I said to a friend he's got the first half the WC campaign to get at least one win and that's it. Surely that's fair even to the most diehard revolutionary.
Harness was involved in the camp I think. Must not have gotten his passport and/or FIFA approval sorted in time.
Looking forward to seeing him involved. Pompey fans seem to rate him highly.
There are a load of things he could have tried. He could have gone with 3 at the back. He could have gone with an old fashioned 4-4-2. He could have really gone out there and tried Jack Byrne as a false 9.Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish
I find it hard to believe that the FAI went on an extensive search for a young coach with ideas, trawled the leagues of Europe, the Americas and the far east, and by sheer coincidence the most capable guy they could find just happened to be a lad in his late 40s working in Dundalk.
John Delaney was getting heat and wanted to throw a bone to the League Of Ireland fans because they had the knives out for him since the "Problem Child" comment. If Stephen Kenny is the best coach the League Of Ireland has to offer, it's obvious to me that coaching is part of the reason why it has a lower UEFA Coefficient ranking than the leagues in Luxembourg, Lithuania & Liechtenstein.
Last edited by backstothewall; 18/11/2020 at 11:09 PM.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Yep that's about right.
Putting the poor results aside, anyone in the world can see josh Cullen is a very good player and his lack of involvement and the continued involvement of some players who are quite frankly sh*t, does raise questions over Kenny's ability to be an international manager. He does deserve the WC campaign but grave concerns are there to be seen. The Conor hourihane situation is now at the point of ridiculousness. He is just awful.
Plus goal bonuses.
You can't spell failure without FAI
I agree with tetsujin, the system is not working, wont work, dont know why he persists ,
S.Kenny mistakes these last 3 games.
1) Persistence with a formation that nullifies our attack
2) Arrange a little game with England, out of time and place, when we needed confidence, didnt set up another type of friendly, at home, to test the chemistry of the attack plays of our forwards.
3) Not having called Shane Long for the original squad.
4)Isolate Idah in the attack, and expose the youngster.
5) Don't change your formation when things don't work out.
6))Not have called at least one goalkeeper who is currently playing.
7)he did not try a bolder and more intrepid attitude with the substitutions. Apple for apples
8)Not having practised options from set pieces.
9)Failure to encourage leadership on the football pitch.
10)Playing football without a definite idea of how to break the opponent's resistance. When and how to change the rhythm of the game.
11)Bad ways of expressing himself on tv, to defend his football idea.
I see Collins coming in for a fair bit of criticism but I thought he did ok. If he scored one of his chances (easy saying that) it would be a different story.
But sadly in many ways he looked streets ahead of Idah to me.
Of all the regimes I've watched live O'Neill's was the most depressing. The football was barbaric. Kenny is encoraging them to knock the ball around, but it is ineffective for the most part because we have mediocre players. I have doubts about Kenny but I would rather be mediocre for 4-5 years and try and play football than the **** O'Neill served up.
The old guard need to go. I despise Brady. He struts around like he's world class. Since Euro 2016, he has been useless for us. He's a great opinion of himself. McClean is a horrendous player. He has good spirit and cares. To be fair, he got a few big goals for us, but if we are going to aim to become a decent team again, his time is up. A truly limited player. Hendrick shows glimpses of being a top player but you can't rely on him. Hourihane is a bit the same. I've a big soft spot for Duffy and Randolph but it's clear as day, their time is up if we are expecting all our players to be comfortable on the ball. I would find a way of working Jack Byrne into the team. He did more in a few minutes than a lot of Irish players did in 90. I understand he is likely to be moving to Cyprus and I'm glad he is going back to the continent.
I've said it before that the only silver lining we have is that we actually have talented players coming through. Great seeing O'Shea and Knight tonight. I have question marks about Kenny as a manager but let's be honest he isn't going anywhere and the young lads seem to like him and respect him. I doubt the likes of Brady do. We are a pot 3 side in name because I would judge us as being a pot 4 quality side. We won't qualify for wc 2022 but if Stephen can bring through the young lads even if it means some tough nights, we will emerge better for it in the coming years and he will deserve great credit.
Agreed. Idah and Parrott for cameos only
This is all true, but in defence of Idah he was left totally exposed. Curtis and Horgan got a lot closer to Collins tonight.
And Idah is a full decade younger than him, so he's going to look a little green in comparison. Playing Idah is an investment in the future.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
The thing with Hourihane that nobody sees it seems is that he is misplaced, he is a slow old fashioned number 10, with a good peg, the more he is far from the opposite box the more innefective he is. we florished for Barnsley when the team was built around him. He is 10, a bit slow
I'm going to continue to back Kenny, there are no alternatives and I still see relative progress considering the sh1t show we are in with players missing.
Firstly the negatives. Hourihane continues to be my least favorite player in this Irish squad and is a fraud of a footballer. So much space in that midfield tonight for a good player to make use of and he was horrific. Kenny took way too long to make subs. Horgan should not have been 1st player off, Curtis was brutal and should have be off at HT. Collins is what he is, only played because of players missing but he should have been taken off with half hour to go. Manning was poor at left back, but 1st cap so cant judge too harshly. Duffy was good defensively but his distribution continues to hurt us, and Randolph is going to get caught out in a big game soon when he tries those dummys.
The positives. Firstly lots of very good players to come back in. I do think if everyone is fit we will be drastically different. Im not going to list all the players but I think Connolly alone would have made massive difference in these 2 games. Parrott was on for far too short a time but you can see theres a player there and its such a tease. His touch and movement were so far above Collins and its very exciting. We could very well go into the March games with him having scored 10 goals for Milwall. Id love to see Jack Byrne get a move, he is more than capable of playing at a high level, thought he was excellent when he came on. Hes positive and looks for the ball all the time. We improved when he came on and a good move in January would help his case. Cullen was also good. Knight was a bit over eager at times but his work rate was excellent and I thought he was trying to be a one man show at times in midfield with Hourihane and Brady doing a disappearing act. Dara O'Shea is a big positive from these group of games. Different positions and pretty comfortable in all, very calm for a young guy.
The draw will be tough now being 3rd seeds so we have to hope we get lucky and we will have to hit the ground running with full squad in March. I dont think we have sacrificed any of the defensive solidity that we had under O'Neill and McCarthy but I do think we at least look like we might progress. I can guarantee you that with either of those 2 managers we would have set up against Bulgaria and Wales with 11 men behind the ball considering the amount of players missing. Both would have said they were delighted with 0-0 tonight and I dont doubt we would probably have had about 30% possession. Never forget that in a game we had to win we went away to Georgia under McCarthy and Randolph was wasting time 15 minutes into the game because McCarthy was playing for the draw and hope to nick a set piece. I dont want to go back to that type of thinking.
Last edited by Razors left peg; 19/11/2020 at 12:23 AM.
It was said by Bradley that it was a really bad case and he struggled to run at all for weeks afterwards. Would totally believe that there some lingering effects: “It’s hit Jack bad,” said Rovers boss Stephen Bradley yesterday. “He started running but hasn’t looked good the last few days.“He’s trying but has no energy and he can’t get the oxygen in. He’ll try to do a little bit again, but he got hit with it bad.”
apparently his clearance has come through and he was brought in late once it looked unlikely that O'Dowda would make it, so essentially he was the 24th man, just there if there were any pre-match injuries / covid symptoms etc. etc.
Last edited by elatedscum; 19/11/2020 at 12:15 AM.
Dissecting the team for March. After his 8 games position by position , what are the best options for Kenny
First of all I wouldnt play a 4-3-3-, I would try a 3-4-1-2
GK Randolph is the only option. What a problem if he gets injured. Westwood? McDermott? Rogers?O'hara? a young man?
Right Center back Coleman or Duffy for me. Maybe Kevin Long.
Sweeper: Egan , Duffy or Lenihan. Collins
Left center back Ciaran Clark, Oshea, Derrick Williams Dunne Long
Right wing back Doherty, Coleman, Horgan, Browne, Smallbone., oconnor
Center Mids James McCarthy, Cullen, Hendrick, Molumby, Knight, lenihan Odowda Hourihane Arter Browne Coventry
Left wing back Stevens Odowda, Manning McClean Brady
Number 10 Ronan, Byrne, Hourihane, Brady Connolly
forwards Connolly Long Obafemi Robinson Parrott Idah Collins Hogan Maguire
I don't see anyone suggesting going back to that way of thinking. I saw the name Sam Allardyce mentioned above, but i read it as being in jest. I don't want us to go back to anything. I want us to go forward, but under Kenny we stuck where we are, wallowing in this. Footballing eunuchs who never score a goal, who never even hit a shot.
But anyone suggesting Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew, Nigel Pearson or anyone of that ilk can take themselves off as far as I'm concerned.
In an ordinary times, and in an ideal world, Chris Hughton would come available, but even if he did we couldn't afford him. And i doubt he would take it anyway.
We're going to need someone cheap. That's likely someone raw and inexperienced who is desperate enough for the opportunity to take it on, or more likely someone who has been out of the game for a year or two and wants a way back in. At least they might be able to do the basics of setting a team up with a plan and adjusting the approach depending on what happens on the field.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
I'd like to see the FAI approach Eddie Howe, he's overachieved with Bournemouth and had them playing a nicely balanced game, with some pressing but also quick breaks with wide players. He developed players quite well there including Harry Arter. His team's tended to perform better than the sum of their parts (i.e. players overachieved) - his major failings at Bournemouth were expensive signings that didn't work, but that is not an issue in international management.
Surely Kenny must see the neither Darren Randolph or Shane Duffy suit his play out from the back ideas ! !
I suspect Eddie Howe has more ambitious plans !
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