Management is largely about making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. The likes of Kosovo and Northern Ireland are managing that, but Ireland simply aren’t
Heimir Hallgrimsson should be handed his P45. What we saw in Yerevan was as bad as it gets. I’ve been watching Ireland since the 1950s.
This was worse than anything I’ve ever seen before. Worse than losing at home to Luxembourg, far worse than the 5-2 defeat in Cyprus under Steve Staunton.
There are many people to blame. There are a lot of players who simply don’t deliver when they play for their country.
It’s clear too that the quality is lacking in crucial areas – especially in midfield.
The FAI have to take a huge chunk of blame too as the governing body has made a habit of making bad decisions.
Look at the various labour disputes going on. It’s a dysfunctional organisation that has been an embarrassment for most of its existence.
But, in terms of the past week, the buck has to stop with the manager.
He has to go, go this week, and the FAI should appoint a caretaker for the games in October and November.
This campaign is dead so what’s the point in hanging on to the Dentist for another couple of months.
He is a bluffer who has promised much but hasn’t delivered.
Last week, there was so much optimism around – a lot of it coming from out of the Irish camp. All the talk was of them having grown up as a team, and of now being ready to go and make their mark at major tournaments.
To borrow the sarcastic question once posed by the former US vice-president candidate Sarah Palin: ‘how’s that hopey-changey stuff working out for ya?’
Only for Caoimhin Kelleher, Hungary would have won comfortably in Dublin and Armenia would have won 5-1 last night.
It’s not just the Dentist’s inexplicable tactics that have to be questioned. Ireland don’t look to be motivated properly. I really wonder about their preparation. What on earth do they do on the training ground?
This is the third qualifying campaign in a row that is effectively over after two games.
Ireland have become minnows. Everybody wants to play against Ireland. A few days ago, Portugal filleted Armenia 5-0. They hadn’t kept a clean sheet in three years but they came into this game feeling they could do something.
That tells you about Ireland’s standing on the international stage now. We’re seen as pushovers.
Armenia are ranked 105th in the world by FIFA, but Kosova are ranked just 10 spots higher. On Tuesday, they beat Sweden 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
It’s not as if they lucked out, hanging on by the skin of their teeth either.
Kosovo scored twice in the first half and saw out the game comfortably from there. This was against a Sweden team that could afford to hold Alexander Isak of Liverpool – the most expensive player in British football history – in reserve as a second half substitute.
This was a Sweden team that had Arsenal’s new striker, Viktor Gyokeres, up front. Also in attack was Anthony Elanga, who made a big money move to Newcastle United in the summer.
Still, Kosovo – which has a population of just 1.5 million – won with players from Kolos Kovalivka in Ukraine, Poland’s Motor Lublin and CFR Cluj in Romania.
Look at the fright Northern Ireland – with a population not that much bigger than Kosovo – gave Germany in Cologne on Sunday. They gave as good as they got for much of the game.
Michael O’Neill started players from the likes of Blackpool, San Diego FC, Preston, Stevenage Borough and Swansea.
North Macedonia have already played five qualifiers and are top of a group that includes Belgium, who are ranked eighth in the world. Look through their squad and you’ll have to resort to Google to identify quite a few clubs.
Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Armenia – they’re able to punch above their weight. That used to be an Irish strength. Now we are consistent in only one sense – we’re poor in game after game after game.
We can get bogged down in where our players play because we don’t have any at the big Manchester clubs or Arsenal or Liverpool anymore but most of them play at a higher level than many national teams in Europe.
David Moyes is no mug and he’s definitely not a sentimentalist. He gave Seamus Coleman a new contract for this season because he felt he could still cut it in the Premier League.
That the Dentist didn’t have the basic cop-on to call up one of Ireland’s most consistently important players begs belief.
Management is largely about making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. The likes of Kosovo and Northern Ireland are managing that, but Ireland simply aren’t.
Nathan Collins, who was really poor, makes rash decisions and bad mistakes in game after game for Ireland but, with Brentford, he looks a different player.
He’s not alone in this. Far too many Irish players seem to be diminished by playing for the national team, rather than growing with the challenge.
He doesn’t deserve to be captain. He barely deserves to be on the starting 11, to be honest.
This is as bad as it gets. And I really hope that’s the end of Hallgrimsson. Why he didn’t start Adam Idah beggared belief.
What is particularly bizarre is the fact that there is talk of Hallgrimmsson being in talks with the FAI for a new contract.
What on earth is going on? I hope those talks are parked, and the Dentist can go back to filling in cavities many miles away from us.
#Ireland #manager #dentist #bluffer #sacked
