FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[mouview]

The main criticism I would have of Kenny is his insistence on playing out from the keeper when under a high press. This is just the latest fad that everyone is trying to do. Teams who do this well and successfully do it becuase they have better players than the team they are pressing, thats the whole point. Its the same in GAA, you press the kickout to force him to kick long because you have an advantage on a long kick out.

Ireland do not have better passing players than nearly any team at the moment. For me we should stop this nonsense of rolling the ball to a player inside the small box, kick out the ball (if there is a press), fight for it and win possession in midfield and then focus on breaking down the opposition defence - something else we are not good at.

The bottom line is we dont have the players anymore to qualify for tournaments and sacking Kenny is just stupid to be honest.

So we just keep him for the next 10 yrs when it so clearly isnt working?
11 games is more than Micks last reign plus he had an additional 2 yrs before that knowing the job was his to prep
There are a lot of excuses floating around but at the end of the day the guy just isnt up to it.
We may not have the players to qualify but we are a lot better than the last 11 results would suggest. Talking Luxembourg and Qatar up is just getting embarrassing.

The players just aren't up to it also, and weren't under Big Mick either. The best manager in the world wouldn't make a silk purse out of them currently. Who besides Coleman is regularly playing for a proper Premier league side? Maybe Robbie Brady. It's a race between Mourinho and Matt Doherty to see who will leave Spurs first. The others are scarcely playing for teams that are struggling or will be relegated. That's where we are at, and as so many others have said already, it's been a long time coming. There's no magic wand, no magic bean tree that international class players will fall down from. Brexit will hardly prevent our better young players from taking their chances in Britain, but it may encourage them to look further afield and continue their sporting education away from what Dragan Stojkovic called 'island football'.

[Ed Ricketts]

Qatar are the current Asian champions, having beaten Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Japan on the way to that title - all World Cup regulars. They're ranked in the mid-50s in the world, just about a dozen places below Ireland and in and about the likes of Israel, Finland and Bulgaria - countries that we've always struggled with, under every manager. Anyone expecting us to rock up and trounce them just hasn't being paying attention to the trajectory of either country over recent years.

If we'd anything about us we would beat them. But we don't, and haven't going back a couple of managers now. Our 'front' seven last night included two premier league players - both bench warmers at relegation threatened clubs. The rest were a mix of lower league journeymen and newbies. But that's our lot at the minute, and expectations should reflect this. We were never going to qualify for this world cup and the campaign was always going to have a focus on bringing through younger players.

Comparisons with the O'Neill era, and even McCarthy's brief spell, are redundant. Those managers had more to work with, and even then didn't do much very noteworthy. And their mandate, like that of every Irish manager going back decades, was to just keep things tight and have the team in mathematical contention for qualification for as long as possible - that meant tickets were sold for Lansdowne and the FAI was kept afloat. There was never any ambition to try anything different, until now. Which is why it's important to see where this all goes, even if it has to be under different management.

[tiempo]

The Dubs would have bet the Qatari's out the gate, sad but true

[Baile Brigín 2]

The Dubs would have bet the Qatari's out the gate, sad but true

Be serious.

[mouview]

Qatar are the current Asian champions, having beaten Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Japan on the way to that title - all World Cup regulars. They're ranked in the mid-50s in the world, just about a dozen places below Ireland and in and about the likes of Israel, Finland and Bulgaria - countries that we've always struggled with, under every manager. Anyone expecting us to rock up and trounce them just hasn't being paying attention to the trajectory of either country over recent years.

It begs the question, how can we be ranked so highly? It must be gravity alone keeping us afloat.

[shark]

Qatar are the current Asian champions, having beaten Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Japan on the way to that title - all World Cup regulars. They're ranked in the mid-50s in the world, just about a dozen places below Ireland and in and about the likes of Israel, Finland and Bulgaria - countries that we've always struggled with, under every manager. Anyone expecting us to rock up and trounce them just hasn't being paying attention to the trajectory of either country over recent years.

It begs the question, how can we be ranked so highly? It must be gravity alone keeping us afloat.

4 year time span. The good start made to the 2018 qualification is now out of scope, so can expect a rapid drop in places.

[Baile Brigín 2]

Qatar are the current Asian champions, having beaten Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Japan on the way to that title - all World Cup regulars. They're ranked in the mid-50s in the world, just about a dozen places below Ireland and in and about the likes of Israel, Finland and Bulgaria - countries that we've always struggled with, under every manager. Anyone expecting us to rock up and trounce them just hasn't being paying attention to the trajectory of either country over recent years.

It begs the question, how can we be ranked so highly? It must be gravity alone keeping us afloat.

Its a rolling 4 years and we didn't lose many games back then. It will fall fast over the next 28 months

[Rudi]

German manager contacting Mick McCarthy to see if he has got any "I had a Macedonia" T-Shitrts for his players.

[Angelo]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

Its not Kenny's fault
Its in no particular order

The players
Covid
The weather
The size of the pitch
Every Irish manager since Eoin Hand
John Delaney
The FAI
No fans
The physios
Qatar and Luxembourg becoming Brazil on the sly
The press
The pundits
The draw.
He is just unlucky

I mean the list goes on and on. There might be about 2 ie Delaney and the FAI that have some merit the rest is a load of shit. The unlucky one really gets me. If he really is that unlucky then even more reason to get him the fook out

[Angelo]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

Its not Kenny's fault
Its in no particular order

The players
Covid
The weather
The size of the pitch
Every Irish manager since Eoin Hand
John Delaney
The FAI
No fans
The physios
Qatar and Luxembourg becoming Brazil on the sly
The press
The pundits
The draw.
He is just unlucky

I mean the list goes on and on. There might be about 2 ie Delaney and the FAI that have some merit the rest is a load of shit. The unlucky one really gets me. If he really is that unlucky then even more reason to get him the fook out

The same crew have had the pitchforks out for Trap, MON and McCarthy for the past decade when they were pulling off some big results against better teams with a squad not notably more talented or capable.



That's the Ireland team that beat Italy in the Euros.

At that time you had:

Randolph - back up keeper for West Ham
Coleman - regular at Everton
Duffy - regular at Blackburn in the Championship
Keogh - regular at Derby in the Championsip
Ward - bit part player at Burnley in the Championship
Hendrick - regular for Derby in the Championship
McCarthy - regular at Everton
Brady - just got relegated for second season in succession at Norwich (Hull the season before)
McClean - regular at West Brom
Murphy - regular at Ipswich in the Championship
Long - regular at Southampton

Half the outfield players were Championship players then.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

Its not Kenny's fault
Its in no particular order

The players
Covid
The weather
The size of the pitch
Every Irish manager since Eoin Hand
John Delaney
The FAI
No fans
The physios
Qatar and Luxembourg becoming Brazil on the sly
The press
The pundits
The draw.
He is just unlucky

I mean the list goes on and on. There might be about 2 ie Delaney and the FAI that have some merit the rest is a load of shit. The unlucky one really gets me. If he really is that unlucky then even more reason to get him the fook out

The same crew have had the pitchforks out for Trap, MON and McCarthy for the past decade when they were pulling off some big results against better teams with a squad not notably more talented or capable.



That's the Ireland team that beat Italy in the Euros.

At that time you had:

Randolph - back up keeper for West Ham
Coleman - regular at Everton
Duffy - regular at Blackburn in the Championship
Keogh - regular at Derby in the Championsip
Ward - bit part player at Burnley in the Championship
Hendrick - regular for Derby in the Championship
McCarthy - regular at Everton
Brady - just got relegated for second season in succession at Norwich (Hull the season before)
McClean - regular at West Brom
Murphy - regular at Ipswich in the Championship
Long - regular at Southampton

Half the outfield players were Championship players then.

italy had already qualified and rested 8 starters that night remember

[JPGJOHNNYG]

The players are poor but exactly that point Mick had the same squad to deal with and yes the football was dung to watch but compared to the last 11 results it was total football. Yes they struggled to score against Gibraltar but they won and they got results against Denmark and Switzerland which now look miraculous. In isolation some of the results under Kenny could be passed as unlucky etc etc but not after 11 matches and zero to show.

[bigarsedkeeper]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

Its not Kenny's fault
Its in no particular order

The players
Covid
The weather
The size of the pitch
Every Irish manager since Eoin Hand
John Delaney
The FAI
No fans
The physios
Qatar and Luxembourg becoming Brazil on the sly
The press
The pundits
The draw.
He is just unlucky

I mean the list goes on and on. There might be about 2 ie Delaney and the FAI that have some merit the rest is a load of shit. The unlucky one really gets me. If he really is that unlucky then even more reason to get him the fook out

The same crew have had the pitchforks out for Trap, MON and McCarthy for the past decade when they were pulling off some big results against better teams with a squad not notably more talented or capable.



That's the Ireland team that beat Italy in the Euros.

At that time you had:

Randolph - back up keeper for West Ham
Coleman - regular at Everton
Duffy - regular at Blackburn in the Championship
Keogh - regular at Derby in the Championsip
Ward - bit part player at Burnley in the Championship
Hendrick - regular for Derby in the Championship
McCarthy - regular at Everton
Brady - just got relegated for second season in succession at Norwich (Hull the season before)
McClean - regular at West Brom
Murphy - regular at Ipswich in the Championship
Long - regular at Southampton

Half the outfield players were Championship players then.

Was MON getting much stick at that time? They weren't great in most games in that tournament but compared to Traps euros it was a relative success. I know it all went to shit towards the end of MON's (and nearly every manager they've had) time.

[Angelo]

Chris Sutton destroyed that eejit Ken Early on radio during the week.

The lengths the Irish football journalist clique are going to excuse Kenny is beyond belief.

Its not Kenny's fault
Its in no particular order

The players
Covid
The weather
The size of the pitch
Every Irish manager since Eoin Hand
John Delaney
The FAI
No fans
The physios
Qatar and Luxembourg becoming Brazil on the sly
The press
The pundits
The draw.
He is just unlucky

I mean the list goes on and on. There might be about 2 ie Delaney and the FAI that have some merit the rest is a load of shit. The unlucky one really gets me. If he really is that unlucky then even more reason to get him the fook out

The same crew have had the pitchforks out for Trap, MON and McCarthy for the past decade when they were pulling off some big results against better teams with a squad not notably more talented or capable.



That's the Ireland team that beat Italy in the Euros.

At that time you had:

Randolph - back up keeper for West Ham
Coleman - regular at Everton
Duffy - regular at Blackburn in the Championship
Keogh - regular at Derby in the Championsip
Ward - bit part player at Burnley in the Championship
Hendrick - regular for Derby in the Championship
McCarthy - regular at Everton
Brady - just got relegated for second season in succession at Norwich (Hull the season before)
McClean - regular at West Brom
Murphy - regular at Ipswich in the Championship
Long - regular at Southampton

Half the outfield players were Championship players then.

italy had already qualified and rested 8 starters that night remember

Great.

That squad actually qualified for the Euros though beating the then World Champions enroute to qualification.