Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ATTACK TO FUTURE THE
Kenny refusing to go back in time and is confident he can MICK his philosophy pay
LIKE most of us right now, Mick Mccarthy could do with a trim judging by his wispy lockdown barnet.
There’s a touch of Doc Brown about him, and his loyal backers here in Ireland would still love to rev up the Delorean and go back in time.
But if that makes Stephen Kenny the Marty Mcfly in this scenario, don’t expect him to buy into the Back to the Future narrative.
Since succeeding Mccarthy last year, Kenny has been on a mission to change the perception of the Republic of Ireland team.
So bullish in fact, that he hasn’t done himself any favours by piling additional and considerable pressure on his shoulders with his bold declarations from an early stage.
In the build-up to tonight’s opening World Cup qualifier in Serbia, his opposite number Dragan Stojkovic labelled Ireland a ‘British style team’.
That was standard fare under a multitude of Irish managers but Stojkovic – going into his first game – must not have got the memo that Ireland are a team in transition.
Kenny bristles at exactly those lazy stereotypes and refuses to subscribe to the notion that Ireland can only play one, direct way. Instead of a familiar and pragmatic approach, he wants his team to boss games and dominate the ball home or away.
Risk and reward. Or that’s the idea at least as there’s been little reward so far.
While some of the football in his eight games to date was occasionally easy on the eye, the lack of a win and just one goal scored is concerning.
So it was put to him yesterday that some of Ireland’s best results away from home – think Cardiff, Gelsenkirchen, Vienna – came from a backs-to-thewall, counter-attacking mindset.
It was exactly that the last time Ireland were in Belgrade too, forcing a 2-2 draw with Serbia under Martin O’neill in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup mission.
Some former Irish internationals, like Kevin Doyle, have urged Kenny to embrace a more pragmatic approach because points on the board is the priority. Not that it did
Mccarthy much good in 2019, mind. Wins over Gibraltar and Georgia were the highlight of that miserable campaign when Ireland finished third in a two horse race.
In Belgrade yesterday, Kenny said: “I’m realistic as well.
“When you’re playing a team like Serbia, sometimes there will be periods where they find a rhythm with their passing and find a flow.
“You do have to defend well.
And there’s nothing wrong with good defending. It’s important and we’re not neglecting the importance of defending.
“So I get the point you’re making but that doesn’t deter from the way we want to play.
“I have my mind made up about how I want to approach it. The instructions will be clear.
“We want to pass the ball well, we want to create chances and we want to control the game, as we did in Slovakia for example. We got draws in Serbia and one or two other countries but we had the upper hand in Slovakia for the majority of the game – the lion’s share and most of the chances.
“That’s not to say Serbia won’t have better attacking players than Slovakia. They’ll pose a different threat and we have to adapt.
“But we shouldn’t limit our expectations in terms of when we’re in possession and when we can cause a threat ourselves.
“You can’t on the one hand give instruction and then just, all of a sudden, rip everything up and say knock it into the channels. So the answer to that is a clear no.”
All of Kenny’s focus is on Serbia. The weekend can wait.
Players like Aaron Connolly and James Mcclean may not be as match sharp as others considering their limited training time of late after respective injuries.
But Kenny insists he cannot afford to prioritise between tonight’s clash and Saturday’s home game with Luxembourg.
A point in Belgrade would be a good night’s work, but only if Ireland follow-up with a win over the group minnows at the weekend.
“Listen, this is the World Cup,” added Kenny. “There are only eight games. If you start well, you start well.
“It can be about momentum and you don’t get very many opportunities like that in life.
“You’ve got to grasp it and take the opportunity and give everything of ourselves and when the game against Serbia is over then we can switch to Luxembourg.”