I also believe that if we had beaten Bulgaria in the nations league we would have ended up second seeds but Spock was unable to get a win
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I’d have expected about 12 or 13 points from the 8 games. I think Mick McCarthy probably would have acquired a tally in that ball park. I’d have backed him to get 13. Kenny currently on 1 at the midway stage.
Paddy talks a great game of soccer. Not much interest in doing anything to raise the pitiful standard of soccer in Eire though.
Spread out lads.
People talk about “clearing out dead wood”, but that seems fairly short sighted to me. I presume when they talk about “dead wood” they mean Hendrick, Brady, McClean, McCarthy etc., possibly even Duffy.
But those players, are, in order, 29, 29, 32, 30, 29. So most of them (maybe not McClean) should have a few years left yet if they can keep or in some cases get themselves fit.
Back around 2012 there was a narrative that we had a good group of young players coming through, made up of those names I mentioned, plus Seamus Coleman.
Is there really anything to indicate that our current group of young players will be any better than any of those named above?
I mean we’ve had a good few late developers over the last 10-15 years. Hoolahan, Andrews, Whelan, McGoldrick, Keogh etc. These have all been important players.
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To quote the great philosophers Delamitri, Stan wasn’t where it’s at.
We’ll never know, mate. Had Alex Ferguson been sacked after Spurs stuffed Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford at the end of '89 we’d never have known either. Ta ra.
Kenny sounded like a bumbling fool from the snippets they played earlier of the press conference.
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A team that have only won two away games in their history, San Marino and Liechtenstein, nearly beat us the other night and lads, especially media heads, are defending the result.
The mental gymnastics Ken Early used to justify it being a good result were hilarious
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Are you saying if we had another system that we would have been more aggressive attacking the goal scorer ???
Teams that are good at pressing are able to play a high line because they have pace to recover when the press breaks - they are able to push up to the half way line. Ireland have 4/5 of the slowest defenders ever picked together in International football.
Teams that are able to keep the ball and string passes together have players who are technically capable of doing so. Kenny’s two most technical players are both right back and one of those his weak foot is for only quenching cigarettes. Players that actually have the courage to go and look for the ball, not hide and seek merchants like Hendrick and Hourihane. Or headless chickens.
How can you coordinate a press with Connolly running off around the place like a headless chicken?
Kenny has about 3 players that are good enough for international football. Pick a system that will overcome that
John Egan, Matt Doherty and Darren Randolph three late developers in the current set-up.
Could add Enda Stevens to that list too after he fell down the leagues from Villa.
I’m saying that we may have been more secure defensively and created more going forward. Sure what’s the point in managers if not?
What’s good enough for international football? Do Ireland have players that are good enough to beat Azerbaijan and Luxembourg? I would say yes.
Did we have much better players at Euro 2016?
Outside about 3 players our players are technically equivalent or actually lacking against any European nation. Just because they’re spoofing careers in England doesnt make them better.
Arrogant for no reason is part of the problem
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You’re going into Ken Early territory there. It is not arrogance to think that Ireland should be capable of beating Azerbaijan at home
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They came and got a result, they played well. They had some really nice players and were organised. It happens.
To think we’ve a divine right to beat them is arrogant and misguided.
With the 11 players we had out on the field, a draw with azerbaijan is about our level, unfortunately. That’ll hurt some people reading it, but its the cold hard truth. We are unbelievably shit. At every level
I’m merely an observer. The tide had run out on Stan in the population and the media. He had become a figure of ridicule. SAF was never a figure of ridicule.
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This is very odd considering you thought we were going to beat Portugal 2-0 a few days ago
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