It's the Stephen Kenny Thread

Greener92 wrote:   Eamonn Dunphy on the Late late show soon. It will be interesting to hear what he says about SK after the last few results

Who gives a f**k what Eamon Dunphy thinks.

Didi Hamann on Kenny, saying that Kenny has only ever won a game when it doesn't really matter. He has not won a game when it really mattered.

Morocco got a draw in 120+ minutes with Spain with 23% possession and beat Portugal with only 26% possession in 90 minutes. I really wish Kenny would take some lessons from a pragmatic low block approach against these stronger teams. 

irishmufc wrote: Morocco got a draw in 120+ minutes with Spain with 23% possession and beat Portugal with only 26% possession in 90 minutes. I really wish Kenny would take some lessons from a pragmatic low block approach against these stronger teams.  In Kenny's defence I thought we were excellent in the two games against Portugal and deserved a lot more than 1 point from those playing with his open style. Portugal underestimating us and the group being over was probably a factor too. Pushing up and playing too open when France have Mbappe and Dembele up front and out wide is going to be disastrous.  This might not be the most popular view on here but  I think we'd have had a better chance of getting results against France and The Netherlands and being more competitive in our group under Michael O'Neill and his more pragmatic approach than I do under Kenny tbh. Expectations are rock bottom given how our opening two games will probably have us out of the reckoning for second spot but above anything I genuinely hope Kenny gets a landmark win for not just Ireland but himself. It would be more likely against the Dutch than France. Even if its his last campaign that he gets a real scalp against a top side.  Roll on March 2023!

I was very much of the opinion that Kenny could implement a much easier on the eye style of football. Looking back I think International football gives you too short a window to change things drastically. Most of our players play in the championship a league known for being physical and direct. 3-4 training sessions before games is not going to be enough to switch to the complete opposite style when this is how they have been playing week in week out for years. Maybe there are lessons to take from the performances of both Saudi and Morrocco specifically in this tournament. Maybe an international manager should always adapt to whats at his disposal and use those strengths regardless of wether its easy on the eye or not.

cringe

When all is said and done we should play to our strengths, we should prioritize winning over losing, fielding our strongest 11 while growing a deep bench of talent, ensuring seamless transitions going forward, and switching to the metric system in defence. At the end of the day we're great for a small country and keeping it tight at the back we'll maximise returns on our emotional investment.

Edited by Bukowski - 12 Dec 2022 at 5:34am

When your players are sh*t...you need a manager who is not even sh*tter!