Sticking to same plan was a lost opportunity
AND we had thought it was over. We felt that the door had been shut on the constant referendum on the job that Stephen Kenny is doing, but it seems that it is never going to end. Even a dominant display in Malta this evening will not stop the chatter over the winter – from both sides of the fence.
His team didn’t help matters on Thursday night. Two soft goals, both conceded from set-pieces, placed doubt even in some true believers. And some of us were left to wonder at what exactly the manager wanted to get from the match.
A November friendly when the footballing world is distracted by what is happening in Qatar seemed like the perfect opportunity for a bit of experimentation. To try a few different things. If something doesn’t work, it won’t matter a whole pile and most of the 41,000 will have forgotten by the time they have left the stadium.
Stale Solbakken certainly took that view. Kenny’s Norwegian counterpart tinkered with his team, made a few alterations to his midfield and by the time the Ireland manager had made his first substitution in the 75th minute, Solbakken had already made four changes. In other words, he treated the game for what it was supposed to be – a friendly with a view to the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign,
Apart from Callum O’Dowda’s audition for the problematic leftwing back berth – and opinions differ as to how well the Cardiff City man did – Kenny didn’t learn a single thing he hadn’t already known about his squad. In the final home game of the year, in front of a large and supportive crowd, he kept the team as it was after a flat and passive first half and didn’t alter things until the 75th minute,
And this was a friendly international. The next time that Ireland play in Aviva Stadium, it will be against France, who will either be the first team in 60 years to successfully retain the World Cup or a group of some of the most talented footballers in the world who will want to impress their new manager. If injury rules Josh Cullen out of that game, what will Ireland do? For all his qualities, Jayson Molumby wasn’t exactly comfortable in deputising for Cullen when he was suspended in the Armenia game.
One gripe with Kenny is that there is no Plan B for this team. And he hasn’t done much to create a Plan B. It’s understandable that he has settled on the back three, given that John Egan, Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea are three of his best players – and in Andrew Omobamidele, there’s a readymade replacement. With Matt Doherty, who was underwhelming on Thursday, on the right flank and Seamus Coleman, the three central defenders and two wing-backs works for Ireland, once they find a left-sided player. But there must be an alternative.
Will Smallbone should have clearly seen some game-time on Thursday night. He should have been given 25 or 30 minutes in a midfield that was crying out for a little incision.
Smallbone is playing regularly with Stoke in the Championship and could find himself back in Southampton come the New Year. He is a tidy, head-up player and the game against a Norway midfield that contained the class of Martin Odegaard would have appeared to be the ideal environment to bed Smallbone into senior international football.
And yet, despite Smallbone seeming to spend most of the second half warming up, Kenny opted to put Jeff Hendrick on for the final 10 minutes. There is absolutely nothing that we were going to learn about Hendrick in those final 10 minutes which we didn’t already know. Of all the missteps on Thursday night, this was the most befuddling.
You could even question the wisdom of giving Smallbone just 10 minutes, but at least give him that. There was nothing to be gained by putting Hendrick on the field. More understandable was the brief cameo he gave Evan Ferguson as it gave him a taste of what to expect. In the grand scheme of things, a 2-1 friendly defeat to Norway in the middle of November doesn’t amount to much. But it is just the sense that Thursday was a wasted opportunity and 41,000 left Ballsbridge feeling a little shortchanged. Would it not have been prudent to see if Michael Obafemi and Chedioze Ogbene could work in tandem as a strike partnership? It probably wouldn’t have suited either of them, but imagine if it had clicked. Now, we won’t know. It’s difficult to know what the manager expected to get out of Thursday night, apart from seeing if O’Dowda was the answer on the left. The Nations League campaign proved that we struggled when certain players were missing – most obviously Josh Cullen at the base of midfield who is now Kenny’s most important player.
Nothing was done to create options when that situation happens in the next campaign. Hopefully, he will use more of his squad in Valetta this evening.
But it still won’t disguise the fact that Thursday night was a golden opportunity wasted.
And that’s the reason, more than any, why the ceaseless bickering in Irish football will continue over the winter.
75
It took 75 minutes for Kenny to make any changes on Thursday despite the first-half display