Brian Kerr...

[thejollyrodger]

It has to be remembered that this is all a hang over from Saipain. Humphreys an the irish times helped Mc Carthy out the door and have backed kerr ever since. the indo generally backed mc carthy and have been very critical of kerr. The tabloids just print anything.

Personally I back Kerr even with all the howlers he has made and some of the low down dirty acts he has pult off (which i wont go into).

[Plastic Paddy]

Your talking bóllócks.

I'll overlook the poor grammar (it's "you're", btw) but I won't overlook the insult. Take issue with the post and argue against it by all means, but leave the direct rudeness out. Thanks.

Just watch where kerr goes after the Ireland job. There was one champions league club that already offered him a job. Im sure he will be able to take such a job if he wants it.

I'd heard a story that Gerard Houllier was after Kerr to join his coaching staff at one stage (more likely at Liverpool but it could have been Lyon). May God above have mercy on the support of whatever club these two end up at together. I'd be heading for the poítín and paracetamol were I among their number...

PP

[pete]

I always think its funny when jounalists mention "the media" in the 3rd person as if they weren't part of it. Poor journos writting about how badly they treated.

Humphries is a good journalist but he is a jack of all trades & his football knowledge is not better than GAA or rugby or whatever big event he covering. I don't think he has great sports knowledge.

[Plastic Paddy]

I always think its funny when jounalists mention "the media" in the 3rd person as if they weren't part of it. Poor journos writting about how badly they treated.

Well said Pete. That's one of my little bugbears too.

PP

[thejollyrodger]

Take issue with the post and argue against it by all means, but leave the direct rudeness out. Thanks.

That is what I was doing. I was referring to his post not him

[Plastic Paddy]

Touché. You were indeed. I hope you take my point though.

PP

[thejollyrodger]

Yes I do. No offense was meant.

[mjpcc]

Thanks for the post Jollyroger.

Well I'm off to the game. I'm taking public transport down to Toronto - about 2 hours aways - so I can have a pints while enjoying our victory.

Hopefully everything will look rosier this evening.

Come on you boys in GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN.

[Fergie's Son]

Thanks for the article but I am very suspect about Humphrie's motives. He championed Kerr for a long time so he's hardly unbiased himself.

[thejollyrodger]

i always take the irish media with a big pinch of salt. Take Liam Brady for example, he went from kerr has to go to kerr has to stay in a matter of a few weeks. i think that was due to the Roy Keane as manager speculation. says a lot really

[mypost]

You know the usual story against Cyprus; BK spends the week drooling over the opposition's "qualities" ...we have key players missing...they have nothing to lose...we score first...then defend..

..then throw the lead away. We can't score again...final whistle goes... we're out.

Well, the first half of the post was right, and the second half of it looked like being right for a long time. Everyone knew how the game was going to pan out. Kerr didn't let us down.

Lads, it's all very well supporting the side, but seriously, is there anybody still out there who supports Kerr's tactics, and judgement after such an inept performance in Cyprus?

We won the game, but this type of football from our team is sickening to watch. I feel disgusted that talented International-class players are being forced to play this way. I feel appalled that part-timers like Cyprus are allowed to outclass us. We should be hockeying these kind of teams 5-0, especially after scoring early. This is disgraceful, and if we take the lead against the timepieces, I am switching over to watch one of the other games, because playing the way we do is mind-numbingly boring when we are in front, and I can't stand watching us play that "brand" of football. If I went to the Cyprus game, I would want a refund for having to spend €700 to watch that level of utter shi-t served up by our team, and when the final whistle blew, I stayed glued to my seat in sheer disgust at the "performance".

There is zero leadership in the side, there is no assertiveness, there is little passing, all long-ball crap, there is no urgency. Quality players are forced to play boring negative football. We got away with it in Nicosia, we won't get away with it some other time.

This type of football is not going to get us to the World Cup. The sooner this joke of a boss is gone, the better.

[brine3]

Ireland has always been like this.

The match in Cyprus for the 2002 qualifiers was a carbon copy, except we had a 29 year old Roy Keane to save our arses with a one man show. Yesterday we had Shay Given in the one man show role.

We're mostly ****e with a small sprinkling of excellence, get used to it.

[gustavo]

hold your fire on him till after the swiss match , if someone had said to me at the start that we would be going into our last game knowing a win would put us in the play offs with an outside chance of winning the group i would have taken it.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Ok bit of perspective here. John O'Shea was appalling in the Cyrpus game and is brutal. If he plays against the Swiss in Dublin they will beat us 4-0 ! He was overrated from day one but flattered to deceive in his debut season. He was crap in Basel twice, and he has seemingly never recovered from that. Kerr's tactics have nothing to do with the lads fundamental lack of quality. So much as I fret over Harte's lack of defensive qualities I would bring him back only as a short term solution. At least Hartey scores the odd goal.
On current form ManUre have no decent defenders fit and available to play for any one.

People talk about Kerr being a lucky coach, last night proved it. We would not have had to perform any worse to have ended up at the wrong end of a 3-1 hiding by the Cypriots. Shay Given was magnificent and was quite rightly voted man of the match. The only credit the rest of the team deserve is for two things one, Stephen Carr covering his wayward centre-backs during the first half with a crucial last ditch clearance and , finally we managed to survive the dying minutes of a match without conceding a goal.
Thought we were a little better in the second half and that some of the substitutions worked to a degree. If I was picking the team on Wednesday I'd make about 8 changes from the starting 11. Elliott took his goal well and we played well for the opening 10 minutes and hung on at the end the only positive things to be said from the display outfield. Given was bloody marvellous

[CollegeTillIDie]

Team for Wednesday;
Shay Given; Steve Finnan, Andy O'Brien, A.N. Other, Ian Harte;
Stephen Reid, Andy Reid, Matt Holland, Damien Duff (if fit) Killer if not; Clinton Morrison, Stephen Elliott

Open to suggestions as to Andy's centre-back partner cause neither Kenny nor Richard covered themselves in glory last night. The centre midfielders were ineffectual big time against Cyprus. Graham Kavanagh is not up to it.
Robbie Keane needs to be used as he is at Spurs at present as an impact sub hence my striker parings. All suggestions welcome. Who knows maybe the Greener is reading this thread. I want you to do it on Wednesday Brian .. honestly!

[CollegeTillIDie]

Ireland has always been like this.

The match in Cyprus for the 2002 qualifiers was a carbon copy, except we had a 29 year old Roy Keane to save our arses with a one man show. Yesterday we had Shay Given in the one man show role.

We're mostly ****e with a small sprinkling of excellence, get used to it.

Basically true, but by eliminating obvious liabilities we limit the damage potentially the Swiss can inflict on us. So drop John O'Shea, at left-back, for one has to be a priority.

[Cosmo]

hold your fire on him till after the swiss match , if someone had said to me at the start that we would be going into our last game knowing a win would put us in the play offs with an outside chance of winning the group i would have taken it.

Same here - while im p**sed off with the preformance lastnight, im not really bothered to be honest.

We knew it wouldnt be easy, we rode our luck (though were due a bit of luck after losing 2 points in the last minute in israel and after robbie keane getting injured in the home match which f**ked us up in a match we were cruising and i thought we were unlucky to lose at home to france), so f**k it, we got the 3 points, thats all that matters at the end of the day.

Forget about cyprus, lets just focus on the switzerland match on wednesday - wont be an easy job, but lansdowne will be buzzing and the team know what they have to do, so i reckon we have a brilliant chance of getting to the play offs

[tetsujin1979]

I'd like to point I've moved firmly into the other 3

Seven out of 10 say Kerr should stay

NEARLY seven out of 10 people believe Brian Kerr should continue as manager
of the Irish soccer team, according to a nationwide Sunday Independent
telephone poll after the match in Cyprus last night.
The poll showed that 67 per cent hold the opinion that Kerr should continue
as manager and the remaining 33 per cent said it was time for him to go.
Brian Kerr insisted last night that speculation about his future as Irish
manager was not a distraction for him in the run-up to the Cyprus match.
"It was absolutely no distraction for me. It obviously kept the media very
busy over the last week or two. I answered a question that I was asked when
I named the squad and the issue for me now is to prepare the team as best as
we possibly can for Wednesday," he said.
He said the three points that Ireland needed had been achieved and that was
all that mattered. The Cyprus game was a "hard old scrap" but now the team
was "in with a shout" as they prepared to go into the match against the
Swiss on Wednesday.
He conceded that the team did not have a great rhythm in the first half but
he pointed out that he made changes at half time which resulted in the team
being "quite effective" and being more in control.
"We need to do a lot better if we're to have much of a chance on Wednesday,"
he said.
He said Damien Duff was suffering from a recurrence of an injury that he had
before and, as a result, he must be "very doubtful" about appear
SEE ANALYSIS
ing in the Swiss game. The Chelsea winger will receive a scan today to
ascertain the extent of the injury.
Man of the Match Shay Given said he was delighted by his very important
penalty save in the first half. Wednesday's clash with Switzerland will be
"a massive game" and the team will need the famous "Lansdowne Roar".
Speculation that Kerr will be axed should Ireland fail to qualify for the
2006 World Cup finals in Germany had been rife in the run-up to the game.
Kerr has been in the job for just over two years, having taken over from
Mick McCarthy in November 2002.
Kerr has a remarkably successful history with Irish youth teams. Prior to
that, as manager of St Patrick's Athletic, Kerr won the League of Ireland
title twice. He took on the national job in 2003, commanding a salary of
?484,000.
On Friday, he refused to discuss his position and appeared defiant when
questioned on his contract.
He said speculation surrounding his position did not bother him and was out
of his control.
The relationship between Kerr and FAI chief executive John Delaney has
become especially tense in recent times, with Delaney reprimanding the
manager before the squad left for Cyprus.

[brine3]

The people know better than the FAI as usual.

[brine3]

What does it matter if he's boring? What does that have to do with anything?