Possibly, although we don't know how hard Hungary were going that day. Not getting injured right before a finals tournament can be more important to players in that situation at times.
The next series of games will give us a better idea of whether the Hungary game was a turning point or not. Right now the only definitive line we can use to judge Kenny's tenure through this tournament is Slovakia's performance compared to the depleted version of their team that defeated us last autumn. Their performance against Spain wouldn't inspire much hope for us.
Beat Denmark at home in the last game and we would have qualified. We battered them and were unlucky not to win. That IS almost qualifying.
McCarthy's second reign wasn't amazing, as I've already said, but it looks amazing compared with Kenny's. And looking at Switzerland and Denmark at the euros makes you comment about a soft group look silly.
I dont find the english word for this but I think Kenny situation from November is gonna be unsustainable, people will get angry because we are gonna get beaten by Portugal away and 0 points from 3, it is very hard, he hasnt made any favours himself, we played better in Slovakia because of James McCarthy, the rest of the game he missed his sense on the pitch. While im watching ucrania vs suecia i can tell you we need a player full of football like Albin Ekdal in Ireland, maybe Johansson could be that player , who could carry the ball to the players in dangerous positions, for me Ekdal has been inmensed today.
ditto this watching Rice haranguing the public made me fed up of him , what a chancer!!!
Jaysus - didn't think it was that recent. Fair enough.
Mention the Euros and one has to think of England and two of their players in particular - Greaslish and Rice. Had they stayed with us they never would have known moments like today's epic win over Germany. I suppose the victory scenes at Wembley, compared to our playing friendlies against the likes of Andorra, is a measure of the gap between where we are and where we need to be.
I have watched all games in the Euros bar a half of two games, the one thing I have noticed is that almost every player (and i Include N Macedonia in this) can take a ball in a tight space under pressure, and keep hold of it and get the pass away that's the one main and very important attribute players at these Euros have over most of our players. Perhaps its championship football for championship grade players. The other main points I have picked up is that most teams are playing a variety of styles and can change it up throughout the game, this possession for possession sake is a misnomer, few teams do the passing along the back four like Ireland do continuously without any idea of how they are going to get it through to the next bank, many teams are varying the passing because they have identified weaknesses of defenders or midfield, that Croatian full back for example, got caught out twice.
That's an interesting one about being guilty of seeing what I want to see, I would put that at the door of many on here who had seen "greenshots" with kennys first few games in charge, identifying possession and passing incoherently across the back four without any penetration and the keeper taking short kickouts* within the box to a defender as proof of progression. There's been a good few games in this championship where one team has had more possession at these euros and lost, I doubt they found solace in that on their journey home.
Agree with your last point, that's what I saw against Hungary and I felt we got a lot more out of the game with variation especially long balls/balls over the top. Also why I mentioned Obafemi, as Idah doesn't have that thundering pace when he finds himself in those positions - which he did a couple of times.
*Of course theres exceptions to this too, Marshall time and again taking long punts forward when Scotland needed to hold ball for a while against Croatia was very frustrating.
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
I was having some signal chats with friends from home about this, saying that we badly need a defensive midfielder, a playmaker and a proper striker. Denmark have proven, and Croatia that 3 very good players can bring you far. I dont care either way for England to be honest, or at least I didnt think I did, but when I saw grealish and rice interviewed and talking about how great the fans are and how much it meant it got to me. How can any English player say that? They'll turn on them at anytime and boo them. Is it because of that they desperately require their admiration or something? I don't get it. It would be the worst feeling to be loved by an English supporter, because you know the relationship is built on sand foundations.
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
I dont mean to bug ya, but Guud Hiddink did it 15 years ago with AUSTRALIA. they were afraid of Uruguay they got a bad return from iconic forme striker Frank Farina in the condefederation cup and hired the maestro. If Australia did it why Ireland couldnt. Guus Hiddink was someone who had Ireland carved in his forehead for hiring. He made all his teams to play pretty footie, allowed his defenders play it smoothly from the back, he made Craig Moore a better footballer after he was 26 years old. Had right back Lucas Neill he reverted him as libero, played 3 at the back had Jason Culina a playmaker of winger in Holland play as a holding midfielder, had Scott Chipperfield a left back, playing as a wingback with chance to score, Had that Wilshire who was a holding midfielder as right midfielder or right back, turned Cahill who was a holding midfielder into a scoring machine..,,,,isnt that great?
we still could get Hiddink
His gig before Curaco was the Chinese u21....who lost to Stephen Kennys U21s in the Toulon tournament...
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021...s-heart-scare/
I wondered why they kept it so quiet at the time.
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
Listened to the interview just now. Stephen Kenny comes off as a nice guy but clearly didn't want to get into details and the host kept asking him over and over what happened to his heart. "It was an electrical issue" is all Kenny kept repeating. Painful to listen to. Stephen Kenny talks about about half the speed of a normal person.
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