Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Doesn't turn 22 until after the first round of fixtures next March.

It's all about players though. You can't coach the technical type of game that Kenny seems to prefer if the players you have at your disposal don't possess the required technical ability. As a manager you sometimes need to adapt your strategy and compromise in order to be successful. Guardiola and his peers don't need to do this because they have the great players they need in order to implement their plans. Kenny does not have this luxury, which is an understatement. Charlton , McCarthy, Trap and O'Neill each qualified Ireland for major tournaments by adopting a pragmatic approach in order to make the most effective use of the resources at their disposal and all were good managers of Ireland and good value for money for the FAI. Kenny needs to learn how to be adaptable, flexible and how to make compromises in order to save his job. As it is, I fear we may never qualify for a major tournament again.

Didn't think it was that bad, that is bleak alright.

What planet are you living on?

Stephen Kennys salary is €510k per year

Brendan Rodgers is reportedly on £10m a year at Leicester

The FAI is broke and bailed out by the government. The days of washed up big name managers are gone and not coming g back unless another sugar daddy pays the salary

Him being an LOI manager has nothing to do with it. We’ve only had 2 managers in our history to ever qualify us for a World Cup, and since then we’ve qualified for 2 Euros, something Kenny hasn’t been given a chance to do yet. In his first full campaign he finished 3rd, which was our seed, which is generally where Irish managers finish.

I really think the scale of what Kenny has done is lost on some people. He’s brought in new players in every area of the pitch, and he’s done it while updating the way we play. He gets judged far more harshly than any manager we’ve had in the last 15 years even though he’s put far more effort into the job, it’s bizarre.

I don't think anyone is questioning his effort. You can see that he is trying his best however I don't think it's anywhere good enough for international level. He even himself said we should be winning this nations league group...his words ..yet here we are in a relegation battle with Armenia....not good enough

But when are we going to see the gain ?

It's been over two years of nothing but inconsistent results time after time after time.

And Kenny supporters keep telling us to wait, we have to be patient.

So when are things going to get better ?

When we can stop struggling against Azer-by-fuckin-Jan ?

Important to get the result Tuesday night, defeat would be unthinkable and put Kenny back on the ropes.

And do you think things will improve if he has a full Euro campaign?

For someone like me who has been following Ireland for 40 years I know we don't qualify for everything every time but for the most part we have been in the hunt for a place or a playoff place late in the campaigns.

That's not the case here.

We have been out of the running in two Nations Leagues and one WC after a few games.

How can anyone see that changing under Kenny?

I dare you tell me, because I'm sure I could go back and find the same people telling me the same thing for the last two plus years.

"Just wait, he's blooding players, he's changing the system, this upcoming Nations League will show us etc etc etc "

He said he was targeting top spot, so what? Kenny is definitely the type of manager to put belief into his players with these type of statements, he wants them to believe they can do it(unlike previous managers who would publicly state how limited we are).

If he had of said he didn’t think we could win the group and it’ll be okay if we just don’t get relegated he would be crucified for that too.

So what are saying so is that they don't believe in him... because his statement didn't seem to inspire them for this qualification stage ..look I hope he turns it around for the Euros, I really do but I just can't see it from what I've seen over the last 2 years

You can go back and see I’ve said he deserves this Euros, and if he doesn’t qualify and gets the boot then nobody can have any complaints.

But he’s put enough work in to deserve the chance. Getting rid of him now makes zero sense, especially because people want to replace him with a PL manager, which is fantasy stuff.

I'd get a manager that has more experience than just LOI and a disastrous stint with a Scottish team.

As we have seen with both him and Kerr (who had an infinitely better squad) LOI level manager just doesn't cut the mustard at international level.

You need a pragmatist that will try to find results in a game where all that matters is results.

Pick up Houghton after his spell with Ghana at the world cup.

Hopefully Armenia win in a few days, because prolonging this is just making things worse and worse in the long run.

Not necessarily. A different manager could set the team up for counterattacking instead of this playing out from the back for which this team doesn't have the players. An international manager doesn't have the time with the players to develop them and that's Kenny's real problem: he's managing an international side like a league side. He doesn't have them every day to develop them, he gets the players in short windows so he needs to work with what he has. That means he has to change his system to work with them, not the other way around.

A manager with a bit of experience like Allardyce would recognise that. Results are all that matter at the end of the day, and where has this "attractive" football gotten us? Plenty of unattractive scorelines...