Stan deserves time ... gaffes and all

AFTER TALKING to Liam Brady about Wednesday’s game in Prague on the radio yesterday, Pat Kenny read out a listener’s text which, on the basis of its selection for airing, one can only presume to have been representative of the national mood.

The gist of it was that Irish football was in deep crisis, the fans deserved better, the FAI had misled everyone with their talk of a top class managerial appointment and, finally and inevitably, Stan must go. Now.

I double-checked the date to be sure I hadn’t travelled back in time. And, sure enough, it was September 13, 2007. Not October 8, 2006 — the morning after Nicosia. Or February 8, 2007 — the morning after San Marino. But, for a lot of people with an interest in Irish football, it seems nothing has changed in the 11 months of Steve Staunton’s reign. But is that really the case?

Before getting into the intricacies of the manager’s flawed team selection in Prague, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge Ireland have improved under Staunton in course of the last year.

And if that sounds wildly out of touch with the bitter reality of effective elimination from Euro 2008, then simply consider the derision you would have received at full time in Cyprus last October, if you’d cheerily predicted Steve Staunton’s team, having lost four on the spin, would embark on a run of nine games undefeated, including matches at home to the Czech Republic, home and away to Slovakia and a 0-4 friendly win in Denmark.

All of which is by way of saying that, for all the deficiencies in evidence at various times over the past week, it is simply not feasible to maintain that Staunton’s Ireland are in the same leaky boat they were in when practically holed below the waterline in Cyprus and again in San Marino. Crushing disappointments the results may have been in Bratislava and Prague but, taken in their totality, neither game seriously warrants the talk of crisis and catastrophe that seems to be the default setting for any setback since the darkest days of Stan’s reign.

And how fares the captain of the ship? Staunton is not waving by any means but nor is he drowning, as it appeared he was around the start of the campaign when the real damage was done to Ireland’s qualifying hopes.

Staunton obviously got it wrong in his team selection for Wednesday night’s game but it has to be said that there were mitigating circumstances, not least the fact Kevin Kilbane had been one of Ireland’s most influential performers against Slovakia and so was entitled to retain his position on the left side of midfield for the game against the Czechs.

But that posed the problem of how to accommodate Stephen Hunt, who despite outings on the right for Reading, is obviously deployed to best effect on the left flank. In the event, Staunton gambled on Aiden McGeady reaching past his ineffectual display in Bratislava to reproduce the superior form he showed in the win in Aarhus — a game, in which, even by his own admission, Hunt had performed poorly when on from the start.

However, Staunton’s faith in McGeady backfired badly. The winger had a forgettable night in Prague and, if John O’Shea’s injury hadn’t forced a comprehensive rejig, it’s unthinkable the Celtic man would have stayed on the pitch as long as he did.

But O’Shea’s forced withdrawal did expose one of Staunton’s biggest errors to the harshest light — his stubborn insistence on playing Stephen Kelly on the left when, as the random course of events on the night merely served to confirm, he is altogether more confident and effective on the right. The job of extracting the best from the young Birmingham City player should never have been left to chance and, for that, the manager can have no excuse. While there might have been some credible basis to his belief Hunt is best deployed as an impact sub, Staunton’s bad positioning of Kelly for the second game in succession bordered on perverse.

Whether Ireland’s new, more positive configuration — after what had been a torrid opening 35 minutes — might have changed the outcome, we will never know, though with the visitors finally on the front foot there was good reason to believe that it would, at least until referee Kyros Vassaras made his crucial intervention and harshly adjudged Hunt’s risky tackle on Kovac worthy of a red.

Apologies for going back in time again but it seems to me as if the results of the past week are somehow still being viewed through the prism of earlier calamities in the group.

Hence, the renewed clamour today for Steve Staunton’s head, although surely any dispassionate observer outside this island hothouse would have trouble understanding how one defeat in 10 merits an immediate P45.

Being effectively out of the running for qualification with three games to go is clearly a black mark against Staunton, but Ireland did come that bit closer — in the end, depressingly so — to rescuing what, after early humiliations, had not so long ago seemed a lost cause in Group D.

Steve Staunton may still be on a painful learning curve but he has assembled a squad of some promise and should be allowed see out this campaign to see what more he can extract from the players and himself. Short of losing with monotonous regularity, a full campaign is the least any international manager should be entitled, and, only when all the points have been counted in Group D, should any decision be made about his future.

And if he is dismissed, the people now demanding his head are likely to find it is easier to lose a gaffer than find one.

The good, the bad and ... THE STAN

THE GOOD: Under Staunton, a four-game losing streak gave way, after the nadir of Cyprus, to a nine-game unbeaten run which only ended in Prague by the narrowest of margins. With goals spread around the team, the Irish failed to score in just one of those 10 matches. And quite a few have been crackers from play. The manager has also given youth its head, blooding numerous new caps and encouraging talents for the future like Paul McShane and Stephen Ireland. The spirit in the Irish camp is also strong — off the pitch, in Damien Duff’s supportive trip to Slovakia and, on it, the passionate, gut-busting efforts to salvage a point in Prague. As well as maintaining his own dignity amid much vilification, Staunton has also tried to keep feet on the ground in general — as in his refusal to be carried away by the friendly win against Denmark.

THE BAD: Has overseen two of the most calamitous nights in Irish football history, in Cyprus and San Marino. Prone to selection and substitution howlers. Errs on the side of loyalty and can be unnecessarily stubborn in his player selection — witness the belated call-up for Lee Carsley and his seeming obsession with playing square pegs in round holes at full back. Given that he was a seen-it-all- defender himself, his teams have demonstrated a disappointing inability to protect leads. Has talked about overcoming fear and instilling a winning mentality away from home but, when the crunch came, his players ultimately fell short in Bratislava and Prague. Still to convince many that he has what it takes to be a successful international manager.

THE STAN: Beset, as he can be, by enemies, Staunton doesn’t do himself many favours when put in the spotlight. The most recent Stanism? He may truly believe that “we’re in a building process” and “it’s coming on nicely” but saying so an hour after his team has effectively been dumped out of the European Championship is not reading the national mood too well.