oh yea id be worried about showing our hand with ferguson alright. not like france have any evidence so far on how he plays...Originally Posted by backstothewall
We're going to play 4-5-1 and he's going to be completely isolated for extended periods against France. Once we lose the ball, which we will do, we aren't going to get it back for a while. That's inevitable. When he gets the ball his job will be to hold it up and give one of the back 9 time to get to him and offer support.
How on earth does a game against Latvia prepare him for that?
If France play to their potential they will beat us easily. Maybe they're a bit flat after a battle with the Dutch and we get them on an off night. Then we have a chance of getting something. "whatever we are working on in training" should consist mainly of being ready for a French onslaught, which he should have precious little to do with. If we have something lined up to try in attack or from a set piece, once again, we absolutely shouldn't be offering any previews to the French in a nothing game against Latvia.
This all stinks of Kenny being able to get out of the window saying "Awk you know France are a top class outfit and there wouldn't have been many expecting us to get a result against them. But we've had a good week and a win against Latvia and now we move on to the game in Athens in June".
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
4-5-1? what?
this might shock you but footballers are quite well able to adjust to playing different opponents and fulfilling different roles within a team it happens nearly every week. its like saying he shouldnt play against bournemouth because he has man city the following week....
If we put out a B team against Latvia and played shyte people would be all over Kenny because "its a results business". He can't win with some people.
Ferguson is a kid, any minutes on the pitch playing with new team mates helps. If he got a goal or 2 imagine his confidence going into the France game. He'd be flying. Confidence is everything for a striker. There's an absolute clear benefit for him playing tomorrow
I actually thought the post was dripping in sarcasm.Grand so there's one misery guts going tomorrow hoping we don't see the most exciting player we've had in years
[QUOTE=BOOMSHAKALAKA;2142194]His reign was sh!t. I mean, we came close to qualification by not losing any games, didn't win too many either. I prefer my players knuckles not to be bleeding after a game.It was perfectly set up for the next manager coming in after McCarthy because his reign was quite poor but we still came very close to qualification.
Give me some examples of good managers that we should have approached after McCarthy* that wouldn't have crippled the organisation, and would have allowed our squad of ball-players to express themselves in a manner sufficient of qualifying.Please read what I'm saying, not what you think I'm saying. After McCarthy and a few previous campaigns, supporters and more importantly, the players were crying out to be allowed express themselves on the field.
*massive qualifer insinuated there.
At that stage (when Mick was leaving? don't forget the qualifier) or at this stage (currently, i.e. 2023)?If a good manager comes on board at this stage with access to an experienced squad with hugely exciting youngsters coming through, they would have been flying. Unfortunately we ended up with Kenny instead of a good manager.
I mean, technically Jack Charlton had Don Givens available to him when he took over in 86...Of the 15 players you highlighted from the last Denmark match squad, Kenny had all of them available to him except Glenn Whelan.
Stephen Kenny had his first match in charge in Sept 2020. Didsy retired in Nov 2020. I don't know if you're trying to double dismiss the point that he was available, but was ****e, or that he became unavailable because of Kenny? Either way, he was one of the few shining lights in the pre-Kenny era, who wasn't utilised correctly, but was old. And Kenny didn't get to utilise him in a meaningful way like his predecessors in the job did, with their keystone players. But then again, you conveniently disregarded that absolutely key point in my argument, didn't you?He had McGoldrick! You're on a mad rant and not making much sense. McGoldrick played 14 times for Ireland and scored 1 goal. Cullen made his big improvements when he moved to Anderlecht. Kenny had the benefits of this along with the return of Obefami and the breakthroughs of those players you mention Molumby, O'Shea, Collins, Kelleher, Knight, Ogbene, Bazunu, Omabamidele. McCarthy had a midfield of Whelan, Hourihane and Hendrick for comparison. And he introduced Parrott and Connolly for your information.
Mick McCarthy was gang-pressed into using Troy Parrot, who got bullied vs New Zealand by Winston Reid, a low point for me. Similar to how Martin O'Neill was gang-pressed into capping Michael Obafemi and then jettisoning him like you would a
I don't know what your reference to McCarthy having a midfield of Whelan, Hourihane and Hendrick means? Is this a positive for Mick, or a negative? It's hardly a plus for Kenny given your M.O. I would contend, that losing the kernel of every Irish teams defensive strategy in midfield for a decade would count as a blow to an incoming manager,* particularly when the previous manager hasn't really provided an alternative, unless of course we're considering James McCarthy who of course Kenny had hoped vocally to plan midfield around but is crocked.
*if you don't, then I don't really know what to say
Of the players you mention ("Molumby (41), O'Shea (17), Collins (17), Kelleher (0), Knight (31), Ogbene (6), Bazunu (0), Omabamidele(0)") they had a total of 112 appearances at Championship level and almost 0 caps. I would think that's a tall order for a new manager under any circumstance, and a rebuilding exercise beyond any previous referrable era. Certainly it was a worse proposition than Mick Vol 1 had to deal with, with less experienced players coming in, and without the calibre of player retained.
And by the way son, I'm 22 years on this forum, that post wasn't a mad rant, but it's not a throwaway post to say i disagree either. The great thing dismissing any debate and behaving like Dunphy on a forum is that you can post like you're throwing a pen across a desk in Montrose. If I simply refute that by saying you're wrong, that's not debate, it's the equivalent of taking Liya Silver to a BlackedRaw shoot and asking her to judge the biggest of two baby arms inside her. It's futile.
We'd already had two failed campaigns that were waaaaaaay more financially disasterous under two previous managers than what Kenny has, simply because you state it like we absolutely would have qualified with a different manager. It's not a given, no matter how many times you state it. Yet you're the one saying things aren't up for debate. You're working on suppositions.The senior managers job is to get the most out of what he has available to him and Kenny hasn't come anywhere near that. I don't think that is up for debate. Underage development is a huge issue but Kenny has nothing to do with that anymore. Dropping us down the rankings won't help though. You're talking about not wanting the FAI to waste money but fail to realise that they have wasted a large amount of money on Stephen Kenny. Not only on his salary but the failed qualification campaigns have cost us much needed financial resources. It's been a disaster.
Name them. Realistic and affordable.We'll be in a better position to actually compete for qualification when Kenny goes and we get someone competent in charge.
this post is the mad rant.
Last edited by Kingdom; 21/03/2023 at 5:35 PM.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I am working on the assumption that this was sarcasm too :-)Does Kenny ever get anything right? He shouldn't be anywhere near the pitch tomorrow
Absolute certainty that he pick's up an injury and misses Monday playing a stupid game that's only significant to one desperate man .
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I say this slightly tongue-in-cheek, but have you seen Ireland the past 30 years?
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
You thought backtothewall wasn't being serious when he said Ferguson shouldn't play?
Unless you're going to quickly arrange us a friendly against better opposition Latvia is what we have to work with. Maybe you are taking the **** though? Can't really believe anyone would not want to see Ferguson get another cap and more minutes with the team. Resting him and heaping the pressure on for what you've already said will be a brutal task against the French offers no benefits for me. We still don't even know which front 2/3 work best together. Any minutes against any team is better than nothing.
21 leagues and 25 cups.
I did. I thought that anyone that posted something like that (didn’t even notice who), would surely be taking the p*ss. Unfortunately, no.
i have a pair of football boots that belonged to Artjoms Rudnevz, complete with Latvian flag (long story) that I guess he never wore cause he retired suddenly. He was pretty decent, at least by Latvian standards, scored a hat trick against Juve while playing in Poland and had a decent career in the bundesliga after that
Surely it was Igor Stepanovs, and it wasn't a joke, but became the joke.
and don't call me surely.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I looked it up and it was indeed Igors Stepanovs. It's a well enough known story at this stage I think but he was only signed as a result of a training ground prank as explained by Ray Parlour:
"Arsene was so clever at identifying great players to come in, but there were one or two gambles that didn’t quite come off.
In the summer of 2000 a player turned up on trial at our pre-season tour. He was a tall centre-half.
“Now, Martin Keown was always worried about people coming in to steal his position. If we had a centre-half on trial, Martin would say he was useless.
“This big guy from Latvia, Igors Stepanovs, turned up. He was a unit, but seriously, he was not up to standard.”
A few of us were on the bench watching as he played in this trial game. Stepanovs is out there and every single pass he made, the boys started applauding, just because we knew Martin would be getting a bit steamed up by it.
“Dennis Bergkamp was sitting behind Arsene and kept doling out these compliments about this defender – ‘Great header! Unbelievable tackle!’
“Igors kicked this one ball 20 yards away from where it was meant to go but it still went to one of our players so we all stood up clapping.
Martin’s muttering: ‘He’s not that good.’ He started to point out where he missed a tackle or a header.
That night we went for dinner and laughed about it as we were only trying to wind Martin up. We all knew Igors was nowhere near the standards set by Tony Adams, Martin and Bouldy.
“But Martin is such an easy target because he bites. Once someone bites it’s too tempting.
“When we got back to the training ground at London Colney a week later we had a surprise though. Igors was sitting there.
I said: ‘What are you doing here?’ ‘They signed me,’ he said. ‘Four-year contract.’
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Especially coming into a team that aren't a patch on Brighton. Won't have Mitoma, Mac Allister, and March to link up with.
The more minutes the better for Ferguson while he adapts to a different system and new teammates.
[QUOTE=Kingdom;2142233]You're saying McCarthy's reign was **** but not saying the same about Kenny's even though it's been far worse. You deny that you're a fanboy but that's not really coming across. Before the Luxembourg home game you were saying it's a gimme. Afterwards, you changed your tune. Kenny inherited a squad who were mostly in their late 20's. In their prime. He had the exact same squad as Mick had bar Glenn Whelan, added to with a huge list of young talent and what did he achieve? We could barely score a goal and were left miles behind the heavyweights Wales and Finland while also getting knocked out of the Euros by Slovakia. As I said, McCarty's time wasn't great but at least he stood on his own two feet. Kenny had to get the Chelsea coach in to sort formations and style of play. So if you're looking for someone who could have come in, why not look at Anthony Barry?
Your key point is keystone players? McGoldrick? He played 14 times for Ireland and some of those 14 were when Kenny was in charge!It's hilarious how far things have to be stretched to defend Kenny. McCarthy was gang pressed into picking young players but Kenny is a prophet for picking young players. You're acting as if Kenny's time hasn't been one failure after the next. Failed to qualify for Euro 2020, nearly came bottom in 2 Nations League campaigns, same with the World Cup campaign, he's lost to Luxembourg and Armenia, drawn with Azerbaijan and all this with a better squad than his predecessor! So you can rant away for another 22 years if you want, the actual facts will defeat you every time.
Doherty will be captain tomorrow.
Ferguson will play.
That leaves nine spots.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2023...nd-for-latvia/
Stephen Kenny Saviour, Leader, Winner, An Autobiography - In All Good Bookstores Now
He could always put out a B side that's easily good enough to beat Latvia and do so without any fuss. It's Latvia for goodness sake.
That some of you are talking about these lads as if there should be any hint of a worry about something going wrong tomorrow shows just what a disaster we've become under Kenny. The mental scars of getting turned over by Luxembourg and all that obviously haven't fully healed yet.
Our second string should be beating them without any fuss. It would be particularly good for the guys who show up for every squad to sit on the bench to get a decent run out and feel involved. But by the sounds of it we're going to have quite a few of the first 11 involved because he's terrified of losing to a side who don't have anything like the players we have available to us.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
"It's Latvia for goodness sake"....
It's only Georgia, its only Gibraltar, it's only Luxembourg, It's only Qatar, it's only Luxembourg, it's only Azerbaijan, its only Malta...
In case you haven't noticed, we haven't had the right to dismiss any team for quite some time, under different managers.
And even with all of that I do think we should win with whatever team is picked but let's get the new campaign off to a positive start tomorrow with a good win and performance and then take some momentum into Monday.
COYBIG
Last edited by Razors left peg; 22/03/2023 at 2:56 AM.
Who is suggesting that? People are saying Ferguson should play regardless of the opposition. You'd swear the lad was already an established, record holding goalscorer for us the way you're talking. We don't need him against Latvia but he needs caps and minutes and maybe not to have his first start be in a WC qualifier against the French with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders already. He's 18. Let him get another game in and maybe even a goal before we "unleash" him against the WC runners up.
Genuinely don't get why you'd choose this as a major issue. I suppose it helps the anti-Kenny narrative but it's by far the least controversial selection he's made for a while now! I'd be more annoyed about Doherty being selected as captain. I've never seen the lad display any sort of leadership on the field or display any maturity in interviews etc that makes me think he's a good choice.
21 leagues and 25 cups.
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