Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2020/2021 - see Mod Note in OP [18/11/20]

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The only winner out of these international's is Covid.

And Slovakia, and Northern Ireland and Wales tbf

Pity we didn’t have Alan Browne available. Would have tore them apart and we could have won by 3 or 4.

Euros and Nations Cup is a write off now. It's all on the World Cup qualifiers for Kenny now. Starting next March. Hard to take much from these games given the Covid withdrawls.

Should have won that. Brady and Long had very good chances. Lovely to see that we are actually capable of passing a ball around and playing through the lines. Unlucky to be without Robinson, Connolly, O’Dowda, McGoldrick, Idah and even Parrot. All players who would be capable of creating something in the final third. Very promising going forward although I’m sure we’ll have the kick and rush squad come on criticising here. They’ll probably have no idea of how we got on when we last played them home and away.

Faugheen wrote: »

This is something I don’t understand.

What has Jack Byrne done at club level to deserve a shot over five Premier League players?

I get he’s the flavor of the month but the quality he’s playing against week-in, week-out is far below the standard of the five lads ahead of him.

End of. Byrne doesn’t have a divine right to play. If he wants to show he’s better then go back over to England and prove it instead of sitting as the big fish in a tiny pond.

To be fair Byrne hasn’t been selected in Irish squads for his performances against Sligo rovers or Finn harps.

He was selected last year on his form in Europe for rovers where he was the best player on the pitch in most games . He was selected this time for the same, playing very well against AC Milan a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not saying it should start but he’s definitely worth a place in the squad and a chance especially as he is a different style of player to what we have

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Looked it up - he has only had 3 red cards in all his career (now 4) - that is impressively low for hit style in fairness. Well over 400 games.

That is a trick I think. McClean is normally subbed after he gets his normal yellow by 60 minutes or so? No time if two quick yellows?

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Kenny has now had 4 games against pretty average opposition and hasn't won even one of them. 390 minutes of this supposed new brand of football and we've managed 1 goal - a Duffy header from a set-piece.

Leave aside the excuses about Covid-19. The reality is Kenny picked poor squads and has faced the consequences of those decisions.

It becomes harder and harder to see Kenny, Andrews and Duff as being the saviours of Irish football, as opposed to well-meaning folks in way over their heads. Very strong whiff of the Staunton era about this whole thing. They don't seem to know 4 games in what their best side is. What players are required to work the system they want to play? Why are we attempting a philosophy of possession-based football by selecting a pragmatic side without any possession footballers in it? It's bizarre.

If we don't see anything positive against another average side in Finland then it's perhaps time to question whether this experiment needs to be put out of its misery; otherwise, we may end up squandering the most exciting crop of players we have seen emerge in a generation. There has been no evidence so far to suggest these lads are up to the task at hand. We can't sacrifice the next few years in a vain attempt to save face against all the evidence before our eyes. We need to see something in the next game.

Soups123 wrote: »

I’m 100% behind the idea of Kenny and giving him proper time my only worry is how flat we have been in his 4 games there seems to be zero energy with the management change.

That said the quality of player at his disposal is awful, he really needs to stick or twist with some of the crap he has called up, top players picked on name, Brady being the biggest one he hasn’t played a good game for club or country in years.

I’d be more patient with Kenny if he was building for the future. These squad selections will not cover him for 2 years

Hard to build for the future when your contract is only covering the upcoming word cup, so basically has 2021. I couldn't care for the WC, and think we need to blood some players given the ages and injury profile of some of the older players, but hard to do when you always need to impress next year to get your contract renewed.

We were very comfortable against wales I thought. Could have won. Even with ten men the game just petered out.

6 months ago or over the last 5 or so years, we would have had trojan defending and possesion lasting a few seconds or 3 or 4 passes on the break against wales and been delighted snatching a draw or winner.

I for one am very happy with how quickly Ireland is changing. Id go as far as to say I enjoyed watching the first half.

I like Kenny and I’m all for giving him a chance

But some of the over the top positivity is doing my head in. He should be held to the same standards as any other manager .

It’s been a poor start , call a spade a spade

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Poor performance yet again. Probably the worst Wales side we've played in the last few years, missing Bale, missing Joe Allen, playing a central midfield duo of a Bristol City player and a Man City youth prospect, and we couldn't beat them.

Kenny has now had 4 games against pretty average opposition and hasn't won even one of them. 390 minutes of this supposed new brand of football and we've managed 1 goal - a Duffy header from a set-piece.

Leave aside the excuses about Covid-19. The reality is Kenny picked poor squads and has faced the consequences of those decisions.

It becomes harder and harder to see Kenny, Andrews and Duff as being the saviours of Irish football, as opposed to well-meaning folks in way over their heads. Very strong whiff of the Staunton era about this whole thing. They don't seem to know 4 games in what their best side is. What players are required to work the system they want to play? Why are we attempting a philosophy of possession-based football by selecting a pragmatic side without any possession footballers in it? It's bizarre.

If we don't see anything positive against another average side in Finland then it's perhaps time to question whether this experiment needs to be put out of its misery; otherwise, we may end up squandering the most exciting crop of players we have seen emerge in a generation. There has been no evidence so far to suggest these lads are up to the task at hand. We can't sacrifice the next few years in a vain attempt to save face against all the evidence before our eyes. We need to see something in the next game.

You can't scrap it now would be daft, have to leave it be. And give time now.
Plus people are not falling over themselves for the Ireland job. Who would get it after Kenny? Roy Keane?