a youthful Cullen who stepped up the levels.
Like, it's clear you're a big defender of Kenny but the squad strength argument fails because of the record of his predecessor with a squad of similar strength.
It's because when we broke we looked good, there's a bit of hoodwinking or people genuinely can't see it. I do believe there's a narrative at play now for those wanting Kenny regardless.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
It was not. I was at that match. We were all over them. They were lucky we only scored the two.Portugal away was very reminiscent of Amsterdam 2000
We we had a few decent counterattacks. But we've always been good for that, save the final few months of MON, final few months of Trap. But those managers had us breaking well in the beginning of their tenure as well. I mean one of the greatest performances ever was Paris 2009. Under Trap, whose football I generally couldn't stand.
Cascarino on matt cooper( what an ape cooper is) saying we should play Duffy up front cause we need a major change in how we play. On that basis I hope Kenny gets to stay for the euro qualifiers to turn things around
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