Stephen Kenny: 'Nothing is impossible' as Ireland boss looks ahead to autumn crunch
FIGHTING TALK: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny celebrates. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Stephen Kenny insisted ‘nothing is impossible’ as he looked ahead to the Republic of Ireland’s two huge European Championship qualifiers against France and the Netherlands next September.
His side faces the French away on Thursday, September 7th before welcoming Ronald Koeman’s Dutch team to the Aviva Stadium on the Sunday and they need a big four days to resurrect their hopes of making the finals in Germany.
An opening loss to the French in Dublin was followed last Friday by a dreadful performance and 2-1 loss to Greece in Athens with a first win of the campaign finally being bagged on Monday night with a 3-0 success against the minnows from Gibraltar.
“Nothing is impossible,” said Kenny an hour after the final whistle in Dublin. “That’s the way we feel about it. We pushed France very close and it will obviously be different in Paris but it will be an interesting game for us. Very excited about the two games.”
France beating a brave Greek side 1-0 in Paris was good news for the slim Irish hopes and Kenny has admitted more than once that their slow start to this latest campaign has stacked odds against them from here on in.
“We made life difficult for ourselves after Friday night but Greece are a good team and they have got to play Holland twice. We have to play Holland twice and I think France in my opinion will win the group so we have to have good September and October games.
“The return game with Greece here will be a different game and then Gibraltar so we still have every chance and we just have to back ourselves in those windows.”
This win does at least get them off the mark at the third attempt but it was a huff and puff affair through a first-half which produced plenty of shots and possession but no goals. That changed after half-time with a switch of formation.
Kenny started off with the usual 3-5-2 with his full-backs playing a very high line and with Will Smallbone and Jamie McGrath acting as tandem No.8s before he replaced one of his three centre-backs with Mikey Johnston at the interval and, in the process, going with a 4-4-2.
A needs-must situation in the short-term or could it mark a return to the system that he preferred when he first succeeded Mick McCarthy as senior manager back in 2020?
“I like 4-3-3 as a system, the 4-2-3-1. We consistently scored goals here against Scotland, Armenia, Latvia, three goals in each of those games, so that hasn’t been an issue. It’s more that we got punished a few times from long range and we had to sort that out.
“It’s another way of playing and Mikey Johnston gives us possibilities of that. Chieodozie Ogbene gives you possibilities in that regard as well and Mark Sykes has played there recently for Bristol City, who is traditionally a No.8 and had a spell as a wing-back.
“So we are certainly getting more with Chiedozie, Mikey and Mark, possibilities in that area now. Initially when I took over and I was playing that system it was good players but players that were playing in League One at the time and it was a big jump to international football.”
It was Johnston who opened Ireland’s account shortly after half-time and surely not long before the crowd really began to get uneasy with the stalemate and Kenny will be watching his next step closely now that a loan move in Portugal has come to an end.
“He has been terrific. He can definitely start matches. I had it in my head that I would start him. It didn’t happen for him in Greece. We’re still disappointed about Greece, no getting away from that.
“It wasn’t his night but he has terrific talent and I really appreciate it. It will be interesting if he goes back to Celtic or not and we will see how his career goes over the summer.”
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