Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2020/2021 - see Mod Note in OP [18/11/20]

johnnyryan89

RonanG86 wrote: »

Randolph or Kelleher would've started the qualifiers if available. Ditto Egan. I'd say McCarthy might have started at least one, but I don't really rate him so personally I don't think he'd have made a difference. Probably O'Dowda too cos Kenny seems to like him.

Long may have played instead of Clark (but if Egan was around he wouldn't). Hourihane would've been from the bench at best imo. Idah might've started the Luxembourg game instead of Collins with Connolly out.

This system would have suited McCarthy a lot more than 4-3-3. It's when he's asked to anchor the midfield by himself that he struggles because he'll shy away from having to be that link between defence and midfield unlike Cullen.

O'Dowda would have definitely started I think if fit because he's been playing centrally in a 3-5-2.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Goal and an assist for Connell last night. Level of football is pretty desperate, but he's far too good to be playing in this division and hopefully this will get him noticed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdN0xKn4cEo

Hopefully Celtic only loaned him out to gain minutes before the start of pre season, because that level is a joke. The lad was comfortable playing against Championship teams and didn't look out of place. There's no real reserve leagues so wouldn't have gotten any competitive games, but you gotta questions why they couldn't have gotten him a better loan at a higher standard earlier.

We really need someone like him or Smallbone to come good for us because I can't see any other midfielders, bar Byrne, whose going to possibly be a player that could unlock a defence with a pass.

noodler

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

This system would have suited McCarthy a lot more than 4-3-3. It's when he's asked to anchor the midfield by himself that he struggles because he'll shy away from having to be that link between defence and midfield unlike Cullen.

O'Dowda would have definitely started I think if fit because he's been playing centrally in a 3-5-2.

McCarthy is never really fit for reland.

I'd say there is no point relying on him.

Girly Gal

Most of our players ( both young and experienced) are either not playing regularly for their teams or playing at a low level, that doesn't help when it comes to international level, Kenny has also made some questionable selection decisions which haven't helped things. Results are important even just for team morale alone, if players aren't enjoying it, they're unlikely to perform well. Atm it's hard to say any of the players are enjoying playing for Ireland

Pawwed Rig

noodler wrote: »

McCarthy is never really fit for reland.

I'd say there is no point relying on him.

He never really seemed interested in playing for us imo. Called in sick too easily and when playing has lacked effort.

johnnyryan89

noodler wrote: »

McCarthy is never really fit for reland.

I'd say there is no point relying on him.

Well McCarthy isn't good enough to be a player you'd want to be relying on anyway, Coleman is probably the only one or John Egan if three at the back is going to be the norm. More pointing out had he been fit enough to play that playing alongside Cullen would have suited him a lot more than being asked to anchor the midfield by himself.

Himself and Brady, two lads that suffer massively with their fitness are both out of contract in the summer, and it's hard to see where they'll go. Celtic could be an option for McCarthy with Browne leaving, but aging Browne would still be more reliable than McCarthy.

gormdubhgorm

Honest assessment from the 'honey monster' Richard Dunne on Ireland thinking they are now a footballing team just because they' pass the ball backwards and sideways in safe areas'. Slow and no urgency, easy to play against.

A lot of what he said is fairly obvious, but it is nice that a top pro like Dunne says it straight. He described how Ireland play now as if it is 'out of a book'. And not executed to where the opposition would be worried. Plus when Ireland lose the ball they are in trouble. Plus he described how Ireland play now as boring, predictable, no threat. At least before he argued when people said the style was boring Ireland had a threat.

gormdubhgorm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

He never really seemed interested in playing for us imo. Called in sick too easily and when playing has lacked effort.

'Moral courage' as Giles says. He never demanded the ball. Had the tools but not the character.

gormdubhgorm

Girly Gal wrote: »

Most of our players ( both young and experienced) are either not playing regularly for their teams or playing at a low level, that doesn't help when it comes to international level, Kenny has also made some questionable selection decisions which haven't helped things. Results are important even just for team morale alone, if players aren't enjoying it, they're unlikely to perform well. Atm it's hard to say any of the players are enjoying playing for Ireland

I watched the finding Charlton documentary. Had lots of Charlton's lines from bits of paper. One of them was have a clear way of playing that is effective, and make sure the players are enjoying it. Kenny seems to have neither and is starting to look like a rabbit in the headlights.

loyatemu

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Honest assessment from the 'honey monster' Richard Dunne on Ireland thinking they are now a footballing team just because they' pass the ball backwards and sideways in safe areas'. Slow and no urgency, easy to play against.

A lot of what he said is fairly obvious, but it is nice that a top pro like Dunne says it straight. He described how Ireland play now as if it is 'out of a book'. And not executed to where the opposition would be worried. Plus when Ireland lose the ball they are in trouble. Plus he described how Ireland play now as boring, predictable, no threat. At least before he argued when people said the style was boring Ireland had a threat.

when he played Ireland had better players - this is ultimately the bottom line. The idea that we can keep it tight at the back and then nick a goal is all very well, but even MON and Mick were struggling with that approach, and Kenny's playing resources are worse still.

An excellent comment from under Paul Doyle's report in the Guardian drills down into the specifics of how we've declined (and even then doesn't account for how little game time our players are getting at club level):

noodler

loyatemu wrote: »

when he played Ireland had better players - this is ultimately the bottom line. The idea that we can keep it tight at the back and then nick a goal is all very well, but even MON and Mick were struggling with that approach, and Kenny's playing resources are worse still.

An excellent comment from under Paul Doyle's report in the Guardian drills down into the specifics of how we've declined:

Seems an odd time to try and make the limited squad less effective

TheCitizen

loyatemu wrote: »

when he played Ireland had better players - this is ultimately the bottom line. The idea that we can keep it tight at the back and then nick a goal is all very well, but even MON and Mick were struggling with that approach, and Kenny's playing resources are worse still.

An excellent comment from under Paul Doyle's report in the Guardian drills down into the specifics of how we've declined (and even then doesn't account for how little game time our players are getting at club level):

Yes we know all that but we've still got better players than Luxembourg. There is no excuse for the defeat v Luxembourg and it wasn't like it was a smash and grab, Luxembourg were the better team on the night. Kenny acknowledged that. He's going to need improvement in results in the remaining games, otherwise he should be replaced.

Oat23

TheCitizen wrote: »

Yes we know all that but we've still got better players than Luxembourg.

Football is played by a team. Not just a group of players.

Luxembourg right now clearly have a better team based on what I've seen. There's a lot of blame to go around as to why from development failures, to Kenny and stretching all the way back to MON's reign.

~Rebel~

Oat23 wrote: »

Football is played by a team. Not just a group of players.

Luxembourg right now clearly have a better team based on what I've seen. There's a lot of blame to go around as to why from development failures, to Kenny and stretching all the way back to MON's reign.

They also had the best attacker on the field, who popped up with a moment of quality.

In tighter games, those players and those moments are decisive, and we just don’t have that quality right now.

loyatemu

noodler wrote: »

Seems an odd time to try and make the limited squad less effective

you're assuming it would be more effective with a Mick style "up and at 'em" approach. He failed to qualify and we played terrible football in doing so. Maybe we were harder to beat, but that's not enough without the players to nick a goal at the other end.

noodler

loyatemu wrote: »

you're assuming it would be more effective with a Mick style "up and at 'em" approach. He failed to qualify and we played terrible football in doing so. Maybe we were harder to beat, but that's not enough without the players to nick a goal at the other end.

Are you saying all non-qualificTions are equal?

Would you rather have a campaign go to the wire knowing you are on goal away from automatic qualification?

Or would you rather be out of the running after a week?

~Rebel~

loyatemu wrote: »

you're assuming it would be more effective with a Mick style "up and at 'em" approach. He failed to qualify and we played terrible football in doing so. Maybe we were harder to beat, but that's not enough without the players to nick a goal at the other end.

Indeed... to play that long ball game you need a bit of quality and ability up there to hold onto it to relieve the pressure while players arrive. Quinn, Doyle, Morrison, Murphy, Walters, McGoldrick were all able to play that role to varying degrees. We don't have that player right now. The closest is probably an aging Shane Long. And we also don't have the knock-down players to take advantage of it.

Really I think the pragmatic approach right now is actually to do what they're doing - just better.

johnnyryan89

~Rebel~ wrote: »

They also had the best attacker on the field, who popped up with a moment of quality.

In tighter games, those players and those moments are decisive, and we just don’t have that quality right now.

We don't even have the players to play effective long balls. We saw how MONs reign came to end when Daryl Murphy retired and injuries finished off Walters. It was sad to see him struggle in that 4-1 lose to Wales, which turned out to be his final game for Ireland.

Pussyhands

Not sure what to make of Kenny's defensive fight back after the game last night.

It really didn't come off great especially when Kenny seems to freeze mid thought and stumble on words. I kinda cringed when he went on about how he's been winning every game for the past 4 years...it's league of Ireland. Filipo Giovagnoli took over Dundalk and got them into europa and he was an academy director in America.

It was a Aldi Jose Mourinho outburst.

Beechwoodspark

Fair play to the Norwegian fans.

They are going to vote on whether Norway should compete in the Qatar World Cup.

Over 6 thousand migrant workers have died already in Qatar building stadiums etc for the World Cup.

For those who aren’t aware Qatar is a human rights cess pit. Shocking conditions basically slave Labour.

The Qatar World Cup should be boycotted

johnnyryan89

Good to see the Irish team backing them in the boycott.

Might as well get that one out of the way and imo they should have refused to play last night. All teams should be boycotting.

Beechwoodspark

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Good to see the Irish team backing them in the boycott.

Might as well get that one out of the way and imo they should have refused to play last night. All teams should be boycotting.

Are ireland officially doing the boycott?

gormdubhgorm

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Good to see the Irish team backing them in the boycott.

Might as well get that one out of the way and imo they should have refused to play last night. All teams should be boycotting.

Maybe Ireland 'refusing' to win a game of football for 10 games could be tied into this Qatar boycott? The players and Kenny doing their best to make sure the Qatar WC is not given legitimacy by Ireland's attendance at it.

johnnyryan89

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Are ireland officially doing the boycott?

Well we're playing like a team that's boycotting, should have added a smiley at the end of that sentence.

Doubt they would anyway, there would be uproar if the chance to ole ole at tournament was denied like that.

pjohnson

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Well we're playing like a team that's boycotting, should have added a smiley at the end of that sentence.

Doubt they would anyway, there would be uproar if the chance to ole ole at tournament was denied like that.

Thats the spirit.

For Forks Sake

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Well we're playing like a team that's boycotting, should have added a smiley at the end of that sentence.

Doubt they would anyway, there would be uproar if the chance to ole ole at tournament was denied like that.

Could always go over and get paid to fill seats :rolleyes:

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2014/12/17/in-qatar-migrant-workers-paid-to-be-sports-fans/20523237/

Pussyhands

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Fair play to the Norwegian fans.

They are going to vote on whether Norway should compete in the Qatar World Cup.

Over 6 thousand migrant workers have died already in Qatar building stadiums etc for the World Cup.

For those who aren’t aware Qatar is a human rights cess pit. Shocking conditions basically slave Labour.

The Qatar World Cup should be boycotted

Slacktivism at it's finest.

Did Norway do the same thing for Russia 2018?

But the Norwegians will feel good about themselves for doing absolutely nothing meaningful.

Pawwed Rig

Pussyhands wrote: »

Slacktivism at it's finest.

Did Norway do the same thing for Russia 2018?

But the Norwegians will feel good about themselves for doing absolutely nothing meaningful.

It is better than doing nothing.

10000maniacs

Pussyhands wrote: »

Not sure what to make of Kenny's defensive fight back after the game last night.

It really didn't come off great especially when Kenny seems to freeze mid thought and stumble on words. I kinda cringed when he went on about how he's been winning every game for the past 4 years...it's league of Ireland. Filipo Giovagnoli took over Dundalk and got them into europa and he was an academy director in America.

It was a Aldi Jose Mourinho outburst.

Look, it's terminal. Unless something drastically changes in the rules or there is a united Ireland and we have the pick of the Norn Iron players, Ireland are doomed as a footballing force.
Gone are the days when somebody like Jack Charlton could sign two Liverpool players in one night, one of them by total accident. That actually did happen. Those days are gone.

briany

The likelihood is that the Irish team is going to have to endure a period of true wilderness. We can say that they've had periods of wilderness before between 2002-2012, but they were almost always in with a shout of qualification up 'til the finish during this period. We could be looking down the barrel of Alaska-style wilderness for a while where expectations slump down to an absolute minimum and the team is just trying to not get the wooden spoon in groups.

topmanamillion

10000maniacs wrote: »

Look, it's terminal. Unless something drastically changes in the rules or there is a united Ireland and we have the pick of the Norn Iron players, Ireland are doomed as a footballing force.
Gone are the days when somebody like Jack Charlton could sign two Liverpool players in one night, one of them by total accident. That actually did happen. Those days are gone.

In the grand scheme of opinions that have been offered to turn the current rot around, this is bonkers.
Combine two teams ranked in the 40s that are both currently on 10+ winless runs!

The rest of Europe has just left us behind simple as that.
We rocked up at the last Euros with the oldest team at the tournament and no one saw the writing on the wall.

Coupled with the fact Brady and Hendrick, our best young players at that tournament, who we`d expected to by now be seasoned pros have only gone backwards and are at best squad players for their clubs.

eire4

briany wrote: »

The likelihood is that the Irish team is going to have to endure a period of true wilderness. We can say that they've had periods of wilderness before between 2002-2012, but they were almost always in with a shout of qualification up 'til the finish during this period. We could be looking down the barrel of Alaska-style wilderness for a while where expectations slump down to an absolute minimum and the team is just trying to not get the wooden spoon in groups.

Sadly that is indeed what we face IMHO.

Kermit.de.frog

We are already there tbh.

Luxembourg, Armenia, San Marino, Lichtenstein....these are our rivals now, our annual mini tournament so to speak.

That's our level.

The worst thing is that this is not even John Delaney's and the FAI's legacy.

That won't arrive for another 10 years probably.

We are in an appalling mess due to mismanagement and worse.

tanko

10000maniacs wrote: »

Look, it's terminal. Unless something drastically changes in the rules or there is a united Ireland and we have the pick of the Norn Iron players, Ireland are doomed as a footballing force.
Gone are the days when somebody like Jack Charlton could sign two Liverpool players in one night, one of them by total accident. That actually did happen. Those days are gone.

Who were the two players and which one was accidental?

tayto lover

tanko wrote: »

Who were the two players and which one was accidental?

Aldridge and he told Jack that Ray Houghton had Irish links.

Big Ears

Pussyhands wrote: »

Not sure what to make of Kenny's defensive fight back after the game last night.

It really didn't come off great especially when Kenny seems to freeze mid thought and stumble on words. I kinda cringed when he went on about how he's been winning every game for the past 4 years...it's league of Ireland. Filipo Giovagnoli took over Dundalk and got them into europa and he was an academy director in America.

It was a Aldi Jose Mourinho outburst.

The last 2 of those years were with the Ireland U21's and not Dundalk.
I know there's still a big step up from that to Senior International football.

Giovagnoli actually has a brutal record in the League of Ireland despite his success in reaching the Europa League. He also had a much easier run to the Europa League and was much less competitive in the group.
Kenny's side at least picked up 4 points and were competitive in every game they played, including against a very useful team in Zenit St Petersburg.

Pussyhands

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

It is better than doing nothing.

I'd rather them do nothing than pretend to do something.

Did you smash it

Did you smash it wrote: »

What’s the story with a shirt sponsor for the national team?

Hopefully we abandon that awful model. By all means sponsor the training gear but the Irish shirt should be left pure. Didnt even like Opel on it

noodler

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hopefully we abandon that awful model. By all means sponsor the training gear but the Irish shirt should be left pure. Didnt even like Opel on it

100m in debt.

I don't think aesthetics will come into it

noodler

noodler wrote: »

100m in debt.

I don't think aesthetics will come into it

True enough, but perhaps they could split the sponsorship into a few different packages (in fairness we are not exactly a top draw at the moment)

1o059k7ewrqj3n

Deleted User wrote: »

Hopefully we abandon that awful model. By all means sponsor the training gear but the Irish shirt should be left pure. Didnt even like Opel on it

It's actually a very nice kit, but more down to what Umbro have done with it rather than anything to thank the FAI for.

eire4

Steyr 556 wrote: »

It's actually a very nice kit, but more down to what Umbro have done with it rather than anything to thank the FAI for.

I bought both the home and away tops and I have to say I love both tops even better as well that there is no sponsor on the front. Pity the team is so dreadful.

Girly Gal

It's very hard to see us qualify for the World Cup in the foreseeable future, realistically the Euros are our best chance of qualifying for a tournament in the future there's 24 places available with 55 teams competing and 2 routes to qualify (the nations league and the qualifying groups). At the very least we should be able to make the play offs through the nations league, by staying within the top 36 European teams(16 teams in play-offs for 4 places, with 20 teams already qualified). All it would take is a slight upturn in form to get into the playoffs, anything can happen from there.
The current world cup campaign is already over and looks more likely we'll finish in bottom place, but, it's important that we aim to finish third to give ourselves in theory a better draw for the Euros. Also finishing third in the group would mean a positive finish to the group campaign and the team would be in a more positive mindset for the Euros.

TheCitizen

Oat23 wrote: »

Football is played by a team. Not just a group of players.

Luxembourg right now clearly have a better team based on what I've seen. There's a lot of blame to go around as to why from development failures, to Kenny and stretching all the way back to MON's reign.

Ah stop it. Stephen Kenny took the criticism for the Luxembourg defeat. He’s 10 games into his reign. We should not be losing at home to Luxembourg even with the players we have right now. Kenny took responsibility and he knows that he must find ways for this team to start winning games particularly against the two lower ranked sides in the Group. If he can’t do it we find another manager.

johnnyryan89

eire4 wrote: »

I bought both the home and away tops and I have to say I love both tops even better as well that there is no sponsor on the front. Pity the team is so dreadful.

The only reason I bought them was specifically because they had no sponsor. A joke that there's been a sponsor on them for so long.

fryup

Last night Germany lost to Macedonia,

might be some comfort to Stephen Kenny, it can happen to the best

johnnyryan89

https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1377561700820475912

TheCitizen

A friendly against Andorra? Trying to get a win on the board I suppose.

Louis Friend

Kenny should go. Things are now as bad as they were under Stan. We’ve become a laughing stock.

What Kenny is trying to do is fundamentally naive. Trap and Martin O’Neill knew that we were rubbish and set the team up accordingly. Trying to “play football” with those players is just silly.

The other factor is the conscious or perhaps subconscious lack of respect that UK-based players have for someone like Stephen Kenny who has no pedigree in the UK.

The latter point is not Kenny’s fault, but unfortunately he’s out of his depth.

Brock Turnpike

I bet you the Andorrans are ****ting themselves