Kerr - Judgement Day!

[Colbert Report]

wrong. five out of nine is reasonable. keep in mind although we are undefeated, kerr f-cked up big time by not pressing israel in both games we played against them

[TonyD]

Calls for Brian Kerrs head are harsh in the extreme in my opinion. He has lost one competitive game for crissakes. Mick McCarthy got 3 attempts to qualify for a major finals. How come people want Kerr to get the boot if we don't beat what are after all one of the best teams in Europe ? OK, we had 2 blips against Israel, but the fact is most managers leading 1-0 away from home against any sort of reasonable team would be tempted to be cautious in the latter stages of the game. Also, criticising his substitutions in the home game is really a case of being wise after the event. And we still had numerous chances to win that game in the 2nd half, only a combination of bad luck and bad finishing prevented us doing so. Hardly the managers fault.

Mind you if we don't qualify and he does get the sack there could be a silver lining, I'd have him back at Inchicore in a heartbeat, especially at the moment.

[geysir]

There appears to be a widespread assumption that both the Swiss and the Israelis will win on wednesday. It would not be an earth shaker if the Cypriots managed a home draw.
The Faroes are desperate to get some reward for their toil.

[dfx-]

Calls for Brian Kerrs head are harsh in the extreme in my opinion. He has lost one competitive game for crissakes. Mick McCarthy got 3 attempts to qualify for a major finals. How come people want Kerr to get the boot if we don't beat what are after all one of the best teams in Europe ? OK, we had 2 blips against Israel, but the fact is most managers leading 1-0 away from home against any sort of reasonable team would be tempted to be cautious in the latter stages of the game.

I will say it here and now. Regardless of whether we qualify or not, I have no longer any confidence in Kerr's management of the Irish team. I do not trust him to approach easch game in the right manner after the shambles that occurred away at Israel. The home game was more unfortunate, but away, Israel were for the taking and he decided not to - I could see that from early in the 2nd half - it wasn't just a late on decision to hold on. I told the people wacthing it with me that eventually we'll be caught out if not this match with this mentality. As soon as someone said "well as long it works for this match, we'll be alright", Israel scored.

There were no excuses for that result. It happened in Switzerland as well when they were also there for the taking but we didn't want to - sure a draw would do.

That same attitude cost Ireland in Macedonia in 1999 with 11 seconds left. We scored early and hung on. The only difference is Macedonia should've hammered us that night only for Alan Kelly. We would've topped the group and we didn't qualify. Who knows would we have topped the group if we won in Israel? Most likely, imo.

6 years on and it's still there. It will stay there throughout Kerr's reign and we will continuously fail at the highest level.

No result against France or Switzerland or even qualification will paper over the cracks for me.

[thejollyrodger]

the above post by D f x is the biggest pile of sh1te i have ever read in my life. cop on son you havent a clue.

I reckon it will be a draw on wednesday. France and ireland going through. i dont know which one to top the group though

[eirebhoy]

I will say it here and now. Regardless of whether we qualify or not, I have no longer any confidence in Kerr's management of the Irish team. I do not trust him to approach easch game in the right manner after the shambles that occurred away at Israel. The home game was more unfortunate, but away, Israel were for the taking and he decided not to - I could see that from early in the 2nd half - it wasn't just a late on decision to hold on. I told the people wacthing it with me that eventually we'll be caught out if not this match with this mentality. As soon as someone said "well as long it works for this match, we'll be alright", Israel scored.

There were no excuses for that result. It happened in Switzerland as well when they were also there for the taking but we didn't want to - sure a draw would do.

That same attitude cost Ireland in Macedonia in 1999 with 11 seconds left. We scored early and hung on. The only difference is Macedonia should've hammered us that night only for Alan Kelly. We would've topped the group and we didn't qualify. Who knows would we have topped the group if we won in Israel? Most likely, imo.

6 years on and it's still there. It will stay there throughout Kerr's reign and we will continuously fail at the highest level.

No result against France or Switzerland or even qualification will paper over the cracks for me.

So Kerr is to blame because we have a history of not pushing on for 90 minutes? Weird. I think I'll add these quotes to my sig:

Roy: “In saying that, we should still have killed the game off. We could have done more in the second half in terms of possession and testing their goalkeeper."

Kerr: “We didn’t create a whole lot, and could have been more incisive going forward"

Kav: "it certainly wasn't a conscious effort on the lads to sit back and defend deep"

[dfx-]

"Kerr: “We didn’t create a whole lot, and could have been more incisive going forward"

Kav: "it certainly wasn't a conscious effort on the lads to sit back and defend deep""

Kerr sat over the whole escapade and let them keep the ball and not go forward much. The fact is they did drop back - conscious effort or not. That they didn't mean to is not a valid reason.

Kerr may not to be wholly to blame, but he is only another contributor to that history. We are not making progress - we are just the same side with the same history of not pushing on..

How many competitive away games against major opposition have we won in 10 years? Has the reign of Kerr seen any noticeable improvement in that total?

With the acid tests...he has failed in leading the team; to stop them sitting back. To say we didn't create a whole lot with our team and the amount of possession we had is criminal in international management. If there was a manager intent on running at the Israelis, I doubt whether it would've finished 1-1 and I doubt whether the players would have just kept the ball.

And yet until the weekend we were top of the group with such inadequecies in the team. I can only dream of where we could be if we had a manager with guts to go after every match where we are superior; to be able gauge in the match whether to change the gameplan and to implement it amongst his players, rather than letting his players make unconscuious decisions to drop back. It may have been unconscious to them, but Kerr should've seen it and done something to amend it...........

..he didn't. Not Kavanagh, not Keane, but Kerr did nothing to change because afterall, weren't we 1-0 up and that'd do us.

[eirebhoy]

I'll just ask you one question (which was pointed out on this site a couple of weeks ago. What was it that led us to conceding the goal in Tel Aviv?

[dfx-]

I cannot remember as at the end of the game I was at the end of my tether in terms of watching the game, but if I was to guess correctly it was from an - wait for it - attack or more closely an attempt at one...

[eirebhoy]

Morrison shot, Awat saved, possession lost, Israel score. IMO, Roy Keane played more of a part in the conservative play that Kerr. Kerr did say he told the players to create more at half time.

[Slash/ED]

It may have come from an attack but you can't deny we were woefully conservative and had we not been maybe wouldnt have needed to hang on so much in the last minute.

Kerr shoulders alot of the blame no matter what way you spin it, the players take their fair share too. Conservatism has been a hallmark of the Kerr era, you can't really deny it.

[eirebhoy]

It may have come from an attack but you can't deny we were woefully conservative and had we not been maybe wouldnt have needed to hang on so much in the last minute.

Kerr shoulders alot of the blame no matter what way you spin it, the players take their fair share too. Conservatism has been a hallmark of the Kerr era, you can't really deny it.

I don't deny it but I don't think its as bad as people make out. Some of the best managers are conservative. Jose Mourinho being the best example.

[Slash/ED]

Yeah but Mourinho is conversative as he has players capable of playing that way, we don't imo. We're not capable of soaking up pressure for long periods without conceding.

[dfx-]

Didn't Kerr bring Holland on and turn it to a 4-5-1 by the end?

He had the chance to change it......and that's what he did - not what Keane did. Therefore he, imo, condoned the negative attitude that was blatantly obvious in the team's attitude and accentuated it. With 10 minutes to go, what message does that send out to Keane etc? To stop this dropping back and pressurise the Israelis up the pitch or sit back with men behind the ball?