Cult of Stephen Kenny

They once again conceded a goal just after half time, lack of discipline is the cause of this they seem to continually concede goals early in the second half, they should be ready to play after half time and they're not.

I'll be honest I saw no real fight from the team on Thursday night, France just toyed with them, we never got close to them.

What is worse with Kenny's reign is our worst performance have come in the game he was supposed to make us better in i.e teams in and around our level .It seemed based on the hype Kenny got we would play better football and take the game to teams like this but we've been awful against teams of our own level and look completely rudderless against them which I would argue is the greatest indictment of his reign.

I think we both know you've less than zero % to contribute here. -10% I'd say.

You've just idiotically described the Trapp and MON era. There have been some great passages of play in recent times, just not consistently, which is to be expected with this crop of players. Was it aimless hoofing that scored 3 goals against Scotland?

But you're right, let's go back to pig football and still not qualify for anything. What a moronic outlook.

You're right, let's cap the much better Irish players at our disposal. Maybe you can list them for us?

i dont have much issue with the france result or performance. another manager isnt getting a draw out there. greece away was the one that finished him off. totally unacceptable performance that night.

Greece away has become this real stick to beat him.

I suspect the reason Kenny gets more support amongst LoI fans is that they follow Irish football more closely than the average ManU or Liverpool fan. So they'd know we've had what, 3 decent away games since 2010? That's Estonia, Austria and a smash and grab in Wales.

Beat Greece at home, finish ahead of them in the group, and that's about as good as any manager could do. Lose, finish behind them, and consider the options available then.

It's pretty clear you haven't watched many recent games if that's your perception of the current style. You've said it several times now. What are the teams strengths that you think we should be playing to? It's obviously not hoofball, because you say we are failing at that. So what is it? So far your gripe is were playing ugly hoofball, no different to before, and also complaining that Kenny is trying to get them to play football. You're contradicting yourself.

Trap had a far superior team to this and his reign was abysmal. The fact that you remember that era fondly speaks volumes.

The team is failing full stop.

If you care to look at the first post I made, I clearly said this thing of Kenny’s team playing good football is a myth. They’re playing shite football and it’s clear the man has absolutely zero plan other than Plan A. The biggest problem is, Plan A isn’t working. It hasn’t worked and it never will work. The team is totally rudderless in every game.

Trap’s reign ended badly, but you’ve a very selective memory of the end is all you’re focusing on. Very easy to make his time as manager suit your narrative when you focus on the last 6 months as opposed to the other 4 years. The football wasn’t pretty but there’s no denying he got us results and at the end of the day it’s a results business. It’s great to be entertained obviously but the game is about the final score. Unfortunately for us at the moment we’re getting no results and no entertainment. If I wanted to be entertained I’d go to the circus which funnily enough is the word that could be used to best describe the last couple of years of nonsense with this pub team manager we’re stuck with.

I also just did a quick check of match tickets in the press. This evening will be my 40th home game since I moved back to Ireland in 2014. Covid aside I’d say I’ve missed 3 games in that time. So I’m fairly sure I’ve a good idea about what I’ve seen and what I’m seeing now.

There's no such thing as playing good football and losing all the time. A team can, perhaps, play good football and be unlucky in one match and then lose. But playing good football and losing for three years. . . . absurd.

My understanding is that attendances have never been higher. Some LoI clubs have full attendances every week.

Besides the LoI has absolutely nothing to do with the national team for the very simple reason that the standard of the league is not very high. We're talking international football here. . . not Europa conference League first round qualifying. The best players this country ever produced spent very limited times in the LoI. Yet bizarrely some fans support Kenny bringing in LoI players in a background where no LoI team qualified for the group stage of any European competition this year with the best team in the country, Shamrock Rovers, woefully outperformed in Europe.

I've held a season ticket since 2005.

The Trapp era was bleak, the performance versus France in 09 was a result of the players taking the initiative tactically.

We played a brand of football that generated no excitement or enthusiasm in qualification, and it ultimately was cruelly exposed against good opposition on the world stage in 2012. The Trapp era was objectively a failure. I really don't know how you can put a positive spin on it. There were good players in those teams that were forced to play in one of the most negative teams in Europe during that time. We qualified once with them, and got hammered in every game.

So far you've said;

We play hoofball now, no different to before. That is a clueless comment with no basis in reality.

Kenny has called up players that are far below par to compete at this level, as if there's a bunch of World beaters waiting for a shout.

The reality is, Jesus himself couldn't get this team to qualify. I'd rather not qualify at least trying to play a decent brand than not qualify playing utter dross. I've already wasted too much money going to watch dross. There are no tactical adjustements, or personnel changes, that can be made that would see us getting out of this group.

I'm still waiting for you to highlight the strengths the team has that we should be playing to.

I just read this article by Ronan Curtis (time of writing before the Dutch match Home.)

The damning statements in the article are:

Sadlier -

“We have won one in four now. Stephen’s record in competitive games is that he wins one in five. It’s five wins in 25.”

Curtis -

"A manager outsmarted by Luxembourg in Dublin, whose five competitive victories came against teams FIFA rank off-Broadway at 30th, 89th, 90th, 121st and 198th, will hardly have Gakpo, Van Dijk and De Jong quaking in their boots."

"Sometimes it feels like the focus on being co-tenants in a Group of Death with France and the Dutch is a deliberate smokescreen to disguise the fact that the 51-year-old’s most wounding failures have come against toothless minnows. Under Kenny, Ireland repeatedly fail to beat inferior opposition.

No previous manager – not Brian Kerr, who had an infinitely superior win percentage, or the cruelly lampooned Steve Staunton – has been judged as benevolently."

--

The last point is one I just can't understand, why Kenny is been treated with such kid gloves? It has me really thrown.

There was chat of Celtic chasing Kelleher.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/09/06/reporter-claims-celtic-now-want-24-year-old-spurs-considered-signing/

It was the only time we ever failed to get out of the group having qualified. How is that the definition of success?

I agree about Kenny, but as I said in the post you quoted, there's not a man alive that can get us out of this group. Do you really think these players are playing below their ability?