Greeks turn on the style
Kenny’s Ireland cannot do what they are trying to do
A BOOS culture crept into Irish football last night.
It was heard just before kick-off, when Stephen Kenny’s name was read over the tannoy and greeted by jeers.
There and then your mind drifted back to this stadium in 2002, when Mick McCarthy was given the bird after a 2-1 defeat to Switzerland.
Remember that unwritten rule in football? As soon as a manager loses the crowd, he loses his job.
That’s the danger now for Kenny. The FAI, new or old, have always gauged the public mood before making big decisions and after those pre and post-match noises, Kenny’s doubters will feel a lot more confident about speaking up in the boardroom.
As for the Irish public, you really have to wonder what they want.
In Giovanni Trapattoni, the FAI had a manager who knew how to get results, but not how to entertain.
His successor — to quote Eamon Dunphy — was ‘Trapattoni with a Derry accent’. Still, no-one can deny Martin O’Neill delivered big nights for us, Germany, Italy, Austria and Wales being the best of them.
But by the end of his tenure, the Aviva’s empty seats for Ireland’s home matches spoke loudest of all. The fans had enough long before the axe fell.
That’s how we arrived at Kenny.
Enthusiasm
He started with a burst of enthusiasm, promised too much with his words, then produced better performances than most people have given him credit for.
But they weren’t backed up with results.
And you need both with this crowd. At times it appears the Irish fan wants the team to qualify for major tournaments while playing football like Brazil. Ireland under Trap was too boring, Ireland under Kenny are too easy to beat. So it proved here.
After an electrifying start, when Adam Idah put Ireland ahead, you wondered if this was going to be a turning point in the campaign as well as the Kenny reign.
So much was going to plan.
There were Gavin Bazunu’s two saves from Donyell Malen.
You had Nathan Collins’ dominance, Chiedozie Ogbene’s pace, Matt Doherty’s to-hell-with-it attitude.
And yet there was so much about Ireland’s set-up that was naive.
Every tactical system has its flaws and Ireland’s is no different, their use of just two wide players making them vulnerable to opposing players ghosting in behind their wing-backs, the source of both Dutch goals.
Arrived
Each time James McClean was caught narrow, Bazunu caught in noman’s land for the Dutch equaliser as Denzel Dumfries arrived into the box with the ball and no defender for company.
Goal No.2 was worse, Shane Duffy dropping a yard too deep to allow Dumfries remain onside before he headed across to Wout Weghorst, who scored.
It was a big moment.
Until the Dutch equaliser, Ireland were on top, all those Kenny promises in his manifesto being enacted.
They pressed high, a tactic which twice left Idah with the ball unmarked in the Dutch box.
Each time he passed to Ogbene.
A greedier striker would have taken the gift horse instead of checking its dental records.
Other things were better executed. For a start, Collins played like a Dutchman.
Composed with the ball, determined to attack, without ever forgetting his duties to defend, he was Ireland’s best player in the opening half.
All he, and Ireland, lacked was the sprinkle of luck that would have turned a match-defining performance into a match-winning one as the tone of the night changed with the second Dutch goal.
Suddenly it was their fans who could be heard. “Always look on the bright side of life,” they sang, before taunting Ireland’s fans shortly afterwards with the view that their team was ‘s**t and you know you are’.
The truth is Ireland are much better than that but there is a world of difference between being a side able to compete and being one who can beat the best.
These top-ranked teams with their worldly old managers always have an extra trick to play when Plan A fails.
Ronald Koeman turned to Weghorst and Tijjani Reijnders at half-time, and fired across the message that the way to beat Ireland was to go around rather than through them.
That’s how the second goal came about, 10 minutes of incessant Dutch pressure, leaving Ireland disorganised and distressed.
Now trailing, they had to chase. Kenny turned to Will Smallbone and hoped for a miracle.
They barely even got a corner.
The locals roared them on, of course, but the players were unable to give them what they wanted, another bigname opponent going home untamed. We are growing used to this reality. We are also growing used to campaigns ending early.
Challenge
There won’t be automatic qualification for next year’s European Championship. They may get a playoff but if they do, they will be the team opposition sides will hope to get.
Some day that may change and the investment in youth will pay off.
As for now, we are growing used to fans leaving the stadium early, those who stayed to the end, making the voices heard with muted applause.
The players, meanwhile, sunk to their knees. Once more they had given everything.
And once more they discovered that wasn’t enough. Not even close.
GREECE bounced back from last week’s humbling defeat away to the Netherlands with a commanding home win against group minnows Gibraltar in Athens last night.
The 3-0 defeat on Thursday meant the pressure was on the Greeks to put in a convincing display in front of their own fans.
But the result here was never in doubt at the AEK Arena, with the Greek professionals far superior to their semi-pro opposition.
Gus Poyet’s side gave fans a spectacular attacking display, peppering 14 attemps at the visitors’ goal in the first half alone.
Dimitris Pelkas bagged the opener after just nine minutes, with West Ham’s doubling the advantage in the 23rd minute.
Brilliant
Taxi Fountas had a brilliant strike disallowed for offside, but the Greeks upped the ante after the break.
Despite the pace dropping in the second half, Giorgos Masouras made it 3-0 in the 70th minute, before Mavropanos added his second and Masouras completed the job in injury-time.
The win leaves Greece level with the Dutch in second place in Group B after five games, having played a game more than Ronald Koeman’s side.
Poyet’s crew travel to Dublin next for a crucual clash with Ireland on October 13.
GREECE: Vlachodimos, Rota (Chatzigiovanis 84), Mavropanos, Chatzidiakos, Giannoulis, Bakasetas, Bouchalakis (Papanikolaou 68) Pelkas (Alexandropoulos 84), Masouras, Pavlidis (Giakoumakis 68) Fountas (Ioannidis 68). Not Used: Athanasiadis, Koulierakis, Limnios, Paschalakis Retsos, Tzavelas.
GIBRALTAR: Coleing, Jolley, Roy Chipolina, Sergeant Mouelhi (Santos 90), Britto, Walker, Hartman (Badr 83) Pozo (Casciaro 90), Ronan, De Barr. Not Used: Banda, El Hmidi, Joseph Chipolina, Lopes, Hernandez Peacock, Styche, Olivero, Lopez.