CERTAIN THAT IRELAND ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK
IRELAND ADAMS SCOT HIS CHOICE RIGHT GARETH FACING BATTLE
STEPHEN Kenny insists his Ireland side continues to improve, even if victories remain a precious commodity for the Boys In Green.
Ireland take on Armenia at The Aviva tonight (7.45) in their final Group B1 game after a campaign that provided one sparkling performance and decent spells in other games but ultimately, delivered little in terms of positive results.
So while Ukraine and Scotland meet in the Polish city of Krakow this evening to see who tops the group to secure League A football in 2024, the Irish must avoid defeat to ensure they don’t commence the next campaign in lowly League C.
Kenny’s dismal competitive record of three successes and eight draws in 20 games is, as this evening’s clash confirms, relegation form.
The evidence gleaned from the 3-0 hammering of the Scots in Dublin in June, the subsequent 1-1 draw with the Ukrainians in Poland and last Saturday night’s 2-1 defeat to Steve Clarke’s side in Glasgow be the icing on the cake.
Adams said: “Hopefully, we can achieve that. It has been a great camp.
He did everything but find the net as he emptied the tank in the Hampden clash between the sides last week.
His efforts worked a treat for Lyndon Dykes who replaced him in the 77th minute and headed two late goals against a Ukraine defence shattered from chasing Adams. is that there has been an improvement in the quality of performance.
But qualifying campaigns are judged over every game so this one — that opened with the embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Armenia in Yerevan — has failed to deliver for the Irish despite the fact that Kenny boldly declared as long ago as last October that his team intended to seek to top this section.
Yielded
The 2020 Nations League yielded three wins and three defeats while the recent World Cup qualifying group saw the side only beat Azerbaijan and Luxembourg, edging out Luxembourg — who triumphed 1-0 in Dublin — for third spot on goal difference .
So for any manager to proclaim there has been progress in the past two years is a bit of a stretch.
While the FAI will continue
Adams added: “Lyndon came on and played exceptionally well. As a striker you need competition.”
Clarke admits the issues are piling up for Scotland.
Injured
Skipper Andrew Robertson was already injured before September’s triple-header and fellow defenders Nathan Patterson, Kieran Tierney and Scott McKenna have also been to back Kenny in the €550,000 per year post — unless the side loses tonight — there are former Ireland internationals and managers wondering when all these ‘great’ displays will translate into wins and campaigns that see the team competing at the business end rather than scrapping for survival.
“I’m certainly not getting into a debate now on, overall, where we are,” said Kenny yesterday.
“This game is very important for us. We want to go and try to beat Armenia, this is a press conference for that.
“If you’re asking what progress we’ve made, then I suppose the fact that we’ve integrated 16 players that have come through and have been given their competitive debuts in the last 18 months in a team that needed that.
“Obviously, there was a team at the end of its cycle and it needed to be reinvigorated.
“Plus we had these talented young players coming through so the timing was good for that.
“These players have come through, got a lot of experience and played some terrific ruled out, with midfielder Scott McTominay suspended for tonight’s game.
A virus in the camp has also affected Dykes and Adams, although the latter said he felt “great” ahead of a game.
“We have some kind of virus in the camp, just sickness,” said Clarke.
“Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams didn’t feel very well this morning but they will be on the plane.” stuff, consistently.
“Obviously, we’ve mixed that with a performance like the one in Armenia which was a disappointing performance.
“I think you can see the improvement in the team, you can see the way the team is playing, that it’s really evolving, that it’s exciting and attacking.
“People are excited about it but we want to win more games, there’s no more doubt about that, and we want to win tonight.”
Kenny frequently refers to the number of players he has capped for the first time since taking charge in April, 2020 and that saw him oversee his first game away to Bulgaria in September that year.
Believe
But all managers do this and Kenny’s figures are nothing out of the ordinary, although he appears to believe they are.
In his final 13 months as Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni handed first starts to 10 players — including Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick — while Martin O’Neill oversaw senior debuts for 28 players in five years.
That a number included Shane Duffy, John Egan, Alan Browne, Callum O’Dowda and Conor Hourihane, who are all on current senior duty.
Even during his short second stint in charge in 2019, Mick McCarthy first capped Mark Travers, Jack Byrne, Josh Cullen, Aaron Connolly and Troy Parrott and an overall total of eight at senior level.
The 2-1 defeat by the Scots — tough to take given the fine first 45 minutes from the Irish
— was, according to Kenny further evidence of the maturing of his side.
“I know we lost the game but we did a lot of things right.
“It was a very strong performance,” he said.
“Scotland had spells in the second half and with the home crowd and good players, there was always going to be a period.
“Matt Doherty made a good defensive clearance with a header and Gavin Bazunu made a save but there wasn’t really any siege on our goal all evening.
“Scotland are a good team but I thought overall, there were loads of facets of our play I can take encouragement from.
“I think we can build on that again.
“We can see the emergence of players and that’s been critical for us as a nation, and critical as for us as a team.
“You can see players that are only going to get better, that are on an upward curve in their careers.
“They will only improve when they get into the European Championship qualifiers from March to November next year.
“In a year’s time they will be even better, you can see that and that’s by design.
“The players themselves have done that.
“They have got themselves into the team by their performances at club level and with the international team.
“So we are looking to constantly improve.” the manager added.
“We know there are areas where we can improve, we are not naive to suggest that
there are not.”
GARETH BALE is set to go into the World Cup for Wales with major doubts over both his fitness and most effective position in the side.
The superstar (33) started as a striker in a 3-4-3 line-up against Poland on Sunday as he played his first 90 minutes in a year, three days after coming on as a 64th-minute sub against Belgium.
But Bale’s traditional spot on the right flank looks to have been nailed down by the impressive Brennan Johnson, while 6ft 5in frontman Kieffer Moore seems indispensable up front.
Improve
Bale will have to improve his fitness first after Page admitted having reservations about the star lasting the entire game on Sunday.
He said: “Would I have wanted him to play 90 minutes? Probably not.
“But he is Gareth Bale and if you get a free-kick in the 92nd minute there is potential he could put it in the top corner. So you are always going to want to keep him on the pitch.”