Kerr's chance to experiment

THE search must go on for the key to that elusive consistent performance that will lead to qualification for the World Cup finals once Brian Kerr has assessed Ireland's unpredictable form against Faroe Islands at Lansdowne Road.

Kerr must welcome the chances friendly matches against Croatia, in November, and Portugal in February, will offer for further experimentation after the contrasts of the World Cup ties against France and the Faroes.

It seems curious to acknowledge that while there was general approval for Ireland's football in a match they drew, in Paris, a comprehensive 2-0 win over the Faroes in Dublin provoked a more critical reaction.

Kerr pinpointed weaknesses in Ireland's performance against the Faroes, their inability to capitalise upon a plethora of scoring chances the most obvious.

Yet this weakness has long been an element of Ireland's play.

Cast your mind back two months to the friendly match against Bulgaria at Lansdowne Road, a match that was distinguished by a marvellous goal from Andy Reid.

After that 1-1 draw Kerr said: "It was a decent enough performance. We made a fair amount of chances and had we taken them we would have been out of sight."

Centre-forwards against Bulgaria were Clinton Morrison and Damien Duff, in the absence of the injured Robbie Keane. Jonathan Macken (Manchester City) came in for Morrison and made little impact.

Others who have been tried at centre-forward over the past year included Gary Doherty (Norwich), Alan Lee (Cardiff City), Graham Barrett (Coventry City), Jason Byrne (Shelbourne) and David Connolly (Leicester City).

Morrison had gone through nine international matches without a goal but his shooting sights were aligned properly for the qualifying ties against Cyprus and Switzerland.

Kerr's decision to revert to a solution to Ireland's striking problems that was first successfully employed by Mick McCarthy by pairing Duff and Keane in the 2002 World Cup was instructive. For Kerr has shown this season that he prefers using Duff in his more natural wing position.

Kerr showed his pragmatic side by employing Duff at centre-forward against Faroes to achieve a more balanced team. Andy Reid, who operated at centre-forward when he replaced the injured Morrison against France, is not as strong, versatile or effective as Duff and is, like Duff, more suited to a role on the flank.

The harsh truth, of course, is neither Duff nor Reid is a consistent goal-scorer. They are creators rather than finishers.

Ireland does not possess a player with a consistent goal-scoring record other than Robbie Keane. And it is important that Kerr tries different combinations when possible to identify alternatives, should injury deprive him of Keane and/or Morrison in the future.

Kerr's philosophy was evident as soon as Ireland were firmly in control of the Faroes. Liam Miller was introduced to midfield and Gary Doherty, predictably, was given a 15-minute window of opportunity to partner Robbie Keane.

Kerr continues to juggle his players and expose them to different challenges.

He said: "Damien (Duff) and other players are adaptable enough position-wise if we want to play them in different roles and if we wanted to include, say, more than one outside left in the team.

"Fellows understand their responsibilities in different areas of the pitch and it is very important that they are able to deliver on them."

Goal-scoring is all about confidence and Morrison's experiences this season were proof of that. How much more upbeat he looked against Switzerland and in the 40 minutes of action he saw against France after ending 12 months without a goal by scoring against Cyprus. How then, you might well ask, did Robbie Keane miss so many scoring chances against the Faroe Islands after he had scored twice to set a new Irish record inside the opening 32 minutes? He can hardly have been short of confidence.

Here we must enter the realm of speculation and our theory is this: Keane is an instinctive goal-scorer, at his best when he has to react quickly.

Given time and space, he is not as calculating or as decisive as goal- scorers of acknowledged international class who are either current or of the recent past, like Ronaldinho, Romario, Van Nistelrooy, Henry, Bergkamp, Henrik Larsson and Trezeguet to name but a few.

This happened to Robbie when he found himself one-on-one with the Faroes' goalkeeper on two separate occasions.

Each time he failed to finish, even if he was unlucky that one effort squeezed past the goalkeeper, only to be rescued on the goal-line.

It is interesting to recall the fact that Alex Ferguson once responded to the possibility of signing Robbie by suggesting he was not prepared to pay the transfer money needed for a player who would not command a first-team place immediately.

Whatever about Ferguson, the fact is that Robbie Keane is worth his weight in gold to Ireland and woe are we if he is prevented from playing in any of our remaining World Cup matches.

He has scored 23 goals in 55 internationals and that is an outstanding return by our standards.

It is as well to recognise, however that his club manager, Jacques Santini at Spurs, does not employ him as an orthodox centre-forward - he is more useful to the team as a support player for the centre-forward.

When Morrison is in the Irish team the role Robbie plays is very similar and probably one he is happiest in.

The injury to Morrison highlighted again just how thinly resources for Ireland are spread in key positions.

Kerr must plan and experiment every chance he can get to identify effective alternatives to cover when front line players like Robbie Keane and Damien Duff will not be available.

Which is why matches against Croatia and Portugal outside of competition are hugely important and very welcome.