QuoteOh I missed Hendrick! That's good. I noted Doherty. It still seems like a lot of players have been dropped though.Originally Posted by Trequartista20
Connolly was an unused sub last week and they've since signed Wellbeck, so that's not encouraging
It does mean at least that he drops out of my Fantasy team and Ward-Prowse (14 points) comes in, so every cloud and all that
Oh I missed Hendrick! That's good. I noted Doherty. It still seems like a lot of players have been dropped though.
Doherty was out for a couple of games. So some squad rotation going on alright.
Connolly not making squad is concerning but I have a bit of a memory of him being left out like that last season for couple games and he came back in and did well. Sometimes young players need to be dropped, even happened to Greenwood recently at United. If he's still out of squad in a month I'd be more concerned
ok I wouldnt comment at all, how can i link a live broadcast, but I can assure you the truth. espn 2, ex espn plus argentina is broadcasting the premier league. The remarks are true, they named Maupay and Connolly, Pons and the other guy didnt realize he wasnt on the bench. Google "Bambino Pons", that guy is a human library of the premier league down here.
From the press conference earlier: https://www.the42.ie/stephen-kenny-24-5256418-Nov2020/
He doesn't have to be fixated on the seeding points, but it's the kind of detail I want the manager to be conscious of. The result against England could be the difference between us being in the second seeds, or the third“I can’t get fixated on the minutiae of World Cup seeding points”, said Kenny. “We just have to focus on playing well against England, against Wales after that quick Thursday/Sunday turnaround, and then the game against Bulgaria in Dublin on Wednesday.
True enough, it would have been better not to have the friendly considering the cut off date for FIFA seeeding but it has been arranged and SK just has to get on with it.
Lose the friendly, then I'd guess that a win v Bulgaria and a draw v Wales should be enough to be in 2nd pot for the WC qual draw.
To be fair, I would say he's aware of it, but it he starts down that road publically, he's hammering the FAI and setting his own players under undue pressure.
Others have said elsewhere the need for a game, and money, probably was too good to turn down, despite the obvious issues this specific game brings.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
All the talk of Kenny integrating young players, as if he's some Pied Piper of the U21s. He had 12 matches with them. He's had 2/3s of that with the seniors. I'm fairly sure I remember there was an agreement with Mick and Kenny that Mick wouldn't take any of his U21s unless there was an emergency. I doubt Mick came up with that. He should have been left get on with it. He would have brought through the young lads just as he had in his first stint. In my opinion, we'd have qualified for the Euros and would be in a lot better place than we are now.
I would like to see Kenny do well. I'm no fan boy of his, just because he was in the League of Ireland, is not a reason for me to support him. He was in charge of Derry City when they were cheating with double contracts. But what I saw of him at Dundalk, taking over a side who hadn't a pot to p!ss in, with a group of unfancied players and some young talented potential. Sounds familiar.
What to take from his first set of games:
We're actually attempting to play football. It's not great, it's a bit sideways, but it's a start. After years of utter dirge, an embarrassment of an Irish side who got a handful of days out for the 'ole ole' brigade, I'm happy to at least see an attempt to pass the ball to a team-mate rather than a hopeful 40 yard hoof up the field.
We've got a chance to see many of the under-21 squad. There's a lot of hopes for about 8-10 players. If we can successfully blood 5 of them into regular senior internationals, that'll be a success. The likes of Idah, Molumby, Cullen, Connolly, O'Shea and Parrott look good. Kenny knows them, knows their games, and has a chance to help them push on going into March. They've got their taste of international football, so won't be overawed by a World Cup qualifer when it comes around.
We know who's not good enough. We've seen somewhere between 40-45 players in squads since September, from various levels of world football. Kenny will have seen them train, how they apply themselves, and how the handled a game situation.
We know who is also past their best and would be best put out to pasture. Who doesn't fit the system and who is best placed to take their place in March.
Kenny will now know we have several key issues;
- Randolph has been a great servant, but if he wants a goalkeeper comfortable with the ball to feet, he'd better hope Kelleher gets his loan in January, Bazunu continues his development at Rochdale, and Travers manages to break into the side at Bournemouth. Randolph will be 34 next summer, getting no younger, and we need one of the three to step up, sooner rather than later.
- Likewise, if he wants his team playing football, Duffy shouldn't be starting. Some important goals, some great games in an Ireland shirt, but he's not a footballer. O'Shea and Egan are looking like our two most comfortable options in that area right now. Kevin Long even looks a better option than Duffy with the ball to feet.
- There's a dearth of options in midfield, but he needs to quit persisting with Hourihane in there, who is tried, tested, and failed over and over again. Cullen, Byrne, Molumby, Knight, Hendrick and Browne are all better equipped to play possession football.
- The obvious issue of goals is worrying, but I won't be overly defeatest about it just yet considering the disruptions to the squad. We've clear young attacking talent in Connolly, Idah and Parrott, with Robinson they'll be our main attacking four going into March barring any injury issues. You'd hope Obafemi can come good, but I'd fear he'll slip down the leagues.
The persistence with 4-3-3 is what worries me. When it wasn't working, in any of the last few games, we didn't seem to have a plan B. Added to a refusal to make changes earlier in the game, and last night in particular, only adding two strikers in the 86th minute, would be my main criticism of Kenny.
March and next summer is where he'll be really judged. For now, the initial 8 games was to learn.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Pros;
* We can retain possession as well as anyone else in terms of similar level teams when we try to, we're not that technically deficient that it's impossible as previous managers have maintained
* A much larger numbers of players than might otherwise have been expected have had a chance to either start or play a part in the squad
* Kenny showed he could make a big decision by leaving Coleman out in his early selections to favour Doherty
* We're still not conceding a whole lot
* We're having more shots and creating more opportunities that previous regime
Cons;
* No attempts to alter formation at any stage of games, even if plan A is not producing results
* Reluctance to drop other senior players for player more suited to the game plan (probably a fear that dropping too many senior players would alienate the squad)
* Manager can't seem to lift the confidence of the team, they may not be fully buying in
* Hard to see goals coming unless one of Idah, Parrot, Connolly or Robinson really catch fire between now and the world cup qualifiers
Tallaght Stadium Regular
Surely O'Shea is the new O'Shea. Particularly with Jimmy Dunne having the best claim to being the new Dunne.
We could be playing at the 2030 World Cup with a central defensive partnership of Dunne & O'Shea.
File this under thing's I'd love to see.
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.
Tallaght Stadium Regular
I've been thinking about this. Would we have qualified for the U21 Championships if Kenny had stayed on with them, and let Mick complete the play offs and Nations League games?
The two standout results of Kenny's time in charge were the come from behind wins against Sweden. In the other games against the better sides in the group, he drew with Italy and lost to Iceland. I'm not sure he would have done better than Crawford in the return games - maybe he wouldn't have lost to Iceland. If you look at his results against similar ranked opposition across his time in charge of the U21s, there's the results I've mentioned, two draws with Mexico (when we failed to score) and a 2-0 loss to Brazil in the Toulon Tournament, and we only scored in two of the five games we played there (4-1 V China and 1-0 V Bahrain).
i would swat away any attempt to denigrate the superior value of striking the crossbat as apposed to to the puny stat of a shot on target easily saved by the goalie.
Damn poxing stupid typos that actually mean something else!
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