There is this notional thing that fans talk about āproper footballā as some call it or playing positively but what is proper football. Passing/possession football does not simply equate to better or attacking football but many seem to think that it does as if it akin to a game of FIFA.
I personally want Ireland to play with a spirit and honesty and be better than the sum of their parts. This is what numerous managers have delivered at times over the last 40 years. Whether we have to play long pass football or tiki taka or something in between to achieve this I donāt particularly care and there are plenty who have the same opinion.
As I said last night, if you want us to be progressive and play technical football then go and get someone who has the credentials to actually do it as manager. Kenny while an honest man has been completely out of his depth since he got the gig, it isnāt going to get much better under him.
Loads on here were saying the media were a disgrace the way they went after trap and oākneel, the narrative here was that the tactics suited the average players
Yes the likes of @Mac weāre calling for wegner to build he Arsenal team around Kevin Doyle
Kenny has had the misfortune to walk into a situation where there is a bit of a dearth of talent. Personally, Iād prefer playing as we are than scouring for Irish grannies again. Charlton was seen as a visionary, but that was pretty much the main plank if his football theology.
Have to keep going.
We have no God given right to be better than Luxembourg anyway. We batted out of our league for years.
My fear is that changes in the way the English club youth academies are set up means we may knee jerk back to begging second gen lads who would play for England if they could.
Iād prefer to do our best with lads who are playing for the country they perceive as their own.
Ah well, tis all the one.
10 games (in the context of international football) should be enough for the coachās philosophy to be apparent in the team.
These last two games were the first to use three at the back and I thought we looked a bit more solid without the ball than before against Serbia. But thatās not much of a compliment.
There was practically nothing (1 move in each match) in a positive or constructive sense and the second of the games was against the world ranked 98th team.
He seems to be muddled now. He picked a centre back that canāt build from the back (Clark) and two runners in a 3 man midfield (Browne and Knight, albeit the latter was playing out of position) and a fairly immobile front player in Collins. Iām not sure how any of that fits into the possession oriented, passing with purpose and creativity style that was being and still is being touted.
Hopefully. I still think the EPL with its riches for even average EPL level players will attract players, and donāt think brexit will affect that much, but I think players will find it harder to go straight in to a big club academy. I suspect more will try their hand in the lower divisions and hope for a break, rightly or wrongly. Itās a hard and uncertain career.
Ah right. I thought the Common Travel Area would supercede that. Thatās interesting to know, and a right shame tbh. The more back and over between the countries, the better.
I suspect the UK will be back within freedom of movement in about a decade.
I think the talent one is overstated. Sure we lack real top quality players compared to the best 10 or so countries in Europe but take a look at Finland and Hungaryās squads which qualified for the Euros. Look at what Iceland and Northern Ireland have achieved in recent times with similar squad make ups to ours.
Nobody is expecting Ireland to qualify for every tournament but aside from a fine England team pretty much every other team we have played against are in or around our level with Bulgaria and Luxembourg a slight level below and Wales and Serbia a slight level above us and we have been second best for large parts in pretty much every game.
This team was most likely never going to qualify for the next World Cup but are capable of far more in terms of both performance and results than what we have gotten under Kenny.
I donāt disagree with any of that. But this is what pretty much everyone wanted. Heās there now and he should be supported until the end of the campaign.
