Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Sonny678

Chris Hughton managed successfully players at our level at Norwich Brighton. He managed one of the most famous clubs in England, Newcastle. He coached one of the biggest teams in England, Spurs. And has coached Irish team before under kerr. Ask anyone outside Ireland to look at Kenny CV and Hughtons CV and no one would pick Kenny over Hughton.

It seems for many the whole future of Irish soccer is wrapped up in Kenny. Kenny leaves the team moves on. We look at better options. Allot of what going on is this quest for what is great white hope of Irish soccer. A successful league of Ireland manager who becomes a successful international manager. Kerr was the same. They are given easier time by media.

O Neill had the poorest set of Irish players up to Kenny. He started slowly and ended badly. But in the middle had some of the biggest results in Irish soccer ever. Under O Neill we drew with Germany world champions and drew with England and Sweden. Under O Neill We beat Germany Italy Bosnia Austria Wales. The three best results in last 70 years in qualification group away from home, two of them were under O Neill. Best results in last 70 years in qualification group away from home were Scotland in 87 under Jack and Austria away in 2016 and Wales away in 2016 both under O Neill. O Neill did much better than media gave him credit for. He didn't play media game and wasn't seen as local lad like Kenny. But if u look at Martin O Neills record after Jack you could make a real good argument that the manager with the biggest results and most successful Irish manager ever is O Neill.

The 2nd most successful Irish manager is either Martin O Neill or Mick Mcarthy, yet the media would lead you to believe both were failures. The four most successful Irish manager or Jack, O Neill, Mccarthy and Trap. Yet the media protray them as almost failures. The unsuccessful Irish managers are Eoin Hand Brian Kerr Steven Kenny and Staunton. Basically lOI managers. Giles did decent job making us more professional so doesn't deserve title of being failure. But he wasnt successful like O Neill Trap Mcarthy or Jack.

O Neill was a successful Irish manager. If U beat Germany Italy Bosnia Wales Austria and draw with Germany England Sweden, that is success. If Kenny got one of those results he would be built a statue on O Connell street by the media. Martin O Neill was badly treated. He was much more successful than media portrayed. O Neill gave players belief to beat Germany Italy. Under Kenny was cannot even beat Luxembourg we cannot beat anyone. Irish media always have their pet subjects l/individuals who they protect from criticism and cover up for their failings. Kenny is a decent man but is protrayed as savior of Irish soccer. While in reality he is just decent man completely out of his depth. The experiment has failed. Let gets in serious candidates like Lee Carlsey and Chris Hughton and move on.

Stewball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847665#Comment_117847665

No Philippe Troussier on that list.

Azatadine

Dunne & Doyle clearly lost faith in Kenny.

https://m.sundayworld.com/sport/soccer/richard-dunne-and-kevin-doyle-run-out-of-excuses-for-stephen-kenny-after-latest-flop-40818559.html

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847522#Comment_117847522

Have you seen the football NI are successful with? The very style that plays to a limited squads strengths defend in numbers etc play for set pieces nothing fancy. The very stuff people were many claiming the ROI were better than.

Mr.Nice Guy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847689#Comment_117847689

The players aren't the problem. We got to play-offs in recent campaigns under arguably worse playing pools. Here's the Ireland side that beat Wales 1-0 in Cardiff when McClean got the winner for example:

Randolph; Christie, Duffy, Clark, Ward; Arter, Meyler, Hendrick; Brady, Murphy, McClean.

Get a better coach in and I am convinced we will at the very least be in with a sniff of a play-off. Under this coach, we don't look like we can be relied upon to even beat the minnows.

Francie Barrett

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847637#Comment_117847637

Agree with this. Might as well play out the qualifiers and see where we are then. Sacking Kenny and installing an interim manager gains us absolutely nothing. Also, international football throws up more surprises than club football. Who knows, maybe things click for Kenny, we finish strong and somehow get a result against Portugal/Serbia?

Mr.Nice Guy

Brian Kerr's thoughts:

https://twitter.com/VMSportIE/status/1434240722341879812

Agree with him on Parrott. Thought he was very poor. He hasn't justified the considerable amount of hype he's received. I had high hopes for him but it's not looking good. Connolly has gone off the boil big time as well. Idah looks the best prospect up top right now. Hopefully Obafemi can do good things at Swansea.

The worst Irish squad assembled since the foundation of the state.

Faugheen

Agreed on the praise for Idah. He's a great player.

cj maxx

Who was the keeper against Portugal? First time I've heard of him .

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847688#Comment_117847688

no. sam allardyce gets millions to spend on players, Kenny didnt have any money at Dundalk and he won 5 league titles with them and got them to the europa league where they got a few decent results against way bigger teams with way bigger budgets.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847767#Comment_117847767

Young players are inconsistent. Keep the faith.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847648#Comment_117847648

Obafemi is a headless chicken all pace and strength not much else. I predict he will be playing at a lower level than Championship in a few short years.

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847767#Comment_117847767

Ya I've been hugely underwhelmed by Parrott every time I've seen him unfortunately, although he's definitely not suited to playing from a wide position like tonight. Obafemi, if he can get a run of games and form at Swansea, is our next best hope along with Idah. Connolly needed a move from Brighton, maybe he'll go on loan in January and get games and confidence, he needs both.

Kermit.de.frog

The enthusiasm for Parrott confounds me a bit. I don't see what he has done to justify it really at club level or international. I reckon there is better than evens chance he joins a long list of potential players for us that never made it at the top level. Another Darren Gibson?

Zico !

Kenny brings a lot of this sh1t on himself -changing personnel and formations every game coleman playing in a back 3 ffs get real kenny.the only danger we had against portugal was coming down the wings and what does he do takes it away .

deserves the sack

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847826#Comment_117847826

Fair enough. Hopefully he can make a good case for himself on loan.

The other issue with Parrott for me, not football related, is whatever the connection is between him and certain individuals. I have a bad feeling about it.

But in footballing terms we desperately need whatever talent we have to break in to their club sides. It was obvious tonight most of our players aren't getting minutes and are not sharp.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847446#Comment_117847446

It would at least get the FAI media attention world wide. Increased sponsorship if Lisa Fallon was given the Ireland job, even interim manager. Could she do any worse than Noel King? At least she would be articulate.

Faugheen

One thing Kenny does deserve criticism on is the team selection.

Why he couldn't keep Coleman and Doherty on the wings is questionable. I felt dropping Jamie McGrath was the wrong choice as well as well as giving McClean the full 90.

Omobamidele gave a great account of himself against Portugal. I really don't understand why he couldn't get a run tonight with Coleman on the right and Doherty on the left.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847864#Comment_117847864

To be fair to McClean he did have a part to play in the goal getting and laying the ball off for Cullen to cross. But that's about it really.

sonic85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847864#Comment_117847864

I agree with this - he should've kept the side intact from the other night and try let them build a bit of momentum. I presume he had one eye on Serbia but that's not really worth a crap when we couldn't get the win against Azerbaijan. I thought Omobamidele was excellent the other night against Portugal - he really should've been starting tonight. Doherty had a good game the other night on the left - just leave him there and let him build up some confidence. Too much chopping and changing

johnnyryan89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847864#Comment_117847864

Definitely one of my biggest gripes tonight is the fact McClean played the full 90 and you've got him taking set pieces. A man who loves to hit the first defender when trying to cross the ball.

You move Coleman back into CB, and he's either gonna play their again against Serbia otherwise what was the point when Omobamidele could have gotten another 90 mins under his belt.

McGrath whipped in a great corner for Egan the other night and you let him sit on the bench all night while McClean takes set pieces for most of the night. Should have been brought on when Parrott and Molumby were taken off at least if you weren't starting him.

Five Eighth

My tuppence worth...

I wasn't in favour of Kenny getting the job as I felt professional footballers just would not respect his standing in the game. Kenny hadn't proven himself in any of the top leagues. However, he did inherit an Irish squad lacking in quality and depth. He has introduced a number of young players into the senior set-up and, for the most part, these players e.g. Bazanu, Omobamidele, Cullen, Idah, etc. have done okay. We performed very poorly against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan and the goals we conceded against Portugal were very poor indeed (three centre backs and Ronaldo gets two free headers). We don't possess a natural goal scorer and, if we did, I think we would have won this evening. Anyway, I would reluctantly suggest we stick with Kenny to see out this series of games and, depending on upcoming performances, stick with him for the next set of qualifiers.

Faugheen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847886#Comment_117847886

Absolutely I'll give him his credit there. I just think he was so wasteful for so much of the game. He huffs and puffs but he's not blowing the house down.

CrowdedHouse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847888#Comment_117847888

Many Galway United supporters would agree with you, she's allegedly head coach and playing turgid football. Talks a great game.

The_Kew_Tour

Parrott is 19 and yet his career is over according to some here.

Sweet jesus

Xander10

The SK project requires patience. I'd rather stick with it and the young players been bedded in that the calls for a Fat Sam type.

JP Liz V1

Dermot Kennedy needs to play for ROI

Did you smash it

McClean was Ireland’s second best player according to the stats based ratings on WhoScored #justsaying

unfortunately this was like the pre Portugal Ireland performances. Very few good performers

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcl73Xda4I&ab_channel=FAITV

Easy to see in this press conference some journalists are losing patience.

I don't know whether he is just shy in public or a different person on the training ground but you'd have to say he cuts a pretty forlorn figure now.

siblers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847722#Comment_117847722

They were experienced Premier League and Championsip players.

Our current lot are are largely at a lower level or warming benches. I can't remember a worse Irish team in my lifetime

JeffKenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847909#Comment_117847909

To be honest I turned the TV off straight after the final whistle in the game against Portugal and haven't had the heart to watch the highlights back but the two goals were really disappointing. It did seem like Ronaldo got two free headers on the penalty spot. McLean probably to blame for the first one letting the cross in.

Jason McAteer was spot on when he said players wouldn't respect Kenny. He seems like a nice fella but 1 point from 4 games isn't good enough.

PokeHerKing

Definitely getting harder to defend Kenny after that performance/result.

I'm still trying to keep the faith. As far as I'm concerned we haven't been at the races for the last 20 years no matter who we've had in charge. So I'm willing to stick with Kenny till the euros and see what the squad looks like then.

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847925#Comment_117847925

We've almost more coaches than players so who knows who does what on the training pitch. But our 'style' of football is very poor, even for the LOI First division. She can most definitely talk the talk and is enjoyable to listen to though.

population

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847854#Comment_117847854

Yep. He risks going down the Ravel Morrisson route if he doesn't reassess who he fraternizes with. Having dodgy mates even impacted heavily on Benzema and he's one of the most talented strikers in the world.

ebbsy

I think there is something to work with.

However Kenny is not the person to squeeze every drop of juice out of the lemon.

sterz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848003#Comment_117848003

What's there to suggest that they don't respect Kenny? From what I've heard from some of the players (Duffy and Coleman for example), they're 100% behind him. I know you usually have to take some of these things said with a pinch of salt but I don't buy into this lack of respect thing.

Coleman seems like a nice fella but not closing down that shot for their goal isn't good enough. And you can't blame Kenny for that.

siblers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848003#Comment_117848003

If the players weren't happy or didn't respect him I would have assumed it would have come out by now. The Portugal game was incredibly committed and couldn't fault their effort tonight. Apart from McGoldrick retiring, every player has always made themselves available to play

AllGunsBlazing

Robinson must be nailed on to start vs Serbia. The only forward we have who seems to have a rough idea of where the opposition goal is.

deadduck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848028#Comment_117848028

Coleman has been unlucky in the last 2 games in that despite putting in decent performances, a couple of individual mistake by him has had a direct impact on both results. He’s usually mister reliable, and is a good captain, but it’s another example of the ‘little’ things, that seem to be conspiring against Kenny and this team.

Francie Barrett

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117847767#Comment_117847767

I have watched a lot of Parrott, especially at club level.

He didn't play well today, but quite frankly he was played out of position. When I watched him play well in the past, he's been played as either the lead striker, or the support striker. Until today, I don't think I've ever seen him play behind two other strikers in what looked like a creative number 10 role. What Parrott thrives on is playing off the shoulder of a defender, anticipating a through ball, finding space, and latching onto it. For example, here's a goal he scored for MK Dons this season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7BWze_fZEM&t=58s

The role Parrott was playing today required him to be a creator, rather than a finisher, which I feel comes more natural to him. I think Kenny got this one wrong, today's performance isn't a fair reflection on Parrott.

cj maxx

as I felt professional footballers just would not respect his standing in the game. 

This. Players coming from English clubs to a manager who has only been in LOI won't give him the respect

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848112#Comment_117848112

Considering so many of the players playing today either started their careers in the LOI or played as part of Kenny's fairly successful U-21 teams a few years ago I don't know where you're getting this from.

Francie Barrett

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848112#Comment_117848112

Don't agree. Even though the performance wasn't great, the effort was clearly there for anyone to see today.

~Rebel~

Not to mention the fact that he’s the first manager in years to treat his players like they might actually be able to play a bit of football.

JoeA3

Kenny is dreadful in front of camera. I say "in front" but its hard to tell as he seems to stare sideways, possibly at a different camera? Anyway, media skills is not his forte. Which to be fair is not a vital part of the job but when results are going against you, it matters.

I guess FAI media training school was one of the victims of the budget cuts to pay off JD.

I also really do not get the media love-in with him. I'd dismiss the likes of Dunphy, but all those lads on Newstalk (who are full of hot air a lot of the time anyway) go on about him like he is Guardiola's second cousin? I don't get it. He has no pedigree or standing in the game to deserve that.

I hope he goes and proves me totally wrong but this is looking like another doomed FAI experiment.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848184#Comment_117848184

He’s awful at the nonsense sound bite platitudes, but great in the longer form bits when given time to properly address a subject.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848136#Comment_117848136

The U21 link gets conveniently brushed under the carpet by the anti LOI crowd

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117848003#Comment_117848003

1 point from Lux and Azerbaijan at home

whatawaster81

Backs against the wall against Portugal with a goal from a set piece and we look amazing. Go and break Azerbaijan down and it all falls to pieces. Typical Ireland really.