Itâs pretty clear now that Kenny & Andrews donât have a breeze. Previous mini-upturns were more than likely driven by Anthony Barry. Things he implemented persisted for a little while after he went & we got a few results here & there, but itâs a shambles now. The tippy tippy passing for the sake of it in our own half is one thing, but the lack of team structure & shape in our attacking & defending is telling & undeniable. As Hamann said, we donât look like a cohesive team at all. We donât move in unison with or without the ball & weâre very ragged. Kennyâs cult following point to the lack of quality in the squad, but that makes it even more important to have a good team structure & with players well drilled in how weâre meant to be playing. I think weâre drifting along, stuck in a rut & I donât think heâll oversee any material improvements. In terms of results & performances on the shit, okay, good spectrum - the results are shit & the performances are somewhere between shit & okay but closer to shit. Two years is more than enough evidence to see he should be replaced now before the next qualification campaign begins.
Itâs only a small thing but the way Kenny, Andrews, Doyle and Kiely celebrate goals in friendlies and against minnows really has me throwing my eyes to heaven.
Mad to think Trap and MON were chased out of town by the OTB and a few others obsessed with passing stats and wanting by to be entertained.
International football is not about entertainment.
The one where Gav Baz rolled the ball out to Doherty quick, Doherty sprinted up the sideline 20 yards, looked up and realised absolutely no one had gone with him and had to turn around and kick it back to Baz.
Soul destroying to watch
I wonder who gives the least inspiring team talks out of Kenny, OâNeill and Trapattoni ?
Iâd say Manuela Spinelli translating Trapattoniâs team talk would be more inspiring than Spock.
A lot of people like the idea of what Kenny represents in coming from grassroots to managing the national team, & theyâre being very, very generous in their views on what heâs producing. Another cohort donât have a notion about football, are influenced by the OTB generation & rehash the excuses/exaggerated praise they hear & read.
I think we need someone who isnât going to revert back to hoofball but can instill a hard edge to us while attempting to play progressive football when it suits.
An affable, unassuming chap like Lee Bowyer would be the ideal appointment.
Yeah, itâs easy for a keeper, 3 centre backs, 2 wing backs & a holding midfield player to circulate the ball around inside our own defensive third with only one of two opponents engaging them (passing stats anyone?). But the inability to progress the ball into the opposition third and the lack of any semblance of interplay or attacking structureâŚdeary me.
This isnât fucking rubby where you just qualify for the tournamentâs you have regardless⌠Soccer is a results business. This cunt cant beat the minnows in friendlies not yo mind in competitive games. Weâve never been as low⌠Even in the 70s/80s we were winning and rattling teams⌠Gibraltar laugh at us at this stage.
I wasnât actually looking for the passing stats. I didnât mean for that question to be taken literally, but thank you for the passing stats nonetheless. It was a reference to passing stats being padded out by circulating the ball around inside our own defensive third. A follow on from this is the OTB generation sayingâŚlook at the passing stats, at least weâre trying to play the right way and the footballâs much better than before. And these people are absolute simpletons.
The OTB crew are trying to placate the average soccer fan in the same way âpassionâ and âbraveryâ seems to work on the average rubby fan. The difference being the average soccer fan is far more knowledge than the up and down for 10 pints rubby crowd.
Those passing stats are very strong. They really bear out the work Kenny is doing
Do they? Can you elaborate?
Itâs there in front of you in raw data.
Ireland had more possession and accurate passes yet Norway had as many chances and more goals? ⌠Thatâs the work Spock is doing?
Chilling
Itâs a work in progress mate. Rome wasnât built in a day. Itâs a pity youâve been so conditioned by the premier league to want to fire the manager if you donât immediately get the results you want.
Immediately?
It hasnât been a day mate, itâs been two yearsâŚ
Liverpool football club are extremely loyal to their managers fyi.
In the immortal words of bananarama, it aint what you do itâs the way that you do it.