Groundhog Day for the Republic of Ireland. To add insult to injury, Greece manager Gus Poyet gave an unsparing assessment of Stephen Kenny’s tactical collapse in the ‘must-win’ European Championships qualifier in Athens on Friday night.
Poyet said his team expected Adam Idah to partner Evan Ferguson up front at the Opap Arena, suggesting that this played into Greek hands by allowing Liverpool wing back Kostas Tsimikas to expose a disconnect between Matt Doherty and Will Smallbone.
Converted full back Callum O’Dowda was also targeted with the Cardiff City winger at fault for the Greece goals in the 2-1 defeat that heaps pressure on Kenny to remain at the helm for a possible March 2024 playoff to qualify for Germany 2024.
“We prepared under [Ireland operating] their two main systems, 5-4-1 and 5-3-2,” said Poyet. “We had the suspicion that it would be two strikers so we put a lot of emphasis on the size and the full backs, how to drag them one way and switch to the other side, to be able to attack.
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“It sounds very easy but you have to do it in the game. Plenty of times in the first half we had our full backs arriving in areas to put the Republic of Ireland back.”
The Uruguayan even foresaw Kenny’s formational switch at half-time when Idah was hauled off before O’Dowda and Smallbone also made way on 53 minutes.
“I am sure the gaffer [Kenny] saw that and tried to change a striker with a midfielder and tried to stop us and we were put under a bit of pressure but then they got weaker in the middle and we pressed through the middle to be able to play wide,” Poyet continued.
“This team understands all this quickly and I am happily surprised because in a club training every day that can take you six or seven months, and here we trained four or five days and we are able to have the players to embrace it.”
When asked to describe the Irish style of play under Kenny as a ‘classic British way’ or ‘possession-based’ or a constant state of flux, the former Chelsea midfielder leaned into option three.
“I understand that situation because when we were analysing the Republic of Ireland we had the impression that you were really playing football with the ball on the floor, playing through the thirds, going wide, putting players in the box and I was happy because of the way that you played.
“And then there were other games where depending on the result you become the Republic of Ireland, with all due respect. You depend on a corner, you depend on a long ball, you depend on fighting for second and third balls.
“But it’s tough boys, it’s tough. I remember many games with the national team where I was on the pitch thinking ‘how are we going to win this?’ And I don’t know how they feel, but that succession of corners at the beginning of the game – five, six, seven, eight – you are playing away from home and you need to win and the ball is coming, coming, coming and it is corner after corner. How do you get out of that?
“If you have three points, or six points and have that bit more confidence it is a little bit easier. When you must win and there is a little bit of tension because you cannot concede, it is tough.
“You need a group who has been playing I don’t know how many years.
“It is difficult, I have been in that situation and it is not for everyone.”
In stark contrast to how Kenny approaches post-match communication, Poyet seized the narrative by delivering a speech before any questions could be asked by the media.
Minutes earlier, Kenny struggled to explain a 13th loss from 23 competitive outings. Unlike the defeats to Luxembourg in 2021 and Armenia in 2022, Greece cannot be cast as minnows, making Friday’s loss more familiar lament than new low point for the group.
“I hear what you are saying but I am disappointed with the game,” said Kenny when asked about his future. “I am not concerned about myself at the moment. We just have to make sure that the squad is ready for Monday and the game against Gibraltar.”
Arguably, Kenny was outmanoeuvred by Poyet from the moment their paths crossed at the Merseyside derby last February.
“I went to a game four months ago, Liverpool versus Everton at Anfield and we were placed both in the same room,” Poyet revealed. “So it was a good coincidence and we said we will see each other in three months.
“It is good for me to see him again and John O’Shea, who was phenomenal for me at Sunderland.”
O’Shea would be an obvious interim manager should the FAI press the nuclear button this summer or following September qualifiers against France and the Netherlands.
Ireland’s assistant manager Keith Andrews would possibly go with Kenny as England under-21 head coach Lee Carsley emerges as an early frontrunner to take the squad into 2024 on a permanent basis.
