The New Official Republic of Ireland Football Thread

Stephen Kenny had good ideals that I really backed but he hasn’t played good football for a while now, the 5 at the back has left us very limited. It reminds me a bit of when Van Gaal began at United vs the way he played at the end. Van Gaal was supposed to be possession football but it was just laboured sideways passes then pump it to Fellaini. Similarly after the first 5-6 games didn’t go to plan (for those games you saw a very clear style of play), it’s just been a lot of mostly crap football with bad players. More attacking than McCarthy and O’Neill but not especially better.

The players are crap though relative to lots of other teams and a lot of bad luck. Even our best teams could lose to France and Netherlands in the one week. And then losing Ferguson as well. It’s just a tough time for Irish football.
 
Bwuk said:
Kenny was a wanker when he was at Dunfermline.

I watched the game, was surprised at how poor the squad is. Obviously Ferguson missing but seems you’ve not got a lot to choose from?
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We don’t.

I’ve had a lot of sympathy for successive Irish managers for more than a decade now because the quality simply hasn’t been there, particularly in centre midfield where we’ve been absolutely woeful for a long, long time.
 
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Imagine if we’d Rice and Grealish, whoever the manager we would be able to beat anyone on our day then. We just don’t have the players these days. The attitude is good but the quality just isn’t there. Should we sack Kenny? Only if we have someone better lined up who will keep playing football and bringing youth through as early as possible.
 
End of the road. Gave it his best shot, brought us forward but we just couldn't take that next step, turning some bolder football into actual threat in games that matter. I feel for him, that interview is him having to admit to himself that he hasn't got it in him to take this group any further. Never let himself down, never threw his players under the bus but the faith he clearly had in himself and that group has been unfounded. God knows where we go next. Love the McKenna shout but I don't think there's a chance we go for another unproven dreamer. Haven't a clue who they'll plump for. Big Mick's at a loose end? ;)
 
KiD MoYeS said:
I am going to throw out a name that has just come to me - Kieran McKenna.
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Bit too early for him i would think. They should look for someone with more experience and hopefully someone who will look to play football like Kenny has done as well.
 
Ali Dia said:
Imagine if we’d Rice and Grealish, whoever the manager we would be able to beat anyone on our day then. We just don’t have the players these days. The attitude is good but the quality just isn’t there. Should we sack Kenny? Only if we have someone better lined up who will keep playing football and bringing youth through as early as possible.
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And Bellingham.

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Rice and Bellingham in midfield. Ferguson and Grealish in attack. We'd be dark horses to win the Euros.
 
Shane88 said:
And Bellingham.

0_Jude-Bellingham.jpg


Rice and Bellingham in midfield. Ferguson and Grealish in attack. We'd be dark horses to win the Euros.
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If Delaney hadn’t be allowed to pull a Bertie we wouldn’t have turned into such a laughing stock and it would have been a much harder decision for these undecided players. We now need to start playing the best English born eligible lads as early as humanly possible.
 
I was annoyed at Kenny's interview. RTE can be right cnuts when they're talking about Irish managers. Half of all the post-match discussions I've seen on RTE become discussions about sacking the manager and it's incredibly boring. Eamon Dunphy showed them it can get good ratings so now they resort to it all the time. The commentator just started saying the team would be booed off at full-time with about 10 minutes to spare ffs. O' Donoghue was interrupting Kenny and arguing with him like he was a politician accused of racketeering.

Why would any serious manager want the job given they'll be disrespected by a delusional media and working with players not good enough to qualify? Even if we did qualify, we'd then be hammered and they'd be at risk of the sack anyway.

Oscar Bonavena said:
Vera Pauw is available.
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It is noticeable how the male players are saying they back the manager while the women's team simply said "Not my job" when asked about theirs. Whether that's because Pauw was that bad or because there's a different culture in women's football, I don't know.
 
What annoys me is all this talk that Stephen Kenny has brought a more progressive, expansive style of football.

Sure, we try to play it out more from the back, but most of our "joy" against superior opposition still seems to come from balls down the channel for Ogbene or Idah to use their pace, and try win a throw in, corner or free kick. And we always seem to end every game throwing the big lads up front to try get an equaliser from a free kick or corner.

I don't have a particular problem with that if it's our best chance of scoring (and it clearly is given our paucity of creativity).
 
He's won 4 out of 23 competitive matches. As bad as our players are, that's unacceptable. We've a decent defence and Ogbene and Ferguson especially have reasons for hope.

McClean is League 2 and starting a game like this. We need a few players coming through especially in midfield. We certainly need a manager with fresh ideas.
 
Tyrion said:
I was annoyed at Kenny's interview. RTE can be right cnuts when they're talking about Irish managers. Half of all the post-match discussions I've seen on RTE become discussions about sacking the manager and it's incredibly boring. Eamon Dunphy showed them it can get good ratings so now they resort to it all the time. The commentator just started saying the team would be booed off at full-time with about 10 minutes to spare ffs. O' Donoghue was interrupting Kenny and arguing with him like he was a politician accused of racketeering.

Why would any serious manager want the job given they'll be disrespected by a delusional media and working with players not good enough to qualify? Even if we did qualify, we'd then be hammered and they'd be at risk of the sack anyway.



It is noticeable how the male players are saying they back the manager while the women's team simply said "Not my job" when asked about theirs. Whether that's because Pauw was that bad or because there's a different culture in women's football, I don't know.
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Tony O'Donoghue is a gobshite. He used to try to pull the same shit with Martin O'Neill. He just goes in with the attitude and a line of questions to try to get a reaction.

Gives the lads in the studio something to talk about.
 
Oscar Bonavena said:
What annoys me is all this talk that Stephen Kenny has brought a more progressive, expansive style of football.
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This annoys me too as I would assume that all of these players now play a more progressive, expansive style at club level vs the "normal" style of football 10 years ago.

It's hard to find a national team or club side (especially lower down the rankings) who aren't more progressive and expansive than they were even 5/6 years ago.
 
I would just refer you back to what we looked like IMMEDIATELY before ge took over.
 
Still ill said:
I would just refer you back to what we looked like IMMEDIATELY before ge took over.
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The incredibly low base we were starting from can distort the reality of our current situation, though. Our style of football was a real outlier at this level of football and quite a lot of our players wouldn’t ever play that way at club level, so the fact that, at best, the football is now pretty passable, shouldn’t buy him endless credit. If anything, the style of football has regressed a bit again in the last 12-18 months and it wouldn’t call it especially modern or progressive. Which is not to slate him. It’s a start. I’m just not convinced that that level of improvement in playing style and an overhaul of an already past it playing squad should be the sum total of our expectations. Particularly when viewed through the prism of some pretty dreadful results.
 
RacingClub said:
This annoys me too as I would assume that all of these players now play a more progressive, expansive style at club level vs the "normal" style of football 10 years ago.

It's hard to find a national team or club side (especially lower down the rankings) who aren't more progressive and expansive than they were even 5/6 years ago.
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Not defending anyone but alarmingly we actually might be a bit more progressive now.
 
RacingClub said:
This annoys me too as I would assume that all of these players now play a more progressive, expansive style at club level vs the "normal" style of football 10 years ago.

It's hard to find a national team or club side (especially lower down the rankings) who aren't more progressive and expansive than they were even 5/6 years ago.
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You have to look at through the quality of players available as well. James McClean has gone from PL to League 2 and is still the best option for the left wing apparently.

Ireland were way too late to the party in trying to move away from being all direct long balls and running the channels.

All the underage teams have been moving towards this style over the last number of years, all the regional development squads focus on this possession based style. I watch one of them train at my local pitch every week.

This is the first group of footballers that have come up through those groups having been training and playing this same way all the way up. It going to take a while longer for them to be all fully up to speed at the top level.
 
Brophs said:
The incredibly low base we were starting from can distort the reality of our current situation, though. Our style of football was a real outlier at this level of football and quite a lot of our players wouldn’t ever play that way at club level, so the fact that, at best, the football is now pretty passable, shouldn’t buy him endless credit. If anything, the style of football has regressed a bit again in the last 12-18 months and it wouldn’t call it especially modern or progressive. Which is not to slate him. It’s a start. I’m just not convinced that that level of improvement in playing style and an overhaul of an already past it playing squad should be the sum total of our expectations. Particularly when viewed through the prism of some pretty dreadful results.
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No, I totally agree with that. The post you quoted me on was in reply to a comment that suggested there was no improvement in our style of play. All of our previous 3 managers (at least) went the safe route on selection and style. He didn't. He endured the pain of trying something new in both those areas, he didn't reinvent the wheel but we started passing the ball in dangerous areas and we got done for it, often. He stil deserves credit for starting this process and giving his very young group licence to make mistakes. We certainly will reap the benefit somewhere down the line. It's not nothing.
 
I like this kid. Hope he grabs his chances. Shame he plays for QPR, wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

 
Festy Obesele putting in MOTM performances in Serie A at the moment. Was in their team of the week. Has to start against Greece, surely.
 
Zebs said:
Festy Obesele putting in MOTM performances in Serie A at the moment. Was in their team of the week. Has to start against Greece, surely.
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That's great to hear. I got the impression he was struggling.
 
The Fai wouldn't care if the players ended up naked by full time as long as they have a great deal with Castore
 
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