| RoI v Bulgaria 22:26 - Nov 18 with 2762 views | Eireannach_gorm |
Put this in the Football Thread because there is a football on the pitch. |  | | |  |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 21:49 - Nov 19 with 401 views | Moriarty |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 22:46 - Nov 18 by itfcjoe |
Another game without a goal, this new manager and his attacking style is going well....7 games now isn’t it |
Another fun fact is that the only goal we’ve managed since this guy has come in is off Shane Duffy’s head from a last minute corner. |  |
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| RoI v Bulgaria on 07:11 - Nov 20 with 356 views | Keaneish |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 21:49 - Nov 19 by Moriarty |
Another fun fact is that the only goal we’ve managed since this guy has come in is off Shane Duffy’s head from a last minute corner. |
I’ve read that Kenny’s Dundalk were much the same, lovely, attractive football but it was missing the cutting edge at times. Great record at Dundalk and decent for the under 21s, maybe international class is a step too far. |  |
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| RoI v Bulgaria on 08:57 - Nov 20 with 329 views | itfcjoe |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 07:11 - Nov 20 by Keaneish |
I’ve read that Kenny’s Dundalk were much the same, lovely, attractive football but it was missing the cutting edge at times. Great record at Dundalk and decent for the under 21s, maybe international class is a step too far. |
I think the difficulty is, international football is all about results, you don't really get time to build anything as by struggling you fall down the rankings and everything gets more difficult.
Had they kept Mick, you'd have given them a better chance in the Play Offs for sure, and he'd have likely picked up better results by hook or by crook in Nations League.
By going to Kenny, they now have dropped down a pot in the seedings for WCQ (which is much harder than the Euros to qualify for as it is) and it can become a vicious circle as now have harder games, world ranking slides, tougher qualifying groups, etc
I personally think would have been better keeping Kenny in a role across the U21s and assisting a Mick style manager, until he had done a good enough job at that level to be considered - would have meant he'd have been able to affect the quality of the player pool, and also go into an easier job as there heads would have been kept above water with regards to qualifying pots.
Had they beaten Bulgaria on Wednesday they'd have ended in Pot 2 and would have faced one of:
Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland
Now they have to face one of:
Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania
Much easier to beat out an Iceland, Grrece or Finland for 2nd place than it will be a Pot 2 team |  |
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| RoI v Bulgaria on 10:32 - Nov 20 with 309 views | Keaneish |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 08:57 - Nov 20 by itfcjoe |
I think the difficulty is, international football is all about results, you don't really get time to build anything as by struggling you fall down the rankings and everything gets more difficult.
Had they kept Mick, you'd have given them a better chance in the Play Offs for sure, and he'd have likely picked up better results by hook or by crook in Nations League.
By going to Kenny, they now have dropped down a pot in the seedings for WCQ (which is much harder than the Euros to qualify for as it is) and it can become a vicious circle as now have harder games, world ranking slides, tougher qualifying groups, etc
I personally think would have been better keeping Kenny in a role across the U21s and assisting a Mick style manager, until he had done a good enough job at that level to be considered - would have meant he'd have been able to affect the quality of the player pool, and also go into an easier job as there heads would have been kept above water with regards to qualifying pots.
Had they beaten Bulgaria on Wednesday they'd have ended in Pot 2 and would have faced one of:
Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland
Now they have to face one of:
Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania
Much easier to beat out an Iceland, Grrece or Finland for 2nd place than it will be a Pot 2 team |
Completely agree and it was a strange decision not to lean on Mick’s experience more to bring Kenny on. I can only assume this was a cost or political thing as to why it never happened. Saying that, the playing styles are so vastly different the Irish FA may have felt that years of O’Neill and Mick wasn’t progressive enough - ultimately, Mick failed to qualify at the first chance but would have been much better positioned to give it another crack in the play-offs. Either way, the baton change between them has been terrible. COVID cut it all short but it’s clear the forward planning between them all was loose at best.
Mick would definitely have had them in with a shout of qualifying through the play-offs but maybe there’s positivity in this. Mick’s great at papering over the cracks by getting the best out of players, all be it a lot of 30+ year olds in that squad. At least now there’s a clear view of how terrible the state of the decision making has been and what an upward battle they have. | |
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| RoI v Bulgaria on 10:38 - Nov 20 with 307 views | itfcjoe |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 10:32 - Nov 20 by Keaneish |
Completely agree and it was a strange decision not to lean on Mick’s experience more to bring Kenny on. I can only assume this was a cost or political thing as to why it never happened. Saying that, the playing styles are so vastly different the Irish FA may have felt that years of O’Neill and Mick wasn’t progressive enough - ultimately, Mick failed to qualify at the first chance but would have been much better positioned to give it another crack in the play-offs. Either way, the baton change between them has been terrible. COVID cut it all short but it’s clear the forward planning between them all was loose at best.
Mick would definitely have had them in with a shout of qualifying through the play-offs but maybe there’s positivity in this. Mick’s great at papering over the cracks by getting the best out of players, all be it a lot of 30+ year olds in that squad. At least now there’s a clear view of how terrible the state of the decision making has been and what an upward battle they have. |
I think the age thing is a bit of a misnomer - Mick was playing likes of Connolly in key games, there are only a couple who have been binned of by Kenny like Judge and then McGoldrick retiring | |
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| RoI v Bulgaria on 12:38 - Nov 20 with 292 views | Keaneish |
| RoI v Bulgaria on 10:38 - Nov 20 by itfcjoe |
I think the age thing is a bit of a misnomer - Mick was playing likes of Connolly in key games, there are only a couple who have been binned of by Kenny like Judge and then McGoldrick retiring |
I think Keogh was another. I wouldn’t say it was a misnomer. Mick relied on experience to give ROI their best shot, unfortunately it never quite paid off. As a result, there’s a lot of inexperienced youth noW waiting in the wings who could have got more game time and been that much further ahead in their development.
Mick only used 1 player twice who was under the age of 24 (Connolly after his brace against Spurs for the last 10 mins of the Georgia game and the first 50 mins of their next fixture) Kenny has already used 10. Whether forced or not, i think it’s significant. [Post edited 20 Nov 2020 12:54]
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