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

D.Q

RonanG86 wrote: »

People were complaining that he didn't pick McClean against Bulgaria and Finland.

So? What people?

gormdubhgorm

happyoutscan wrote: »

The agenda brigade are out.

I think the reality is Ireland are out. Down and out. Agendas have little to do with it.
Could take 10 years to get Ireland at a decent standard 'playing football'. Plus could take 10 years to find some quality players and bed them into the style.

RoryMac

RonanG86 wrote: »

He lunged recklessly into a challenge and it was only good fortune that he barely caught Ampadu. Could've easily done serious damage if he'd been a little closer when he dived in. He's an experienced pro and should know better.

Lunged recklessly my hole, he pulled out of the challenge and there was little to no contact

NewMan1982

Kenny is getting a baptism of fire this week

FixdePitchmark

Very average Irish team out there now - very few if any top level pros.

Soups123

RoryMac wrote: »

Lunged recklessly my hole, he pulled out of the challenge and there was little to no contact

Was a harsh two yellows, but he asked for it with how he went in on the 2nd, he has to be clever than that

Bridge93

Who are the covid absentees?

Harry Palmr

I don't speak Welsh but I understood the disgust at that pass.

pgj2015

As a manager that made his name in the LOI, I will judge him harshly if he doesnt give jack byrne a run in the team.

Chalk McHugh

Thats some standard for International football. 90 mins of pure drudgery. A shocking lack of talent.

gormdubhgorm

Father Hernandez wrote: »

I like McClean and have zero agenda.

But if you've just been given a yellow and lunge into a challenge when you've little chance of winning the ball, he only has himself to blame.

Stupid and unnecessary to put rest of team in that position with another game midweek.

DJIMI TRARORE wrote: »

If he had a brain he'd be twice as stupid

There is a reason other managers subbed him fairly quickly after he gets on one yellow.

Agent Coulson

The only winner out of these international's is Covid.

gmisk

Bridge93 wrote: »

Who are the covid absentees?

John Egan, Callum Robinson, Callum O’Dowda and Alan Browne.
One more not named seemingly who has tested positive.

ShamoBuc

A game of few chances, but we had the best ones and simply didnt take them.
Wales are pretty useless without Bale.

GetWithIt

I thought Kenny was about to ask Giggs for an autograph there

gormdubhgorm

pgj2015 wrote: »

As a manager that made his name in the LOI, I will judge him harshly if he doesnt give jack byrne a run in the team.

Yeah real irony to it alright. Wouldn't you think he would have thrown him on for a half hour at least?

Francie Barrett

Foul throw, sums this game up. Awful.

glenjamin

So 1 goal from 390 minutes of football, and 0 goals from open play. I'm sure the team needs time under Kenny but come on.

dundalkfc10

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Yeah real irony to it alright. Wouldn't you think he would have thrown him on for a half hour at least?

When we went down to 10 men he was never coming on.

Think he would have got last 10 mins otherwise

Soups123

I’m 100% behind the idea of Kenny and giving him proper time my only worry is how flat we have been in his 4 games there seems to be zero energy with the management change.

That said the quality of player at his disposal is awful, he really needs to stick or twist with some of the crap he has called up, top players picked on name, Brady being the biggest one he hasn’t played a good game for club or country in years.

I’d be more patient with Kenny if he was building for the future. These squad selections will not cover him for 2 years

FixdePitchmark

Looked it up - he has only had 3 red cards in all his career (now 4) - that is impressively low for hit style in fairness. Well over 400 games.

gormdubhgorm

GetWithIt wrote: »

I thought Kenny was about to ask Giggs for an autograph there

Unless Giggs thought Kenny was Jim Gavin (former Dublin manager) and Kenny had to say no?

noodler

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The only winner out of these international's is Covid.

And Slovakia, and Northern Ireland and Wales tbf

Mantis Toboggan

That's 1 goal in 4 games for Kenny's side.

Harry Palmr

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Thats some standard for International football. 90 mins of pure drudgery. A shocking lack of talent.

The intention of replacing friendlies with competitive games was a noble one in theory, in practice I'm missing the mix and match of England v Nigeria, Ireland v Mexico kind of thing which which offer the chance to see a better standard of technique and a colourful crowd (on normal circumstances)if nothing else.

Faugheen

pgj2015 wrote: »

As a manager that made his name in the LOI, I will judge him harshly if he doesnt give jack byrne a run in the team.

This is something I don’t understand.

What has Jack Byrne done at club level to deserve a shot over five Premier League players?

I get he’s the flavor of the month but the quality he’s playing against week-in, week-out is far below the standard of the five lads ahead of him.

End of. Byrne doesn’t have a divine right to play. If he wants to show he’s better then go back over to England and prove it instead of sitting as the big fish in a tiny pond.

fullstop

Turgid stuff

PTH2009

Let's hope Finland beat Bulgaria and we go into a relegation tie at home too Bulgaria in November

We take todays result and move on

Amirani

gmisk wrote: »

John Egan, Callum Robinson, Callum O’Dowda and Alan Browne.
One more not named seemingly who has tested positive.

Also missing from the initial squad were Idah, Connolly, Williams, McCarthy and McGoldrick. For a mixture of Covid and non-Covid reasons.

shocksy

Pure and utter rubbish. No point going into much detail. Just pure and utter rubbish. No talent, no class, no creativity, nothing.

We really are a very poor football team as a whole.

Pointless watching us play anymore. We drag the entertainment out of every single game. Dire stuff altogether.

I really don't get how posters on here can say we're playing well? What matches have you being watching? If you class these games as playing well, you's have extremely low standards of football.

Rhys Essien

Pity we didn’t have Alan Browne available. Would have tore them apart and we could have won by 3 or 4.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Were the better team again today but need to start taking our chances. Played well considering the Covid upheaval as well.

Thought Doherty played well at CB and Horgan made a good impression when he came on but should have done better with his chance. Would have loved to seen Byrne given a chance, Houihane and Hendrick looked tired in 2nd half.

Dunno what McClean was at diving in even if there was minimal contact, no need as he was never getting to the ball first.

Utopia Parkway

Euros and Nations Cup is a write off now. It's all on the World Cup qualifiers for Kenny now. Starting next March. Hard to take much from these games given the Covid withdrawls.

FixdePitchmark

Faugheen wrote: »

This is something I don’t understand.

What has Jack Byrne done at club level to deserve a shot over five Premier League players?

I get he’s the flavor of the month but the quality he’s playing against week-in, week-out is far below the standard of the five lads ahead of him.

End of. Byrne doesn’t have a divine right to play. If he wants to show he’s better then go back over to England and prove it instead of sitting as the big fish in a tiny pond.

Yes - the LOI thing is bull****.

Has anyone from LOI playing in LOI at the time made any significant contribution to an Irish game ?

Load of calls - they have got a run out , but you can see they are not up to the pace.

clsmooth

Should have won that. Brady and Long had very good chances. Lovely to see that we are actually capable of passing a ball around and playing through the lines. Unlucky to be without Robinson, Connolly, O’Dowda, McGoldrick, Idah and even Parrot. All players who would be capable of creating something in the final third. Very promising going forward although I’m sure we’ll have the kick and rush squad come on criticising here. They’ll probably have no idea of how we got on when we last played them home and away.

Bridge93

We’re average at the best of times so to take Coleman and the Covid 7 out of the squad really leaves us with nothing. Add a hugely disappointing penalty shootout 3 days ago in Slovakia and I’d give today a pass. But 1 goal in 4 games is worrying. That’s low even by our very un prolific standards. Unless injured in Bratislava it may appear James McCarthy May be the positive test?

tastyt

Faugheen wrote: »

This is something I don’t understand.

What has Jack Byrne done at club level to deserve a shot over five Premier League players?

I get he’s the flavor of the month but the quality he’s playing against week-in, week-out is far below the standard of the five lads ahead of him.

End of. Byrne doesn’t have a divine right to play. If he wants to show he’s better then go back over to England and prove it instead of sitting as the big fish in a tiny pond.

To be fair Byrne hasn’t been selected in Irish squads for his performances against Sligo rovers or Finn harps.

He was selected last year on his form in Europe for rovers where he was the best player on the pitch in most games . He was selected this time for the same, playing very well against AC Milan a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not saying it should start but he’s definitely worth a place in the squad and a chance especially as he is a different style of player to what we have

dr.kenneth noisewater

pgj2015 wrote:

As a manager that made his name in the LOI, I will judge him harshly if he doesnt give jack byrne a run in the team.

Think it shows how far below the international level the LOI and Byrne are that a manager coming from LOI doesn't play him.

gormdubhgorm

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Looked it up - he has only had 3 red cards in all his career (now 4) - that is impressively low for hit style in fairness. Well over 400 games.

That is a trick I think. McClean is normally subbed after he gets his normal yellow by 60 minutes or so? No time if two quick yellows?

irish_goat

Still don't understand how James wins a free kick but gets sent off for it.

Mr.Nice Guy

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Kenny has now had 4 games against pretty average opposition and hasn't won even one of them. 390 minutes of this supposed new brand of football and we've managed 1 goal - a Duffy header from a set-piece.

Leave aside the excuses about Covid-19. The reality is Kenny picked poor squads and has faced the consequences of those decisions.

It becomes harder and harder to see Kenny, Andrews and Duff as being the saviours of Irish football, as opposed to well-meaning folks in way over their heads. Very strong whiff of the Staunton era about this whole thing. They don't seem to know 4 games in what their best side is. What players are required to work the system they want to play? Why are we attempting a philosophy of possession-based football by selecting a pragmatic side without any possession footballers in it? It's bizarre.

If we don't see anything positive against another average side in Finland then it's perhaps time to question whether this experiment needs to be put out of its misery; otherwise, we may end up squandering the most exciting crop of players we have seen emerge in a generation. There has been no evidence so far to suggest these lads are up to the task at hand. We can't sacrifice the next few years in a vain attempt to save face against all the evidence before our eyes. We need to see something in the next game.

PTH2009

sugarman wrote: »

Still toothless upfront, 1 goal in 4 games. Much the same as before BUT at least were creating more chances and holding onto it better.

It will come in time. We just need a #10 that create more and a #9 that can finish their dinner.

Some list of absentees now

Original Squad withdrawals
Arter
Lenihan

Covid fiasco:
Connolly
Idah
Williams
Egan
Robinson
Browne
O'Dowda

Injured:
McCarthy
McGoldrick

Suspended:
McClean

Coleman too

johnnyryan89

Soups123 wrote: »

I’m 100% behind the idea of Kenny and giving him proper time my only worry is how flat we have been in his 4 games there seems to be zero energy with the management change.

That said the quality of player at his disposal is awful, he really needs to stick or twist with some of the crap he has called up, top players picked on name, Brady being the biggest one he hasn’t played a good game for club or country in years.

I’d be more patient with Kenny if he was building for the future. These squad selections will not cover him for 2 years

Hard to build for the future when your contract is only covering the upcoming word cup, so basically has 2021. I couldn't care for the WC, and think we need to blood some players given the ages and injury profile of some of the older players, but hard to do when you always need to impress next year to get your contract renewed.

gormdubhgorm

Judging by the body language and tone of the young female analyst on Welsh tv (S4C) (In Welsh) she seemed to think McClean deserved it and Ireland had no hope after he had gone....?

Man with broke phone

We were very comfortable against wales I thought. Could have won. Even with ten men the game just petered out.

6 months ago or over the last 5 or so years, we would have had trojan defending and possesion lasting a few seconds or 3 or 4 passes on the break against wales and been delighted snatching a draw or winner.

I for one am very happy with how quickly Ireland is changing. Id go as far as to say I enjoyed watching the first half.

Father Hernandez

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Kenny has now had 4 games against pretty average opposition and hasn't won even one of them. 390 minutes of this supposed new brand of football and we've managed 1 goal - a Duffy header from a set-piece.

Leave aside the excuses about Covid-19. The reality is Kenny picked poor squads and has faced the consequences of those decisions.

It becomes harder and harder to see Kenny, Andrews and Duff as being the saviours of Irish football, as opposed to well-meaning folks in way over their heads. Very strong whiff of the Staunton era about this whole thing. They don't seem to know 4 games in what their best side is. What players are required to work the system they want to play? Why are we attempting a philosophy of possession-based football by selecting a pragmatic side without any possession footballers in it? It's bizarre.

If we don't see anything positive against another average side in Finland then it's perhaps time to question whether this experiment needs to be put out of its misery; otherwise, we may end up squandering the most exciting crop of players we have seen emerge in a generation. There has been no evidence so far to suggest these lads are up to the task at hand. We can't sacrifice the next few years in a vain attempt to save face against all the evidence before our eyes. We need to see something in the next game.

It's still extremely early days to write Kenny off straight away.

There has been improvement since hoof ball, not saying it's been fantastic but we're actually playing football. Injuries and Covid has played its part too.

Unfortunately, we haven't got a goalscorer, you can play all the best football but if no one can stick it in the net, we're píssing against the wind.

tastyt

I like Kenny and I’m all for giving him a chance

But some of the over the top positivity is doing my head in. He should be held to the same standards as any other manager .

It’s been a poor start , call a spade a spade

NewMan1982

Jesus lads. The negative comments. Stop watching the team if it bothers you so much.

We are playing better football. We were missing about 6 first team players.

We lack creativity and a prolific striker. No manager can change that.

If we still played hoof ball we wouldn’t be scoring either. We would be sitting back constantly defending from the aimless hoofs losing possession.

I saw plenty of positives this week. We just lack quality. We are playing to our level.

gormdubhgorm

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Kenny has now had 4 games against pretty average opposition and hasn't won even one of them. 390 minutes of this supposed new brand of football and we've managed 1 goal - a Duffy header from a set-piece.

Leave aside the excuses about Covid-19. The reality is Kenny picked poor squads and has faced the consequences of those decisions.

It becomes harder and harder to see Kenny, Andrews and Duff as being the saviours of Irish football, as opposed to well-meaning folks in way over their heads. Very strong whiff of the Staunton era about this whole thing. They don't seem to know 4 games in what their best side is. What players are required to work the system they want to play? Why are we attempting a philosophy of possession-based football by selecting a pragmatic side without any possession footballers in it? It's bizarre.

If we don't see anything positive against another average side in Finland then it's perhaps time to question whether this experiment needs to be put out of its misery; otherwise, we may end up squandering the most exciting crop of players we have seen emerge in a generation. There has been no evidence so far to suggest these lads are up to the task at hand. We can't sacrifice the next few years in a vain attempt to save face against all the evidence before our eyes. We need to see something in the next game.

You can't scrap it now would be daft, have to leave it be. And give time now.
Plus people are not falling over themselves for the Ireland job. Who would get it after Kenny? Roy Keane?

clsmooth

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Is it convenient to forget all the players that we’re missing too or have you not considered that in your criticism?