FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Whatever the tactics they need changing from the last 7 matches. No excuses not to be scoring and getting a result against very average Bulgaria tomorrow.

Maybe you can explain to me why we should be so superior to Bulgaria tomorrow. We are playing a B team due all sorts of stuff yet you expect a result, based on what exactly? We dont have Robbie Keane or Quinn or Roy Keane etc anymore. We have what we have. Yes, with a full team we should be beating Bulgaria. I think we will do well to beat them tomorrow but I hope Stephen Kenny gets a break that he is due cos there are some amount of plastic paddys and coach potato English soccer team fans out there calling for his head that know absolutely nothing about the game.

Because the apparent dinosaur McCarthy sent out his second string against Bulgaria and beat them 3-0. Of course under Kenny we will be hoping for 0-0 as a best case scenario

[Capt Pat]

These nations league games are really not important. Germany are showing how highly they rate these nations league games, losing 6-0 to Spain.

In Kennys one game that counted they drew 0-0 away to Slovakia, not too bad. The world cup qualifiers will tell a tale.

[Jeepers Creepers]

I seen someone scoring in training on the news tonight!

[Itchy]

Whatever the tactics they need changing from the last 7 matches. No excuses not to be scoring and getting a result against very average Bulgaria tomorrow.

Maybe you can explain to me why we should be so superior to Bulgaria tomorrow. We are playing a B team due all sorts of stuff yet you expect a result, based on what exactly? We dont have Robbie Keane or Quinn or Roy Keane etc anymore. We have what we have. Yes, with a full team we should be beating Bulgaria. I think we will do well to beat them tomorrow but I hope Stephen Kenny gets a break that he is due cos there are some amount of plastic paddys and coach potato English soccer team fans out there calling for his head that know absolutely nothing about the game.

Because the apparent dinosaur McCarthy sent out his second string against Bulgaria and beat them 3-0. Of course under Kenny we will be hoping for 0-0 as a best case scenario

It was 3-1

So tell us, How long does a manager have to put his mark on a team when he is trying to change 30 years of a style of play that is outdated and being employed by no other teams in the Europe anymore, including Iceland, Norway etc, teams that used to play this way.

You know what I think Kennys biggest problem is, a working class Dublin accent. Same as Brian Kerr, another 100% genuine Irish soccer man, devoured by the snobs and booted out. Good old snobbery.

There are lots of examples of managers who ended up being successful who it took time to crack the nut. Alex Ferguson at Man Utd (modern Man U couch potato wouldnt stand for the time Ferguson got in todays world), Michael O Neill in the North a more relevant example perhaps. Its amazing also to see how the snobs delight in the defeat of their own country as it gives them a chance to beat up on the new manager. Sad really.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

No delight is being taken I can assure you. Brian Kerr didn't beat anyone ranked higher than 80 in a competitive match by the way. Still he looks great compared to the current mess

[Baile Brigín 2]

Whatever the tactics they need changing from the last 7 matches. No excuses not to be scoring and getting a result against very average Bulgaria tomorrow.

The tactics are spot on. The problem is 14 players calling off. Would you call for the head of a new county manager who lost 20 players?

[Cunny Funt]

These nations league games are really not important. Germany are showing how highly they rate these nations league games, losing 6-0 to Spain.

In Kennys one game that counted they drew 0-0 away to Slovakia, not too bad. The world cup qualifiers will tell a tale.

Aren't ranking and seeding for the world Cup qualifying based on these nation league groups?

Watched that game, Germany a shambles in defence and looked totally disinterested.

[Baile Brigín 2]

Whatever the tactics they need changing from the last 7 matches. No excuses not to be scoring and getting a result against very average Bulgaria tomorrow.

Maybe you can explain to me why we should be so superior to Bulgaria tomorrow. We are playing a B team due all sorts of stuff yet you expect a result, based on what exactly? We dont have Robbie Keane or Quinn or Roy Keane etc anymore. We have what we have. Yes, with a full team we should be beating Bulgaria. I think we will do well to beat them tomorrow but I hope Stephen Kenny gets a break that he is due cos there are some amount of plastic paddys and coach potato English soccer team fans out there calling for his head that know absolutely nothing about the game.

Because the apparent dinosaur McCarthy sent out his second string against Bulgaria and beat them 3-0. Of course under Kenny we will be hoping for 0-0 as a best case scenario

It was 3-1

So tell us, How long does a manager have to put his mark on a team when he is trying to change 30 years of a style of play that is outdated and being employed by no other teams in the Europe anymore, including Iceland, Norway etc, teams that used to play this way.

You know what I think Kennys biggest problem is, a working class Dublin accent. Same as Brian Kerr, another 100% genuine Irish soccer man, devoured by the snobs and booted out. Good old snobbery.

There are lots of examples of managers who ended up being successful who it took time to crack the nut. Alex Ferguson at Man Utd (modern Man U couch potato wouldnt stand for the time Ferguson got in todays world), Michael O Neill in the North a more relevant example perhaps. Its amazing also to see how the snobs delight in the defeat of their own country as it gives them a chance to beat up on the new manager. Sad really.

I think there is an interesting split in the soccer camp and media.

Lots dislike Kenny because he earned his stripes domestically and he holds a mirror up to their disdain for and ignorance of the game here. He didn't do it in England so he didn't do it. Stop annoying us with plans and structures and lets let English clubs develop our talent. Pick up the best journeyman we can afford and look to the next campaign.

The flip side is the martyrs in The Greatest League in the World (tm) who dismiss them as barstoolers and Ole Ole merchants and see them as dragging us back and being self loathing. They accuse the other faction of thinking the EPL is all football and demand instant success and don't have the patience for a project.

Put another way. There are lots of decent national teams out there who infrequently if at all pick domestic players. Sweden, Denmark, Croatia, Poland, Belgium, Greece and so on. But there would be no debate about promoting a domestic manager on the basis of European results. Its just normal and logical.

[Ed Ricketts]

Whatever the tactics they need changing from the last 7 matches. No excuses not to be scoring and getting a result against very average Bulgaria tomorrow.

Maybe you can explain to me why we should be so superior to Bulgaria tomorrow. We are playing a B team due all sorts of stuff yet you expect a result, based on what exactly? We dont have Robbie Keane or Quinn or Roy Keane etc anymore. We have what we have. Yes, with a full team we should be beating Bulgaria. I think we will do well to beat them tomorrow but I hope Stephen Kenny gets a break that he is due cos there are some amount of plastic paddys and coach potato English soccer team fans out there calling for his head that know absolutely nothing about the game.

Because the apparent dinosaur McCarthy sent out his second string against Bulgaria and beat them 3-0. Of course under Kenny we will be hoping for 0-0 as a best case scenario

This result has been brought up a couple of time in defence of McCarthy's record, so i did a quick dig about it. Some stuff discovered:

Bulgaria were on their second of three managers in 2019. This guy lasted four months.
Their goalie on the night was a 37 year old playing in his only and only international.
They handed out four more debuts in the fixture, including one to a 33 year old striker who, unsurprisingly, hasn't reappeared.
Only four men from that night are in their current squad.

Ireland had a second string out too. It was essentially an A international. Boys pulled from anywhere and everywhere (including the League of Ireland) to fulfil the fixture. Only the very most shallow of analyses would put this result forward as evidence of anything.

Appropriately enough, this auspicious friendly triumph was followed by a goalless draw with Georgia and a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland - the results that really screwed our attempts to qualify for the Euros.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Im not wanting mccarthy back im just pointing out on the shit scale we seem to be on it was less shit with mccarthy than it is now. Kenny needed a good start. He didnt get it and lets all be honest did anyone actually predict it would be this bad. I doubt it. Maybe its all a master plan to get relegated to make qualifications for 2024 through a play off easier😅

[Baile Brigín 2]

Im not wanting mccarthy back im just pointing out on the shit scale we seem to be on it was less shit with mccarthy than it is now. Kenny needed a good start. He didnt get it and lets all be honest did anyone actually predict it would be this bad. I doubt it. Maybe its all a master plan to get relegated to make qualifications for 2024 through a play off easier😅

By what possible critera was it better under McCarthy?

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Im not wanting mccarthy back im just pointing out on the shit scale we seem to be on it was less shit with mccarthy than it is now. Kenny needed a good start. He didnt get it and lets all be honest did anyone actually predict it would be this bad. I doubt it. Maybe its all a master plan to get relegated to make qualifications for 2024 through a play off easier😅

By what possible critera was it better under McCarthy?

Er results the thing that actual matters as oppossed to pass completion % in your own half or whatever other stats are floating around in kennys favour

[Baile Brigín 2]

Im not wanting mccarthy back im just pointing out on the shit scale we seem to be on it was less shit with mccarthy than it is now. Kenny needed a good start. He didnt get it and lets all be honest did anyone actually predict it would be this bad. I doubt it. Maybe its all a master plan to get relegated to make qualifications for 2024 through a play off easier😅

By what possible critera was it better under McCarthy?

Er results the thing that actual matters as oppossed to pass completion % in your own half or whatever other stats are floating around in kennys favour

What results? He beat Gibraltar and Georgia - just. Ok, there were draws against Denmark and Switzerland but hammerings by Wales and Switzerland

[Ed Ricketts]

Im not wanting mccarthy back im just pointing out on the shit scale we seem to be on it was less shit with mccarthy than it is now. Kenny needed a good start. He didnt get it and lets all be honest did anyone actually predict it would be this bad. I doubt it. Maybe its all a master plan to get relegated to make qualifications for 2024 through a play off easier😅

By what possible critera was it better under McCarthy?

Er results the thing that actual matters as oppossed to pass completion % in your own half or whatever other stats are floating around in kennys favour

What results? He beat Gibraltar and Georgia - just. Ok, there were draws against Denmark and Switzerland but hammerings by Wales and Switzerland

That was under O'Neill, around the time his long ball shite was falling apart.

McCarthy tightened things up a bit, but there was no attacking threat under his leadership. 3 goals in 3 hours football against Gibraltar. 1 goal (a freekick) in two games against Georgia. A couple of respectable draws in the group, but draws get you no where in international football. You're not looking a scrape together a few points to stave off relegation - you need wins to qualify for tournaments. McCarthy's football was never going to deliver that.

[Captain Obvious]

The tactics are spot on. The problem is 14 players calling off. Would you call for the head of a new county manager who lost 20 players?

No win and no goal scored in the last 6 games. Could count on one hand in each game to the amount of shots on target yet tactics was spot on?

New county manager or manager of any sports team is a result business and no amount of excuses will change that.