Parrott’s goal glossed over a poor night’s work
I WATCHED Ireland’s Under21 team carry off a superb 2-0 European Championship qualifying win against Sweden.
To achieve such a result as the team enters the business end of the group was magnificent and leaves Jim Crawford’s side well placed to at least claim a play-off.
If the result was top class then the manner in which Jim and the players claimed the victory was even better.
Tactical
It was a tactical masterclass from Jim.
There was a solid shape to the team and Ireland’s game management was excellent.
Conor Coventry ran central midfield.
Jim and the players can now push on confidently at home to Bosnia and Montenegro in June before travelling to Italy in their last game.
lAST Tuesday’s 1-0 friendly win over lithuania was celebrated in some quarters as if Ireland had qualified for the World Cup finals.
I continue to be bewildered by the absence of hard questions being asked by the majority of those in the media about this Ireland team and management.
The same applies to many, many fans who seem to have bought into the myth surrounding this side.
This Aviva victory was only the fifth win in 22 games under Stephen Kenny (right) with not one of these against opposition of any note.
More worryingly, the 90 minutes against Lithuania — one of the worst sides to play in Dublin in years — showed that we won’t be winning many crunch games.
This was a tactical embarrassment with Troy Parrott’s goal simply applying a gloss to a poor night’s work.
I was delighted for Troy because he showed great intelligence to drop deep to find the room to unleash his stunning shot for the 97th minute winner.
Loose
A few minutes earlier he had also showed good reading of the game when he picked up a loose ball only to be denied by a fine save.
Parrott had an impressive stint from the bench but where does Stephen Kenny play him in his 3-4-3 system?
This formation does not suit Parrott so will the manager change his system to 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 to include Parrott who looks the most likely striker to become a genuine goal threat.
He needs to look at it because Will Keane is not of international class and Callum Robinson has enjoyed his purple patch for Ireland.
If he plays another 50 games for Ireland he won’t score ten more goals.
That’s one dilemma for Stephen but there’s a bigger one to be confronted.
Throughout the game Ireland failed to find a way to unlock a side that was content to sit back and allow the home side to enjoy loads of possession.
What did Stephen do? He sent six or sometimes seven players into their half to tackle 11.
But it failed to work because we never got a wide man or a runner to the endline to cause Lithuania trouble. Not once did the Irish side create a chance from a cross from this area of the pitch.
So Lithuania were content to congest the game between their penalty area and the centre circle.
Baffling
How Stephen didn’t tackle this as the first half wore on was baffling.
It reminded me of Stephen’s lack of a response when Ireland lost 3-2 away to Serbia when they changed their formation and personnel at half time.
Why not push either Nathan Collins or Dara O’Shea forward to join midfield, allowing John Egan to hold the fort?
If there was one positive to emerge from the game it’s that Collins can slot into the back three for Seamus Coleman immediately.
Against Belgium — even if it was also a meaningless friendly — there was an identity to the side with strong defending even if the way the two goals were conceded was disappointing.
So when Lithuania arrived in town, this was the opportunity to show progress.
Yet, the manager and the side failed miserably.
I was looking on and thinking ‘Is this rally happening?’
Correct
It was embarrassing. A few days after the game, I sat down at home and watched the match again.
My first impressions were correct.
Okay, we’ll take the win and the superb strike that won it.
Even then, however, the celebrations were an embarrassment. Roy Keane was correct to call it out.
We’re told by Stephen, he admires the persistence of the players. Well that has been in every Ireland side’s DNA from day one.
We’re being told that the fans are all behind Stephen and his team and that it’s party time at the Aviva Stadium.
Well, I’m being called a party pooper by some people but I’ll call it as I see it.
This ‘party’ is coming to an end.