Ken went full Kevin Keegan !!!
I felt that was a little contrived at the start….
Ken went full contrarian. Enjoyable. But I agree with Murph.
I think he started out on the wind up but then just went got it.
Ken was a disgrace I thought.
His "some people" guff in the main discussion was very childish.
It's been a while since I've listened to him so maybe this is still his shtick but Early was insufferable for that entire slot.
I appreciate Ken likes to play devil's advocate, but he was talking complete pony today. I genuinely doubt even he believed the rubbish he was spewing. Serious Chris Sutton vibes 😬
It was good listening alright.
Felt it got a bit childish when Ken started throwing sly digs about Murph behind his back during the chat with Richie and Damien.
He also kept saying that Murph felt it ok to boo the team when I'm pretty sure Murph never said that, more was saying that was the reason the fans were booing...not that he agreed with it? Imagine if Mourinho came out with the stuff Ken was saying about minor things not going his way and having the same run of results as Stephen Kenny did...he would be laughing at him non-stop.
By the way, I support Kenny and really hope he does well, it's just a pity things have gone as they have and Richie is right...every game since game 1 has been about whether he should be in the job or not but the run of results definitely has not helped.
There was a real clear the air vibe about todays pod and I loved it because it managed to capture the feelings of most fans. Murph made a good case on behalf of the frustrated fan while Ken tried to make the case for patience with Kenny. Eoin moderated very well tbf, there were times when Ken tried to ram home his opinions while Murph was raising genuine flaws in his argument.
On balance Murph's concerns were franked by the inputs of Sadlier and Delaney. On a side note Delaney has really come on as a pundit, his technical analysis was bang on today.
In summary todays pod confirms that the lads are the best in the business and worth every penny of their subscription.
I'm a big fan of Ken, but he really came across as a prat today. Had me thinking at times that John Giles was right.
I'm not anti Stephen Kenny, but Murph made reasonable point after reasonable point and really showed up a childish and contrarian debating style of Ken's: some of his arguments were boards.ie level of whataboutery and his complete failure to actually engage with the opposing point of view and to just resort to petty pot shots was honestly a bit pathetic.
I thought Ken was trolling until it became saddeningly clear he wasn't..
Infantile stuff
Have to agree with the consensus I love Ken but thought he will missed the mark yesterday. He even said it himself he had come on to give out about the team but then took on the contrarian view to battle Murph and his booing comment (which he never actually made)
By Ken's rational we should just keep Kenny in the job forever regardless of results and it might turn around... Maybe. Ps I support Kenny but I definitely sided with Murph on this. He had a lot of good will after Portugal and then we were treated to that performance. Consistency seems to be the biggest issue. I think if we're beaten well tonight he'll be gone and that's a pity but how can a team go on that can't win a game even though there is progress in parts.
Ken is great and all, but he was being a bit of an annoying twat yesterday.
However he did have a point regarding the fans expectation given our results over the past several years.
Perhaps, but I would imagine that they were at loggerheads in the pre-show prep and this was a follow on to that
It was just too forced from ken. He clearly doesn't believe most of what he was saying.
At times I thought it was a put on, but I thought there was genuine disagreement between the two or them, particularly as it went on. Right from the off you could hear it in their voices that this was going to be a bit more fractious than a usual disagreement.
It's rare that Murph challenges Ken, but when he does he's well able to back up what he's saying, but usually Ken doesn't get too invested in whatever they're arguing about so it peters out. But it's a different story with Kenny and the team.
Ken didn't like how forthright Murph was stepping into his territory and prepared to argue with him and so was obnoxious and petulant more or less straight away. He was trolling a bit, but he definitely tried to land a few low blows - "maybe you've seen too many Galway/Mayo matches" - to put Murph in his place. I think they genuinely got under each others skin
And the fact that he still kept referencing it when Murph wasn't even there looked really small time to me. I really don't think he enjoyed the debate.
i mean how recent we talking? We qualified to the euros after beating the world champions and got to the last 16 of the tournament.
in the last campaign we drew 75% of games vs one team that knocked out the favorites and another that got to a semi without their best player.
the results have drastically disimproved
How did he have a point? What results over the past seven years were as bad as the two home games against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan? Ireland fans rightly expected better results than what we got.
It was beyond infantile stuff from Ken. Richie and Delaney rightly called him out on some of the nonsense he was spouting.
It just made me think that given how bad we've been in most matches since after Euro 2016, the results in this campaign should not be much of a surprise considering our squad is now even weaker and less experienced than it was 3-5 years ago. There's also the difference between how the football associations in places like Luxembourg and Azerbaijan have been behaving recently in trying to improve their football compared to the shambles that was/is the FAI for decades. Also the one step forward, two steps backwards thing, as seen with the last two games has been with us for years even before Kenny. For example how everyone expected us to kick on after the performance in the France play off and again after Euro 2016.
That's not the first time they've done that.
Set out the show by having a chat before hand, establish opposing polemics and hold that flag.
It's showbiz baby!
does Ken give a fair prediction of what the score should be tonight on the show today? Just so that we can hear from someone who isn’t deluded like the rest of us about what should actually happen.
Ken did seem to be channelling Dunphy at his most contrarian, especially when he said 'no' about 16 times in succession
I agree with what Ken was saying mostly ha. I don't see why people expect us to beat these teams. Portugal beat us because they have one of the best players of all time and the ref was awful. Connolly should have had a penalty too.
Serbia scored two very good goals against us. Our keeper was a disaster that day though.
The Luxembourg goal was a world class strike out of nothing. Plus Luxembourg actually have a good team, full of players who had played together for years. We have a team that is thrown together but slowly getting more and more experienced. Ken is right about the "fail better". We are better failing with these young lads than failing with Glenn Whelan coming back. Before the Portugal game people were giving out that Darren Randolph wasn't even in the squad. He won't even go out and get first team football. Bazunu almost cost us a penalty and that would have justified all those people giving out about him. But he saved it and he honestly looks like a keeper we could have for the next 15 years. Previous managers wouldn't have played him. Kenny threw on an 18 year old v Portugal and he played unreal. What a boost for his confidence going forward.
Slovakia....Hourihane had a 1 v 1 with a defender scurrying across the line, inside the six yard box. He hit the fecking defender somehow. I still can't get over that!
Azerbaijan drew with us because they scored an absolute wondergoal. I watched the highlights again, we had 4/5 very very good chances to score and we didn't. Idah had two free headers, one just wide of the post. Duffy had a free header too from more or less the penalty spot, he put it well over and was furious with himself. Coleman got into a great position and then took a left footed shot and curled it safely high and wide. Doherty also had a header from 6 yards out. Then we eventually got the goal through a Duffy header.
During Mick and and MON, there was lots of talk about chances created. We were creating nothing. So much so that the narrative was that even if we had Robbie Keane, he wouldn't have any chances to score from. Now we are playing with a load of kids, creating chances. They just don't seem to be able to finish.
Anyway...rant over. It is almost as jumbled up and rose tinted as Ken yesterday. Apologies!
We didn’t create much against Azerbaijan. We swung over crosses again and again from bad positions.
when Kenny’s Ireland shows an ability to get behind defences I’ll be more convinced. Goals get scored more often than not by getting behind a defence. We never managed vs Azerbaijan, we did vs portugal but that’s been the only game and I’m not fully convinced portugal we’re fully clued in in that game.
Among all the noise, I thought Ken’s point about Michael O’Neill’s first qualifying campaign was an interesting one. It’s worth checking out the NI results in that group which had Portugal, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in it.
Ken admitted he got carried away in the heat of the moment on today's show. He did make a lot of valid points but he did lose the run of himself
Saying that, give me a carried away Ken than the drivel you'd hear on Off The Ball (apart from the odd occasion) or 2FM anyday
How do you get behind a defence that are largely camped out in their box. It's extremely difficult.
Are you saying those particular chances I mentioned weren't chances to score? I don't see how not.
it’s difficult alright but far from impossible, normally you do it by a quick give and go to beat the offside trap and hit the byline. Man city do it repeatedly. Ireland not managing to do it successfully once in 90 mins is not good.
ireland swung in crosses in front of the defense, it’s more unlikely to create really good chances unless the delivery is real quality
they were chances but don’t tell me a McCarthy or Oneill team wouldn’t be able to swing in crosses from in front of a back 4/5/6.
Also worth mentioning the best player we have for getting behind a defence is Coleman who was in the back 3 and so somewhat anchored to defensive suties
Wonder will Ken make any observations on 'luck' in the next football podcast
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