Slovakia v Republic of Ireland - 8th October 2020 - Euro 2020 Playoff Semi Final

**jbyrne** · 08/10/2020, 9:47 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

Only Connolly was missing who would have started for us and he's certainly not one of our best players. Coleman, if fit, was unlikely to start.

connolly wouldve made a difference. coleman one of our best players.
cant understand the whinging.... much better than i expected and we created 3 or 4 excellent chances. better team lost

**brine3** · 08/10/2020, 9:48 PM

Enough with the negativity. We had a tough away fixture, had more possession, more chances and played some nice football.

**Paddy Garcia** · 08/10/2020, 9:48 PM

At least saved a humiliation against the North.

**NeverFeltBetter** · 08/10/2020, 9:50 PM

Not a hope Kenny will be given that long, not by our media or our association.

**brine3** · 08/10/2020, 9:50 PM

Originally Posted by seanfhear

For whatever reasons International Football has not worked out for McCarthy ~ ~ He should retire and concentrate on Club Football.

He was decent enough in closing down in the first half. Yeah, Browne offered more going forward, but the Slovakians had more chances after McCarthy went off.

I'd like to see us play three central midfielders

**Eirambler** · 08/10/2020, 9:51 PM

You have to take that performance in the context of how bad Slovakia were with all the players missing though. They made us look good even though we were ponderous in possession most of the evening.

**brine3** · 08/10/2020, 9:53 PM

Originally Posted by Eirambler

You have to take that performance in the context of how bad Slovakia were with all the players missing though. They made us look good even though we were ponderous in possession most of the evening.

One of their missing players was their keeper. Well, it turns out their backup keeper is decent. Credit to him.

**Neish** · 08/10/2020, 9:54 PM

Positive style but unless they find a goalscorer there are going to be more night like this

**NeverFeltBetter** · 08/10/2020, 9:56 PM

Any good play from Ireland is rather undermined by our total inability to score a single goal in over 210 minutes of football, most of them against a mediocre team.

**Ol� Ol�** · 08/10/2020, 9:56 PM

Originally Posted by Eirambler

Very poor going to fail to score against that Slovakia team in 120 minutes. They had little about them with their best goalkeeper, best defender and best midfielder all missing. And we still couldn't beat them. Just Duffy's header to show for 300 minutes of football in the last month. Nowhere near good enough. Northern Ireland now likely to be playing our home matches in Dublin next summer, if it goes ahead.

Not one player under 25 played for us tonight. Obviously circumstances partly caused that but still, it shows that a major overhaul of the team is now needed. I think we can more or less forget about the next World Cup with these players - especially our midfield, it's hopeless. Depends on how the draw goes I suppose. But there's an argument for a total rebuild now with a view towards 2024. Kenny's trying to play a brand of football that a few of these players simply aren't technically good enough to play. So time to bring in some that are, even if results take a hit in the short term.

When you look at our last Nations League campaign, the Euro qualifiers and the first two games of the current Nations League campaign, all we've managed is two wins against Gibraltar and a home win against Georgia. It's been a three year disaster since the win in Wales in 2017. It's time for a clear out, we literally have nothing to lose now - it can't get much worse.

I think you have presented plenty objective facts in this post. I just can't help but feel you are being harsh in your interpretation of these facts and how you are imposing them on this performance. We were good. We should have scored. Kenny didn't manage the team throughout this campaign. It wasn't a particularly old team. We were missing a couple of strong younger players. I don't feel it is fair to say these players can't adapt to Kenny's style- they did to an extent tonight.

I feel we did well tonight. We could have won and maybe should have. There will be changes for the next campaign but it seemed to me that a lot of the players that featured tonight would be capable of staying with the group for that campaign.

**seanfhear** · 08/10/2020, 9:59 PM

Kenny on Sky talking about Connolly and Idah ~ ~ ~ Something about 1.9 Metres and 1.7 Metres ~ ~ What the fook ? ? ?

**Trequartista20** · 08/10/2020, 9:59 PM

That was a greatly weakened Covid-hit Slovakia in an empty stadium with their 'home' advantage effectively nullified and removed from them.

Let's be clear: this was a deeply disappointing non-performance from Ireland. We've proved to be the worst team on the isle, and on these islands as a whole, and there are serious questions to be answered. And, no, Kenny isn't wholly to blame for this latest foundering.

**backstothewall** · 08/10/2020, 10:02 PM

That was dreadful. And it's been dreadful since Kenny took over.

He's had 3 winnable games, and taken a single draw. We knock the ball about a bit, but we haven't scored from open play.

I can tolerate this (for a while) if he's bringng the kids through or something, but there isn't even any direction there. It's more or less the same squad as Mick would have picked, with more Molumby but less Obafemi.

**brine3** · 08/10/2020, 10:07 PM

It's like an England fan forum on here.

**youngirish** · 08/10/2020, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by backstothewall

That was dreadful. And it's been dreadful since Kenny took over.

He's had 3 winnable games, and taken a single draw. We knock the ball about a bit, but we haven't scored from open play.

I can tolerate this (for a while) if he's bringng the kids through or something, but there isn't even any direction there. It's more or less the same squad as Mick would have picked, with more Molumby but less Obafemi.

I wouldn't hang Kenny out to dry. He has only had 3 games and the Slovakian game, whilst disappointing and nowhere near the great performance some of these guys are claiming it to be, was markedly better than our last 2 games under him. Give him a campaign to bring the younger lads through and let's get rid of the deadweight. Then we can judge him.

**Bungle** · 08/10/2020, 10:11 PM

I actually think he is somewhat lucky with how it is landing for him. He won't be blamed for not qualifying here and he has another 4 nations league games before the wc qualifiers.

Hard to see us coming second in a group with the likes of Switzerland or Serbia and then winning a playoff with similar quality teams or even better than them.

Get Obafemi, Parrott, Molumby, Connolly and Idah playing in all the games. We have a good defence so that can stay but be tweeked in the next year or so. Bring in the youth. We have nothing to lose here. If we see the green shoots in 12 months time of 2-3 of them showing they are good internationals, then it is worth it.

**pineapple stu** · 08/10/2020, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by backstothewall

He's had 3 winnable games, and taken a single draw.

He's taken two draws, including tonight, which I thought was the best performance of the three.

Yes, the opposition are mid-level mediocrity like ourselves. But we've been on the decline for a decade know and I don't know how much can really be put on Kenny here. There's so much more that's structurally inept in Irish football.

There's still two more games this week; let's see how they go.

**Paddy Garcia** · 08/10/2020, 10:22 PM

Was Cullen not MOM in his first performandes for us, a real ability to unlock a defence.

I may have dreamt the MOM performance of course. The game was crying out for a player like Cullen.

**zero** · 08/10/2020, 10:23 PM

I think Slovakia's poorness papered over a lot of the cracks tonight and a half decent side would have hammered us. Similar to the Bulgaria game in that respect.

I'm struggling to think of a positive other than the fact we kept a good shape. It's going to be a long time before we qualify for anything as our seeding is now ****ed. probably best to get relegated from nations league b so we can face sides at our level.

**Eirambler** · 08/10/2020, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by Ol� Ol�

I think you have presented plenty objective facts in this post. I just can't help but feel you are being harsh in your interpretation of these facts and how you are imposing them on this performance. We were good. We should have scored. Kenny didn't manage the team throughout this campaign. It wasn't a particularly old team. We were missing a couple of strong younger players. I don't feel it is fair to say these players can't adapt to Kenny's style- they did to an extent tonight.

I feel we did well tonight. We could have won and maybe should have. There will be changes for the next campaign but it seemed to me that a lot of the players that featured tonight would be capable of staying with the group for that campaign.

Just to be clear, I'm not having a go at Kenny at all. I'm not saying that 5 of the under 21 lads should have been in there tonight or anything like that. Those players for the most part aren't ready yet. You could argue the toss about one or two of the selections and subs but, overall, he's had to play the hand he was dealt. So he gets a free pass from me, but he needs to overhaul that team now and he must be given time to develop a new team and to allow the younger generation of players to come through.

Realistically we're going nowhere with the midfield that started tonight. Hendrick went missing again after a bright start, having Hourihane is like being a man down and his set pieces weren't even any good. McCarthy was OK but got injured again and is probably not a long term option given his injury history. McClean once again did nothing except show lots of energy chasing after balls he had given away. Brady again was poor, I don't have much hope that he'll ever get back to the level he was once at. I really don't see much point in persisting with those five now, other than maybe McCarthy if he can remain fit and is committed to another campaign. But I would understand if he has had enough.

What I'm suggesting is that we move on from those players now, because we're going to have to sooner or later if we're ever going to improve. I have great hope for Molumby and Knight and there's an argument to fast track their progression now and start to build a team around them. They won't be any worse than Hendrick or Hourihane anyway and if we blood them sooner we could reap the benefits in a few years time. They know Kenny's system and have shown they can play it. If we start to integrate them in front of our defence, which to be fair is pretty solid, we can maybe start to build a team with confidence - especially if the likes of Connolly, Parrott and Idah can kick on up top. There's also Cullen and Browne, who I thought played well tonight. Maybe even Byrne. It'll take a full campaign probably to put it all together and we will probably need to write off the world cup, but I don't see that we have many other options at this stage.