FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

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How long does a manager have to put his mark on a team when he is trying to change 30 years of a style of play that is outdated and being employed by no other teams in the Europe anymore, including Iceland, Norway etc, teams that used to play this way.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

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Just to sum up

McCarthy 
W5 D4 L1 F13 A7

Kenny
W0 D3 L4 F1 A7

McCarthy is being hammered by some here and yet in the end it was the Georgian game that was the only real disappointment, a team we have struggled with many times over the last 10 yrs. At the time we all wanted Connolly to start, skip forward 12 mths has Connolly even scored a goal for club or country since?

Kenny isnt going anywhere he will get his chance at the next set of qualifying matches, however from the games so far there is nothing to give me confidence that things will improve.

[themac_23]

I used to love watching Ireland games, this week I watched the first 20 mins of the England game and actually watched none of last nights game. up to the end of MONs time id have never missed a game. the 1 thing I want out of an Ireland team is to be competitive, we aren't at all. Stephen Kenny wants to play a brand of football that he doesn't have the players for, its a cliche saying but you play the hand you're dealt. get a system in place and stick to it. for all his faults that's what Mick McCarthy done at every team he was at, if he had limited players he built the founds on hard work and dogged defending, get the ball into the opposition half then try work off knock Downs 2nd balls. not the prettiest but effective enough. I think Kenny will get the chance of qualification although in my opinion he's not the man, if he gets us to the WC then il gladly eat humble pie because well be in a major tournament. Throwing it out there, the next Ireland manager should be Sam Allardyce, gets a tune out of every squad he goes into with limited players. he's a perfect fit for our job I think

What gruesome form of self-flagellation is this?

I dont like watching Kennys teams lose trying to play football so lets get big sam in to do some route one football. If that is your cup of tea go and watch some 2nd Tier league of Ireland maybe?

Theres a myth about the whole 'route one' if your players aren't great get the ball into a position in the pitch where if/when they lose it the team is not exposed. if you play out from the back short kick outs etc then you are inviting pressure, irelands players aren't good enough on the ball to draw teams out and play through them and quite often give the ball away so the other team is on us but instead of them having to build from inside their own half they are already in ours.

get the ball forward early hitting the space and or centre forward and work from there. the best at doing it is probably Burnley, they are great at it, getting the ball quickly doesn't mean playing for territory it means getting the ball into an area where you can do damage and hurt the opposition, with all due respect to our players they are never gonna hurt anyone by keeping the ball round the back/midfield.

So you want Martin O Neill or Mick McCarthy back? And tell me how do these innovative tactics work against team of lower ability than Ireland that drop off and let you have the ball. Its dinosaur football and by the way who is your target man for this tactic?

You mean Mick McCarthy and Martin O'Neill who got us to major tournaments? yeah id take them over Stephen Kenny in a heartbeat. how Mick was treated was pretty unfair in that they names Kenny his replacement as he was getting announced in the job, he was just steadying the ship and done a good job. with the target man thing, again its a myth that direct football needs a 6'4 centre forward cart horse. Perfect example is look at Shane Longs goal against Germany long ball over the top striker burns the defenders and gets on the end of it. I want Ireland to win, or at least be competitive, I couldn't care about having loads of wee passes in triangles that comes out of a coaching manual that Pep wrote. that works with top players, we dont have them, play percentage football. if the ball is in the opposition half they aren't going to score, if we have the ball round the edge of our own box passing about 1 stray pass and the opposition are on us and we are in danger, might get away with it against poor sides but not good international's. Kennys big saving grace is we haven't played a top team in a competitive game, a Spain or Belgium in a proper fixture would seriously embarrass us.

[Baile Brigín 2]

I used to love watching Ireland games, this week I watched the first 20 mins of the England game and actually watched none of last nights game. up to the end of MONs time id have never missed a game. the 1 thing I want out of an Ireland team is to be competitive, we aren't at all. Stephen Kenny wants to play a brand of football that he doesn't have the players for, its a cliche saying but you play the hand you're dealt. get a system in place and stick to it. for all his faults that's what Mick McCarthy done at every team he was at, if he had limited players he built the founds on hard work and dogged defending, get the ball into the opposition half then try work off knock Downs 2nd balls. not the prettiest but effective enough. I think Kenny will get the chance of qualification although in my opinion he's not the man, if he gets us to the WC then il gladly eat humble pie because well be in a major tournament. Throwing it out there, the next Ireland manager should be Sam Allardyce, gets a tune out of every squad he goes into with limited players. he's a perfect fit for our job I think

What gruesome form of self-flagellation is this?

I dont like watching Kennys teams lose trying to play football so lets get big sam in to do some route one football. If that is your cup of tea go and watch some 2nd Tier league of Ireland maybe?

Theres a myth about the whole 'route one' if your players aren't great get the ball into a position in the pitch where if/when they lose it the team is not exposed. if you play out from the back short kick outs etc then you are inviting pressure, irelands players aren't good enough on the ball to draw teams out and play through them and quite often give the ball away so the other team is on us but instead of them having to build from inside their own half they are already in ours.

get the ball forward early hitting the space and or centre forward and work from there. the best at doing it is probably Burnley, they are great at it, getting the ball quickly doesn't mean playing for territory it means getting the ball into an area where you can do damage and hurt the opposition, with all due respect to our players they are never gonna hurt anyone by keeping the ball round the back/midfield.

So you want Martin O Neill or Mick McCarthy back? And tell me how do these innovative tactics work against team of lower ability than Ireland that drop off and let you have the ball. Its dinosaur football and by the way who is your target man for this tactic?

You mean Mick McCarthy and Martin O'Neill who got us to major tournaments? yeah id take them over Stephen Kenny in a heartbeat. how Mick was treated was pretty unfair in that they names Kenny his replacement as he was getting announced in the job, he was just steadying the ship and done a good job. with the target man thing, again its a myth that direct football needs a 6'4 centre forward cart horse. Perfect example is look at Shane Longs goal against Germany long ball over the top striker burns the defenders and gets on the end of it. I want Ireland to win, or at least be competitive, I couldn't care about having loads of wee passes in triangles that comes out of a coaching manual that Pep wrote. that works with top players, we dont have them, play percentage football. if the ball is in the opposition half they aren't going to score, if we have the ball round the edge of our own box passing about 1 stray pass and the opposition are on us and we are in danger, might get away with it against poor sides but not good international's. Kennys big saving grace is we haven't played a top team in a competitive game, a Spain or Belgium in a proper fixture would seriously embarrass us.

This is the point though. There has been a strategic decision to link the style of play of the seniors to every other Irish team, stop relying on English players and clubs and stop with the bizarre notion we don't have footballers.

Like Kerr before, there is a rather curious opposition to progress out there

[Itchy]

Alex Ferguson, some you eejits would want to read this and ask yourselves if you applied your logic on Stephen Kenny to Alex Ferguson, how many trophies would Man Utd have won...

Ferguson was appointed manager at Old Trafford on 6 November 1986. He was initially worried that many of the players, such as Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were drinking too much and was "depressed" by their level of fitness, but he managed to increase the players' discipline and United climbed up the table to finish the season in 11th place, having been 21st (second from bottom) when he took over.

His first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat at Oxford United on 8 November, followed seven days later by a goalless draw at newly promoted Norwich City, and then his first win (1–0 at home to Queens Park Rangers) on 22 November. Results steadily improved as the season went on, and by the time they recorded what would be their only away win of the league campaign at title challengers and deadly rivals Liverpool on Boxing Day, it was clear that United were on the road to recovery. 1987 began on a high note with a 4–1 victory over Newcastle United and United gradually pulled together in the second half of the season, with relatively occasional defeats on the way, and finished 11th in the final table. Ferguson's mother Elizabeth died of lung cancer, aged 64, three weeks after his appointment. Ferguson hired Archie Knox, his assistant at Aberdeen, in the same role at Manchester United in 1986.

In the 1987–88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson, Brian McClair and Jim Leighton. The new players made a great contribution to a United team who finished in second place, nine points behind Liverpool. Liverpool's points lead, however, had been in double digits for most of the season and while United had lost only five league games all season, they drew 12 games and there was clearly still some way to go before United could be a match for their north western rivals.

During the season, United played two friendly matches in Bermuda against the Bermuda national team and the Somerset Cricket Club.[72] In the match against Somerset, both Ferguson himself and his assistant Archie Knox took to the field, with Knox even getting on the scoresheet. The match was Ferguson's only appearance for the Manchester United first team.[72]

United were expected to do well when Mark Hughes returned to the club two years after leaving for Barcelona, but the 1988–89 season was a disappointment for them, finishing 11th in the league and losing 1–0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup sixth round. They had begun the season slowly, going on a nine-match winless run throughout October and November (with one defeat and eight draws) before a run of generally good results took them to third place and the fringes of the title challenge by mid February. However, another run of disappointing results in the final quarter of the season saw them fall down to mid-table.

For the 1989–90 season, Ferguson further boosted his squad by paying large sums of money for midfielders Neil Webb, Mike Phelan, and Paul Ince, as well as defender Gary Pallister and winger Danny Wallace. The season began well with a 4–1 win over defending champions Arsenal on the opening day, but United's league form quickly turned sour. In September, United suffered a humiliating 5–1 away defeat against fierce rivals Manchester City. Following this and an early season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games, a banner declaring, "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked.[73][74] Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.[75][76]

Following a run of seven games without a win, Manchester United were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Forest were performing well that season and were in the process of winning the League Cup for the second season running,[77] and it was expected that United would lose the match and Ferguson would consequently be sacked, but United won the game 1–0 due to a Mark Robins goal and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match that saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career, even though it has since been stated that his job was never at risk.[77][78][79] United went on to win the FA Cup, beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the final replay after a 3–3 draw in the first match, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as Manchester United manager. United's defensive frailties in the first match were unilaterally blamed on goalkeeper Jim Leighton, forcing Ferguson to drop his former Aberdeen player and bring in Les Sealey.

[BennyCake]

That's a silly comparison

Ferguson already had success with Aberdeen, winning leagues and Scot Cups and the Euro cup winners cup, beating Real Madrid in the final I think it was.

What did Pat Kenny win before taking the Ireland job? But sure maybe if Ireland stick with him, he'll win the World Cup 

[Itchy]

That's a silly comparison

Ferguson already had success with Aberdeen, winning leagues and Scot Cups and the Euro cup winners cup, beating Real Madrid in the final I think it was.

What did Pat Kenny win before taking the Ireland job? But sure maybe if Ireland stick with him, he'll win the World Cup 

No the bit in bold is utterly stupid, no manager anywhere can deliver that.

You dont think Stephen Kenny was successful? (more snobbery calling him by a wrong name), Do you feel good about acting which such snobbery to an Irishman. You are no better than a British Tory behaving like that.