It's the Stephen Kenny Thread

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 geansaí wrote:

People really need to stop referencing Allardyce as some sort of defence of Kenny, it's absolutely pathetic! Nobody is saying they want him. It's the equivalent of anyone that doesn't rate Kenny saying he thinks we can play like Spain from 2008-2012!
The lack of qualifying for the last few tournaments was obviously disappointing but we were competitive in qualifying. Look at the teams we were coming up against, we lost once in a group with Denmark and Switzerland and look what both teams have achieved. In the World Cup qualifying we finished ahead of Wales and Austria-both of whom qualified for the euro's and done well.  Obviously that ended in a disaster of a playoff game but we came up against a top tier player painting his masterpiece.

Yes the style of football wasn't the most attractive but the managers at the time got the most out of the players they had. What players do people think O'Neill and McCarthy could have blooded at the time? There was nobody! Kenny is giving debuts and players are getting experience and that's great but either of the previous managers would have done the same, not to the same degree, but players would have been promoted when they were ready. 

It's all well and good having an overall philosophy of playing nice passing football but you still have to get the basics of the job right- namely team selections, tactical setups, substitutions-influencing the game in front of you. Nothing Kenny has done in his games so far has given me any confidence that he has a handle on those things. Playing a passing game doesn't mean you have to be on the front foot all the time, Kenny doesn't seem to understand that and any half decent team will let us try, sit back and pick us off. 

If we try go toe to toe with Portugal it could turn into a massacre, play a defensive game and mix up a counterattack mixing long ball and a passing game, if he does something along those lines it will at least show some sort of game awareness.

He won't do it, so forget about it. Long ball is out, passing the ball is in. If we give it away so what, we're not qualifying anyway. Long term, we will get it right if we stick to what we're doing. Tactics, subs are in a work in progress, but it would be given the amount of rebuilding that has to be done. 

McCarthy had no interest in blooding players. He could also have handed Bazunu, Kelleher their debuts. Never heard of them. He could have brought Parrott and Connolly through. No interest. He relied on Randolph in goal, McGoldrick upfront, and Duffy as our goal threat. Tired old reliable choices that backfired. Instead of getting the most out of players like Grealish and Rice, him and MON couldn't even get them onto the pitch in time. So when the traitors got offered the chance to swear allegiance to the queen and kiss the union jack, the pair of them took it. 

Mick had 2 chances to qualify directly for this tournament, and failed both. Remember his disgusting comments about the playoff, that it wasn't a game for young players. Short sighted, blinkered, tunnel vision. Well it turned out not to be a game for old, experienced heads either. This results at all costs rut has been going on for years, and it has to stop. Especially when the policy fails. So it's stopped and Kenny is here to overhaul it, so when we're ready to compete, we can go again. While results haven't gone to plan, at least it's still refreshing to watch an Ireland team try to win games by passing a football, rather than hope we can launch a set piece onto Duffys head, then put 10 men behind the ball and cling on for dear life, aka "pragmatism". 

Allardyce has been regularly suggested here as a candidate to replace Kenny. The fact he's cheap, immediately available, and as he says himself a "not long term" solution, makes him the ideal candidate to the FAI practically and financially, in the event that Kenny goes. He is however nothing more than a gum chewing, long ball backs to the wall playing, con artist, which makes him utterly unsuitable to the style we're trying to instill, and the long term direction we're looking to go in.

Portugal don't massacre teams, look at their results. They squeezed past Azerbaijan, came from behind in Luxembourg, squandered 2 points in Belgrade, only beat Hungary in the Euros and then, only in the last 10 minutes. Yeah they're the best team in the group, and they will do what they have to do to win it, but that's all they will do. 