One win and one loss from two friendlies while England and Wales head to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup
What has Stephen Kenny learned about his Ireland side during recent friendlies against Norway and Malta? Not very much.
While the likes of England and Wales were preparing to begin their respective campaigns in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar last week, Ireland played out two friendlies against Norway and Malta. The Irish team was expected to have an easy win over Malta as the odds were in their favour, however, this wasn’t a game at an online casino Ireland, so odds, as good as they may be, only get you so far. Whether or not the team shows up on the day ready to perform makes a huge difference, and this was very self-evident in the performances against Norway and Malta, as neither were particularly impressive.
Stephen Kenny is not very well liked among Ireland fans. A cursory glance at the comments under the YouTube uploads his press conferences following these recent friendlies makes that abundantly clear. The performances and results haven't been good enough throughout his tenure. In the beginning, he was given time to build from scratch with a promising crop of talented players, but patience is wearing thin among many supporters.
But what has the Republic of Ireland coach learned from these two friendlies?
Lessons learned from 2-1 defeat against Norway
Ireland begin an extremely tough qualifying campaign for the next Euros in March at home to current world champions France. To qualify from a group containing the French, the Netherlands, Greece and Gibraltar would be a miracle. When considering recent form under Kenny, even beating lowly Gibraltar is by no means a guarantee. France and Netherlands seem insurmountable for Kenny's side, and Greece will also prove a tough test.
If Kenny is to continue developing this side, he must quickly learn lessons from these friendlies and improve the team’s fortunes to keep his job. So what did he learn from the game against Norway?
In his post match press conference following Ireland's 2-1 defeat against Norway, Kenny vehemently denied that his team need to work harder in the area of defending set pieces.
After conceding two set piece goals, either side of a great long distance strike from Alan Browne, Kenny was asked if weakness at set pieces is a problem, to which he responded "Absolutely not". He went on to describe Norway's winner from Brondby striker Ohi Omoijuanfo as "a bad goal to concede and not one that we wanted to concede" but pulled short of criticising his team's ability to defend set plays.
He went on to praise his team's creativity when he said "there was a lot of good play in the second half to create chances" but inferred that perhaps the strike partnership needs more game time to become more clinical: "it's the first time the front two have played together".
Kenny struck a very confident and combative figure in the press conference, which was quite surprising given his woeful record in charge of the ROI men's team. In 2022, he has presided over just three wins in ten matches in all competitions, a run which included a 1-0 defeat against lowly Armenia.
Lessons learned from 1-0 win over Malta
Kenny’s side bounced back from the defeat against Norway with a win in Malta. It's a result which should be put into context. ROI sit 49th in the FIFA World Rankings and in this game they managed a narrow win over 168th placed minnows Malta.
Fans on social media have been quick to point that fact out.
It's hardly something to shout about, but Kenny was positive in his post match assessment of the game. The Ireland manager said: "It was important to keep a clean sheet tonight. Two tough games in three days. Norway game had a high level of intensity and was a very tactical game. It took a lot out of the players. I think we learned a lot in the Norway game."
Exactly what they learned from the Norway defeat and took into this game is unclear, but a win is a win is a win. Callum Robinson's second half goal earned Ireland the win and that is always something to be pleased about.
Kenny came across as very dull and once again very stubborn in his post match following the Malta win.
However, after failing to recognise the issue with defending set plays in the Norway game, Kenny seemed to acknowledge a problem with attacking set pieces against Malta: "We weren't successful on set plays today"
He offered one more point in terms of lessons learned when he said: "One of the things that we probably learned from the game against Norway was that obviously Callum and Micheal playing together are better as split strikers than twin strikers".
Pressure continues to mount on Kenny
Stephen Kenny and Ireland watch on as England and Wales navigate their World Cup group games with envy. Will Irish fans be celebrating qualification at a major tournament again soon? Not many will be too optimistic.
Kenny was able to glean something from these two friendlies, but will need to work miracles if he's going to accomplish something in a very difficult Euro 2024 qualifying group next year.
Stick around for more football news including match reports, predictions, broadcasting news and football business.
