Cult of Stephen Kenny

Kenny’s time is up but if anyone thinks we are suddenly going to be finishing second playing hoofball they are deluded.

How did the MON and McCarthy eras end?

Pretty sure we were losing games and absolutely struggling to beat the minnows 1-0.

We need to change manager but we won’t be competitive until we have better midfield options.

So you’re excusing his blatant failure by complimenting the style of play? This narrative of him having the team playing good football is a total myth. I can’t understand how people are still running with this story. I honestly think you don’t even believe it yourself at this stage.

Tell me how playing 4 or 5 passes around our own 3rd of the pitch before player panic and then launch it or just pass it aimlessly to the opposition is good football? It’s embarrassing. We are so easy to play against and play through. Teams must piss themselves laughing when they draw us. The players have absolutely no clue what they’re meant to be doing. You can see it on their faces in every single game. So tell me this, if the players haven’t a clue what the system is or what the plan is for a game, how does a joe soap in the stand or at home in his armchair meant to know? Last night was absolutely embarrassing from start to finish. There are literally no positives to take from the game, yet you still seem happy with things because Stephen Kenny is “trying” to do something? He’s had 27 competitive games and he’s won 5 and some of our defeats against poor teams have been abysmal. It’s not working, it was never going to work and it never will work.

Staunton and Kenny are the only two managers to visibly take the team backwards in the time they were manager. Not bad luck luck or anything, they were just useless at the job and not up managing Ireland.

When you look at the players Staunton inherited and how they started against Sweden in landsdowne, there's no competition for worst manager for me.

No, just amused at the idea we've ever been good.

Never existed? we qualified for multiple tournaments under …

Jack, Mick, Trapp & O’Neill… also we qualified for a World Cup Quarter Final, World Cup Last 16… and in Euro ‘88 we didn’t let the side down in a group of death… England, Holland & Soviet Union… two out of those three teams ended up in the final….it doesn’t get any more difficult than that.

So winning ways did exist really.

Now we have Kenny ways…. We might as well have Kenny Everett managing us….. because the pure nonsensical gibberish coming out of him in interviews in the aftermath of horrible results and brain dead performances from him on the sideline and his players on the pitch is something to behold…..

his lack of big game tactical nouse in situations that require a rapid tactical response and intervention and he’s just left standing there, looking on…… he doesn’t do proactive, he barely even does ‘reactive’…

there are no reasons or mitigating circumstances that should enable him to remain as Ireland manager..

I don't get this defence of Kenny by citing the style of play. When Kenny took over, our best route to a goal was via a set-piece. And that still remains the case today. 2 set-piece goals were scored by the Ireland team in this group in 2023. Idah's penalty vs the Dutch, and Collins' goal away to Greece which came from Ferguson's flick-on at a corner.

In the Nations League when we lost 2-1 in Scotland, Egan's goal was from a corner. I think Egan got one against Portugal from a corner as well if I remember correctly. In the 3-0 win over Gibraltar, breakthrough goal came as a result of a Smallbone free-kick. The other 2 goals were crosses into the box for Ferguson and Idah to head in. So I don't get the argument in worrying about hoofball as the alternative when our best chance for a goal at present is by hoofing it to someone. Most of our pressure last night appeared to be from Smallbone hoofing it into the box and their keeper trying to punch it clear.

Just imagine if, in addition to doing this, we could also be well organised defensively, and keep clean sheets into the bargain. Let's get a coach that can play to our strengths.

Except we weren’t competitive at the end of the MON era or second Mick era.

100% - where was the beautiful passing football he promised? We didn't see even a hint of it in the two games against Greece....all we saw was the team getting played off the pitch in both matches and looking disorganised and uncoached.