It's the Stephen Kenny Thread

E2016 wrote: kearney304 wrote: E2016 wrote: Mr. Snrub wrote: Everyone at the game on Tuesday is fully behind Kenny and we have been good to watch since the summer. When is the last time we sold out a friendly? Kenny is the right man for the job and better days will come. The thoughts of sacking Kenny and going back to route one bogball is going to undo all the hard work over the past 18 months. Rome wasn't built in a day and there are so many clear signs of progression. There were boo's after the game against Azerbaijan - a game we certainly weren't good to watch in. A few days later Serbia should have put 4 or 5 past us, not great to watch either. I was pleased with the Serbia result but why do people continually need to rewrite history with Kenny? As for the progression - sure the last two games have been very good, but have there been 'so many clear signs of progression'? Is two games enough to point to and say that everything is finally coming to fruition? If Portugal put a few goals past us and we lose to Luxembourg after, nobody is going to give two sh*ts about a friendly v Qatar. The conversation looks a lot different then. Hopefully we are finally on the upward curve with Kenny, but to act like it's been obvious for months, or that he needs to be given a new contract now - is absolutely bizarre stuff. Lets wait and see. What is bizarre is this post. It's the glass half full or empty debate. Your questions are laughable and clearly you haven't watched games.  I personally saw signs of progression away in Slovakia for the play off, we missed some chances and ultimately did enough to at least force extra time if not win the game. Add in that the prep was hampered by COVID, key players pulling out & the fact we couldn't travel in our thousands to support the lads really didn't help us, in fact he was unlucky. He has played virtually all his games without fans - not a factor for a sh*te country but a massive factor for us when we travel in numbers and sell out our home ground.  We travelled to Portugal - 7th best ranked team in the world FYI and had tactics. We had a game plan, gave it a go & should have won. At the very least held on for a draw. Did we ride our luck a bit? Of course we did but that's expected. Winning was never expected. He has brought through how many players? Removed a lot of dead wood. Players like Hendrick & Duffy are almost like new players while he showed everyone that Coleman and Doherty can play together. It takes time and patience but to say there hasn't been progress is baffling. Either you're blind or just read stuff on Twitter after every game and then post drivel. The man is perfect for the job, he knows about the Irish set up, he knows about LOI and you know what - he knows football. Put some respect on the change in our setup and play. 663 passes the other night @ 92% accuracy. Laughable? - your response barely makes a lick of sense. We followed up that Slovakia result with a series of woeful performances and results so whatever progress there was in that game was short lived. Which 'deadwood' did he remove exactly? "without fans - not a factor for a sh*te country but a massive factor for us when we travel in numbers and sell out our home ground." - This is unquantifiable nonsense, plenty of international teams enjoy strong home and away support. "Players like Hendrick & Duffy are almost like new players" - Hendrick is absolutely a fair point given he isn't up to much at club level, but are you actually crediting Shane Duffys resurrection to Kenny? His club manager who trains him day in day out had nothing to do with it? "while he showed everyone that Coleman and Doherty can play together." - Coleman and Doherty started together twice under Kenny. We lost both games - yes they did well v Portugal but the other defeat was the home defeat to Luxembourg. That's conclusive alright - literally making my point for me about the hyperbolic praise afforded to Kenny.  "he knows about the Irish set up" - His knowledge of Irish players compared to his predecessors is certainly better so yeah, credit for that - I'm not sure if that is what you meant by set up. "he knows about LOI" - How is that even remotely relevant when he doesn't call up any player in it? "and you know what - he knows football." - I expect many Dunfermline and Rovers fans disagree with that. "663 passes the other night @ 92% accuracy." - We played some very nice football the other night, it was just one night in a friendly vs a poor side. We also created lots of chances v Azerbaijan. Hopefully we can maintain that level or close to it. Lets see how we do going forward. Your post is so over the top about Kenny it's ridiculous - completely blind to any failure and completely hyperbolic regarding any success. He has had challenges with Covid like every other international manager. He has brought through some players, absolutely. He has also presided over many poor performances and even poorer results. The most recent two games were extremely positive and welcome - however it might be worth just waiting to see whether that standard will be maintained going forward. Lets see if we finish off the group strongly, and if we do I don't think there would be anybody begrudging him a crack at Euro 2024.

kearney304 wrote: He literally called up Jamie McGrath - that was a result of knowing the Irish league

kearney304 wrote: He literally called up Jamie McGrath - that was a result of knowing the Irish league  Who else would have pulled him in?  A friendly v a poor side? They're ranked higher than us and Asia champions. Duffy is of course down to both managers but he could have been dropped and left out etc - he wasn't - and he was trusted by Kenny including with the armband. To say no fans hasn't impacted us is just nonsense. It's just hard with lads like yourself but anyways. This forum is toxic.

E2016 wrote: 9fingers wrote: The 20% sure make enough noise! Bar in the stadium etc obviously  Well there were boos after the Azerbaijan match. And if you're referring to me then I'm happy to see Kenny get the Euros depending on how the final two group games go. Although I'll have to say my 10 hail Marys now because I said something not over the top positive about Kenny.

The wages one was a bollocks point. 

If you look at the campaign as whole we've performed ok in the majority of games. We were unlucky in Serbia, 1-0 up and denied a clear cut penalty. Travers was then caught out from Mitrovic and Clark was poor that night but overall we deserved a point. The Luxembourg game was admittedly very poor where we passed the ball around the back with zero conviction going forward. I still think a point was probably the fair result. This game was the turning point for Kenny. Performances started to improve over the summer as new players McGrath, Kelleher, Bazunu, Ogbene, Parrott, Omobamidele and formations were implemented. We knocked 4 past Andorra and should have beaten Hungary in the following fixture.

Portugal away was the match where Kenny's bravery and tactical nous came to the fore. Let's face it, we were robbed of another penalty and deserved at least a draw that night. We caused them a lot of problems to be undone by one of the greatest players of all time. Azerbijan at home was a disappointing night where we struggled to break down 10 men behind the ball. Despite having plenty of chances we couldn't find the net. We rode our luck against Serbia but spirit, dogedness and a brilliant Bazunu display earned us a point.

Last week was the real turning point where we finally looked like a team creating numerous chances from open play as well as being dangerous from set pieces. Hendrick, Duffy & McClean are playing their best stuff for Ireland in years. Cullen has been the real find of the campaign along with Robinson, McGrath, Omobamidele & Bazunu. The football was a joy to watch at times albeit against lesser opposition (Qatar are Asian champions mind you) and the other night felt like a buzz was back in the Aviva. Kenny hasn't had much luck so far with injuries, COVID positives and no fans over his 18 month tenure. Hopefully that luck is turning and we need to follow it up with 2 big performances next month. There has clearly been a massive overhaul on the training pitch and with Dean Kiely & Anthony Barry having positive influences. This follows years of no tactics, bogball and a lack of creativity. Let's go and finish 3rd, ybig!

Claret Murph wrote: TooOldForThis wrote: E2016 wrote: The wages one was a bollocks point.  I dont think there can be any real issue with people wanting results. Especially against some of the teams we have played. He needs to win more games than he has done, that cant be under question - putting 2 wins together is very promising going forward, now we need to see it backed up. The performances one is a lot more nuanced. It isn't black and white.  Stephen kenny promised good football so it is something to hold him accountable for when it isnt happening. However against good teams then the performance isnt really important if we are getting a result.  A lot of this comes back to a comment about Serbia and someone saying we played well in it. We didnt. I was happy with the result v Serbia - it's not something to be critical of the manager for. But rewriting it as saying we played well when we didnt, is something that happens a lot here. It's fine that we didnt play that well, we got a result and that was the most important thing. We showed good characteristics such as doggedness and resiliance.  It is going around in circles though, I'm part of that and I agree - for my part I'll wait until after the next set of games for more comment. At that point he will have had the full campaign and it will be a good time to evaluate him. Apparently though, waiting until the end of the campaign before assessing SK, is a dastardly ploy by the Kenny out brigade (i.e. the 20%), because they hope we lose to Luxembourg and ensuring his exit! How many people have told you that they hope Ireland lose so Kenny will be sacked ?   To say i am not a Kenny fan would be a understatement , but i hope he wins every game while he is in charge of Ireland .

E2016 wrote: As for the progression - sure the last two games have been very good, but have there been 'so many clear signs of progression'? Is two games enough to point to and say that everything is finally coming to fruition? If Portugal put a few goals past us and we lose to Luxembourg after, nobody is going to give two sh*ts about a friendly v Qatar. The conversation looks a lot different then. Hopefully we are finally on the upward curve with Kenny, but to act like it's been obvious for months, or that he needs to be given a new contract now - is absolutely bizarre stuff. Lets wait and see.

Edited by planning - 15 Oct 2021 at 1:01pm