QuoteNeil Lennon, who has done sooooooooo much for Shane Duffy, Luca Connell, Jonathan Afolabi, Armstrong Okoflex, Lee O'Connor, Barry Coffey... Not even an argument to be had. Troll's gotta try harder.
Pains me to say it but Stephen is very far out of his depth. Would still rather him than someone like Lennon. A stoneage manager who would have us playing horrendous football, even if in the short term he might nab us a good result or two.
Neil Lennon, who has done sooooooooo much for Shane Duffy, Luca Connell, Jonathan Afolabi, Armstrong Okoflex, Lee O'Connor, Barry Coffey... Not even an argument to be had. Troll's gotta try harder.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Look, I think the forum unanimously agree that it's a bad idea.Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
But the man you're calling a troll has earned the right to say any mad dog ****e he wants without being called names. He had enough of that growing up in this country.
I might change this opinion later today after the game but I was thinking about this on my way to work today (I probably need to get my life together).
At this point we we've tried almost every managerial type. The Old Legend in Trap, The ex player Staunton, successful club manager O'Neill, past glory manager McCarthy. There have been some partial success at times along the way but we are never happy, and its usually because we were shyte to watch and most fans always thought we could play better.
I dont know how often over the years I've heard that we should go back to Kerr. Its probably because he makes good points on tv at times. But I think if we get rid of Kenny now in years to come we will look back on it and say how unlucky he was. From players missing games and not even a home crowd to raise the team in any games, to the open goal misses in play offs, the penalty he should have got against Serbia. Yes its far from all down to bad luck but I wonder in years to come would we look back and say that he was trying to integrate new players who probably were 2 years from being ready and also had to deal with some older players who just werent good enough.
Probably a bit of a wandering thought but when there is no obvious alternative out there I think in the long run we are probably better off sticking with Kenny
This campaign is a write off so I think it's reasonable to let Kenny continue til the end. If there have been no signs of improvement then I'd imagine there's a clause for his removal.
At the moment it really feels like we could go through the whole group without a win, but let's see what happens.
I think the last line sums it up. There's a lot of people saying surely there's someone who could do what Kenny is trying to do only better, but there's no obvious candidate that would take the job, so for now we stick it out.
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And when we are in pot 4 for the next qualifiers we'll have an even harder job.
We were in the fourth pot for the World Cup in 2018, and got to the play offs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_F...(UEFA)#Seeding
I'd stick with for now, on the proviso that he throw the kids in. He needs to be told.
I know he's in dire need of a result, but selecting the likes of Long, Horgan and McClean in a meaningless friendly is simply counterproductive and pointless.
People would be far more forgiving of this appalling run of results if young lads were gaining experience and there were some sort of prospect of a future payoff.
And yet Horgan set up McClean for our only goal, while Long got an assist against Serbia.
Those guys have a place in the squad. I'd rather they didn't, but our squad isn't strong enough to cast them aside.
I'd maintain an experienced core of players; Randolph, Coleman, Duffy, Doherty and one or two others, but in a situation where we have no realistic chance of even competing for qualification, playing lads who have next to nothing to offer us going forward, in a pointless match, that shouldn't really even have taken place during a pandemic, makes little to no sense to me.
We need to be thinking about the next qualifying campaign I think now.
I'm happier that Horgan and McClean combined to earn us a draw, than that Manning and Parrott didn't combine and we lost to be honest.
Not everything's about the future. The present is important too.
And the new guys can learn a lot from the more experienced players.
I know what you mean, and I did make the point that it was important to maintain an experienced core, because, as you say, the younger players can learn from these guys.
But come on, what good is scrapping a draw against Qatar in a meaningless closed-door training game? What does it really achieve?
I don't think it was a closed-doors training game. It was a covid friendly.
What does it achieve to draw against the Asian champions? More than to lose against them while once again not scoring, for starters.
Would you accept losing ten games in a row if we fielded no one over 22? I wouldn't. That's not development. There's a balance to be struck. Kenny had a squad with lots of young players who he trusted (to no effect) in competitive matches, and then rested for the meaningless friendly that would have been their third match in 6 days. Burning out kids and getting them injured and demoralised is not the way to develop anyone.
Agreed. Young players don't learn from playing games. They learn from playing games alongside experienced players, and by being around squads and in hotels and all that. There's a lot to be gained by sitting round listening to the old war stories of guys talking about things like fighting their way back to get to Euro 2016 after getting beat in Celtic Park.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
None as a manager, as we all know, but Stan had plenty of success with Liverpool and Villa as a player (talking about playing career as well). Boils down to the fact that all those mentioned had a boat load of know how as players or managers or both, but as soon as they walk in the door to manage the Irish team, they have all become clueless. I don't buy it - the blame lies elsewhere.
There is very little correlation between being a good player and a good manager. Staunton was a gamble and a flop, and it was everything to do with himself. His non-playing career after the Ireland job is absolutely laughable next to your position on this, Mark.
The reality is we’ve had 8 members of his 21s side in the current squad. We were missing the likes of Kelleher, Collins, Taylor, Smallbone, Hodge, Finn, Idah and Obafemi through injury. There weren’t any players that you could reasonably call up and would do themselves justice.
You’ve got 3 games in 6 days. You’ve got to use your full squad across the window, otherwise players will burnout and injure. As far as I remember, those 3 lads didn’t start a game before Qatar. Meanwhile Molumby, Knight, O’Shea and Bazunu have been integrated into the senior panel.
If you’re arguing they shouldn’t be in the squad, the alternatives to Shane Long are Scott Hogan and a recently injured Sean Maguire. Kenny’s 21s had Idah (injured), Obafemi (injured), Connolly (injured) and Parrott (in squad). The previous age group (96-97), Reece Greco Cox was the main man. He’s playing league 2 or non-league now.
You need to balance opportunities for young players to shine with experience and quality, and in general, thrusting a player into a game before they’re ready for it does little for their development. In the long term, Travers, Parrott and Coventry may be great ireland players but right now, they’re not quite ready. So if you were to call up Anselmo Garcia McNulty or Kevin Zefi or Evan Ferguson or Will Ferry or Shane Flynn, and use them, we’d probably get tonked and destroy their self belief in the process...
I’m not sure what happens next. I’d normally have a position on what I’d like to happen next but I’m genuinely stumped…
1 win in 15 is embarrassing but can we even afford a decent upgrade?
Doherty and Coleman should have stayed in the positions they played in vs Portugal.
The Parrott experiment didn’t work.
His substitution selection needs major improvement.
I’ve seen a few comments on social media begging for Chris Hughton but he’s had a woeful run so far with Forest. Fans have turned against him and the football is atrocious.
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