It's the Stephen Kenny Thread

The likes of Brady and his ilk are completely deluded. The remarkable thing about last night is how comfortable we looked for pretty much the entire game. It looked like a proper game of football between two evenly matched sides and worlds away from the dross we've become accustomed to over the years. Which is crazy when you look at the massive gulf between the two sides on paper. I was even thinking back to the Germany game in 2015 - sure we ended up somehow winning that in the end but realistically we should have been about 4-0 down before Long's goal. We didn't win last night but we actually looked like Portugal's equal and not some minnow that had been bashed up for the entire game and then fortuitously scored with their one attack.

Denis Irwin wrote: TooOldForThis wrote: counterlock wrote: TooOldForThis wrote: From Liam Brady: Speaking to RTE, Ireland legend Brady poured cold water on the mood of excitement among some Ireland fans as a decision on Kenny's future looms large for FAI chiefs. "I'd put the brakes on that a bit," he said. "I think the jury is still very much out (on Stephen Kenny). His contract goes to next June and we have some games in March and more in June. "If I was one of the people in the FAI who have to decide whether he stays or goes, I'd sit and wait until we have played those games. "Why do you think he deserves to get a new contract now? I'm saying, if I was one of those people in the FAI, I wouldn't be in a rush to make any decision. "This is probably the worst qualifying campaign we have in the World Cup or the Euros for the last 20 years." From Shane Duffy “He had a tough start with the whole Covid and players dropping out and that resulted in results not going our way. But if you don’t think we’re going in a positive way, you’re writing the wrong stuff. We’re all going in the right direction. There’s a difference in the football we’re playing. Fans are excited about it. “For me, I think it’s obvious we love playing under him. We’re all fighting for him. Even during the hard situation there at the start, we were still fighting for him. That’s a sign that the players want to play for a manager." I don't think a player, who is first on the team sheet, is hardly going to say "sack the manager"! You must be f**king raging we got that result last night just like you probably were after Baku. You'll move the goalposts again even if we were to win 5-0 on Sunday

kevin100 wrote: While I certainly wouldn't say "sack Kenny" if we don't win Tuesday I do want us to go and win as concrete proof we are going the right way (as in a position to qualify or go close to qualfiying for the Euros).  They are a real solid 4th seed team but hypothetically if we got the same teams in the Euro qualifiers by March 2023 this is the sort of bread and butter we would need to go and win. I also want a clean sheet as keeping clean sheets is good. Another one Tuesday night really hammers home how much they have organised the side defensively in the last few months would be the 4th in a row.  Clean sheet also gives us the platform to knick that goal to win it. We aren't littered with decent attackers so it's paramount we use our quality or defenders/keeper to make ourselves hard to score against.  Last night was a positive and we don't come away thinking (we scraped a draw spirit desire etc). We come away thinking we were ful value and can feel hard done by with a disallowed goal against one of the top 10 teams on the planet.  A win against a real solid 4th seed away would be a massive sign we are going where we want (qualfiying for the Euros) and I do want that now. It's not unrealistic.

I think it's actually mad. There is a perception that there is split opinion on this generally. But there isn't. Absolutely every footbal person I know is behind Kenny. Public is behind it. Bums in seats is what the FAI care about. A damn shame the winner didn't count yesterday. Season tickets would have benefitted nicely 

TooOldForThis wrote: kevin100 wrote: While I certainly wouldn't say "sack Kenny" if we don't win Tuesday I do want us to go and win as concrete proof we are going the right way (as in a position to qualify or go close to qualfiying for the Euros).  They are a real solid 4th seed team but hypothetically if we got the same teams in the Euro qualifiers by March 2023 this is the sort of bread and butter we would need to go and win. I also want a clean sheet as keeping clean sheets is good. Another one Tuesday night really hammers home how much they have organised the side defensively in the last few months would be the 4th in a row.  Clean sheet also gives us the platform to knick that goal to win it. We aren't littered with decent attackers so it's paramount we use our quality or defenders/keeper to make ourselves hard to score against.  Last night was a positive and we don't come away thinking (we scraped a draw spirit desire etc). We come away thinking we were ful value and can feel hard done by with a disallowed goal against one of the top 10 teams on the planet.  A win against a real solid 4th seed away would be a massive sign we are going where we want (qualfiying for the Euros) and I do want that now. It's not unrealistic.   I think a draw would be acceptable, but a loss to them, again, just not good enough.

t_rAndy wrote: TooOldForThis wrote: kevin100 wrote: While I certainly wouldn't say "sack Kenny" if we don't win Tuesday I do want us to go and win as concrete proof we are going the right way (as in a position to qualify or go close to qualfiying for the Euros).  They are a real solid 4th seed team but hypothetically if we got the same teams in the Euro qualifiers by March 2023 this is the sort of bread and butter we would need to go and win. I also want a clean sheet as keeping clean sheets is good. Another one Tuesday night really hammers home how much they have organised the side defensively in the last few months would be the 4th in a row.  Clean sheet also gives us the platform to knick that goal to win it. We aren't littered with decent attackers so it's paramount we use our quality or defenders/keeper to make ourselves hard to score against.  Last night was a positive and we don't come away thinking (we scraped a draw spirit desire etc). We come away thinking we were ful value and can feel hard done by with a disallowed goal against one of the top 10 teams on the planet.  A win against a real solid 4th seed away would be a massive sign we are going where we want (qualfiying for the Euros) and I do want that now. It's not unrealistic.   I think a draw would be acceptable, but a loss to them, again, just not good enough. It would be a bad result but not all results can be good. That's football. You have to look at the collective.  There have been terrible results. There have been good results. There has been good performances There have been terrible performances.  But over the past 10 games, the bar has been going in the right direction on not only the performances but also now the results (the stick that was being used to beat him with initially).

To read some (v few, mind) views that Kenny's contract is all down to the match Sunday v Lux just goes to show how shortsighted some people are.

Edited by Fozz - 12 Nov 2021 at 12:15pm

TooOldForThis wrote: Take all the games over the course of two campaigns, and judge on the basis of that.

Yep, and doing that on a graph would show us start at a low ebb and gradually improve as we went.
Yes, the Lux result (and performance, and I'd add the first 60 odd mins v Andorra even) were poor but overall that graph is rising now.
And rising nicely.

TooOldForThis wrote: Fozz wrote: TooOldForThis wrote: Take all the games over the course of two campaigns, and judge on the basis of that.  Yep, and doing that on a graph would show us start at a low ebb and gradually improve as we went. Yes, the Lux result (and performance, and I'd add the first 60 odd mins v Andorra even) were poor but overall that graph is rising now. And rising nicely. To change now would be a calamitous decision. I think you would find a U-shaped curve, and not a linear one.