I actually thought whilst watching that he wasn't as enthusiastic or as confident as he has been in the past regardless of who we faced. I feel like he's lost a bit of his belief in himself and the team and just being able to get results. Could well be reading too much into it but its not like his previous interviews. I'm not sure which thread it was on but someone mentioned, and kenny himself, doing well against the bigger sides that's another misnomer we picked up 2 points of a possible 12 from the last two higher seeded teams for WC qualification. Its not on a par with previous regimes(even McCarthy managed 3 in his second coming) than previous regimes and in no way is that good enough or anywhere near enough to get 2nd(possible even 3rd in this group).
I have always really liked and still do like Kenny and thought initially he did a great job at Dundalk( Cyprus away and another couple of performances had me wondering about him), I just find the media hypocrisy is a bit silly at this stage. It's almost like the Bank Job.
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
Draw v FRA & NED at home
Lose to both away.
4 wins v Greece and Gibraltar
14 points.
Miss out on 2nd and miss out on playoff.
It would be good if the FAI had some foresight at that stage and give SK the job for 2026 also. Lead an experienced squad to the USA.
hourihane started every game in that campaign. he was some bit useful 2.5 year ago , not useful at all today though. bizarre to be blaming kenny for playing him then
"no result will be bad enough to justify his sacking" but it will though. if we get tonked 3/4-0 by france or holland it'll be enough to see him gone. then you might be happy
Hourihane was useless then and he's useless now. While I lost any remaining hope for Kenny ever doing anything as manager following the second Armenia debacle, I will never wish for the team to lose games. But at the same time I know we won't qualify for a tournament - short of auto qualifying as hosts - until he's gone.
I wasn't talking about Kenny's whole term. Things changed after Luxembourg when it was all about building for 2024 because we were eliminated. McCarthy's last game in charge had a team with an average age of 28.7. That was with Glenn Whelan. Kenny's team for the playoff game v Slovakia had an average age of 29.10, with no Whelan.
No dodge. He's been criticised because he's been an awful manager for Ireland, it's that simple. Why shouldn't we compete with any team to qualify for major tournaments? In the recent past we've nearly always been competitive in qualification groups and when we haven't been, the manager has got fired. Kenny is extremely lucky to survive this far.
I'm just doing quick calculations, basically taking there ages now and taking away 2 but you get the point. There wasn't much difference between McCarthys team and Kenny's for the first 10 games at least. Take Glenn Whelan out and swap him with a 20 year old and it turns it into a low 28 year old team? Look at the line ups, that was the main difference.
https://www.the42.ie/will-smallbone-3-5889743-Oct2022/ really idiotic comments on hodge here from kenny. Always strikes me as wanting to show everyone he is the most knowledgeable in the room so has to bring Ronan into the conversation in a way that comes across as belittling hodge
He's a fool. Asked about Joe Hodge and basically says he prefers Conor Ronan
I have no issue with him hyping up Ronan but in that context it's really disappointing. Why not say something along the lines of -- "it's great to see a young Irish player make his premier league debut. I will be monitoring his progress closely and if he continues to feature, I'm open minded about fast tracking him into my senior setup."
Give Hodge a boost, let him know he is being tracked -- and that there's a path to a senior breakthrough.
I really don't understand why Kenny would be so casual given the players at his disposal have really struggled at stages during the Nations League campaign.
I'd be more concerned about the merits of playing Malta in preparation for the campaign.
Bookmarks