Stephen Kenny is a dud who is out of his depth. I think some people want to give him leeway because he's Irish and homegrown, plucked from the product of the League Of Ireland. Imagine if Trap or another big name had started with Kenny's results, they'd be slagging him no end. Fans are still slagging Trap today for his approach even though he was as good a manager as we ever had with the possible exception of Big Jack in my opinion. Stephen Kenny is no authoritative figure, I can't picture him instilling any fear or commanding any real respect from international players. I can't even imagine him as a father figure who players could confide in. His post-match interviews are cringe worthy; blowing out his cheeks, scrunched up annoyed faces, no eye contact, shrugging his shoulders, losing his train of thought, sighing, acting like the world is about to end and he ain't got a clue how to stop it. It's hard to imagine his demeanour drastically changing in the dressing room and translating good vibes to the players. He's not a social charmer is he? No vibe of the top dog laying the hammer down from him. He doesn't inspire confidence. He reminds me of a simple rural farmer who sells potatoes as a side job. And he has a softy's face and an awful fringe. Sort the hair out, that's your starting point- along with honesty of effort. I have not been impressed with any of the displays during his tenure. I don't get the 'positive performance' , 'signs of progress', 'green shoots' assessments. It's always about tomorrow with Ireland. There's always next year. Losing to Luxembourg at home was one of the worst results and performances in our history. It's not even like the style is even that good on the eye, it's just an upgrade on hoofball. We're still seeing the same misplaced passes, poor first-touches and dreadful crosses from players that are not up to international standards in the first place, so even if the poor fella Kenny had a C.V. worth mentioning at anywhere near the top level, he is fighting a losing battle. Look at Iceland, they played backs to the wall stuff and it got them a long way, made memories for the fans, gave them their only real great accomplishments in the game of which to be proud. Latvia made their first tournament by digging in. Montenegro too. Greece won a whole international tournament and were a horror show. But did the fans of those countries refuse to celebrate? Where have Georgia ever gone with their tippy tappy neatness? What ever happened to the Armenia team that was talked up, their technical generation of talents like Mkhitaryan and company that was tipped to at least qualify for things? Far more technically skilled and bigger Eastern European countries have failed a lot with a passing, possession based, attacking strategy, for example the Ukraine and Romania. The reality is it's different for the smaller nations. I wish football was about skill and flicks and expansive attractive passing football. When you're Barcelona or Spain, or you have a semblance of that kind of talent at your disposal then it can be. When you're starting players like Alan Browne then you just have to be pragmatic, grind it out with tactical play or you'll be ineffectual against the best. Let's get real and stop dreaming of a Roy of the Rovers pie in the sky Ireland team that's not going to become a reality anytime within the next ten years. If we still had the likes of Duffers, Wes and Keano then he could have had a chance of implementing a philosophy that would prove successful. But we're a motley crew of eejits who need to realise our limitations, which are more glaring than ever, being little more than the worst Republic crop of footballers in living memory. Hopefully with a welcome change in coaching at grass-roots level, long term we will see an improvement and it will bear fruition, like England now after 2007 failures, or how Belgium's disappointment in 2000 was the catalyst for a golden generation, but the effect has to sprout up, it won't be trickling down. It hasn't happened yet so the manager has to get his feet on the ground. Short term, we need commercial revenue from qualifications and excitement of being in contention presently. Losing is losing no matter how many shots you have on goal. A great manager like Ancellotti casts his eye over the squad available and adapts his management to the players -not vice-versa -so why not Stephen Kenny? I'm sure Stephen Kenny's a nice guy, and well done on his wins with Derry City, Dundalk, Cobh Ramblers under-nines or whomever it was, but when you've been sacked by Dunfermline you know the truth is staring you in the face. To quote the wise words of a great Irish writer and wit: "He's a spoofer Bill. A puffball."
The FA's money woes led them to hire Kenny. Granted he hasn't had any luck; losing on penalties, players befallen by injuries and poor form. Nevertheless, there is no argument Kenny is in over his head. He's not the right man for the job. With respect to Greece, for a long time my country stuck to a negative approach resulting in predictable, one-dimensional football. About 4-5 years ago, Greece fell into the same rut Ireland are in now. We finally broke the spell hiring van't Schip. He's similar to Kenny in a way, but his background at Ajax is what separates him. The Dutch still churn out great coaches who can teach anyone how to play better quality football. Granted, against sides like Spain, the approach is the same as ever, but now against sides who are lesser or equal in quality, Greece can actually play some ball, something I haven't seen since before the Rehhagel era. I feel Greece really lucked out. For Ireland, I do think Kenny was the wrong coach, but his approach itself isn't necessarily all wrong. Under the right manager, Ireland could play much better quality football and win matches like these.
Kenny is a bit naive thinking we can play beautiful short passing football but we don’t have the players to do that. Our players are from lower PL and League Championship teams and are simply not good enough.