Irish Independent football journalist Dan McDonnell joined Off The Ball on Tuesday evening to reflect on Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland squad.
There has not been much change in what was Kenny's second squad as Republic of Ireland manager and this came as no surprise to McDonnell.
"That in itself is informative," he said.
"He basically named a 24-man squad last month. He has lost Troy Parrott, he's changed one of the goalkeepers - Kelleher instead of O'Hara - and he's brought in Jack Byrne and Derrick Williams.
"That's it. That's the turnover."
Jack Byrne said Kenny spoke to him before his previous squad announcement, and what the Shamrock Rovers' midfielder has done in the interim was clearly enough for Kenny.
"Jack played well against AC Milan and followed that up with two goals at the weekend," Kenny said of the former Manchester City academy player's inclusion.
"He’s a very talented player with a good range of passing so he is in the squad on merit.
"He's different and has that range of passing which is very interesting and very effective and obviously he has good vision."
Existing pool of players
Stephen Kenny is just happy to have Coleman and Doherty@Paddypower
Full Story: https://t.co/76sWjzviie pic.twitter.com/hQtppn7gEz— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 29, 2020
McDonnell says it is the lack of change in the squad that is most notable.
"It's not really the squad announcement that's the intrigue," according to the Irish Independent journalist.
"It's almost confirming the point that's it's what he does with the existing pool of players that are there rather than a radical overhaul.
"In fairness, he has brought in Idah and Molumby and he has done that from the start and given them games - while Connolly was around last year but only on the fringes."
McDonnell has been covering the League of Ireland beat for quite some time so is well versed in Kenny's modus operandi.
The national team's Stephen Kenny is the same as the Dundalk verstion when it comes to decision-making.
"When Stephen Kenny has a formula that he is broadly happy with, [...] he doesn't necessarily like change that much," according to McDonnell.
"He is not someone who is a big squad rotation person. He has an idea about the staff he wants, and the setup he wants.
"He probably hasn't had a lot of time to think about the players he wants, so it is not a surprise to me that from game two to game three we are not suddenly seeing bodies being plucked from left, right and centre.
"I'm not expecting a big formational change, it's more a case of trying to produce a better version of what we saw earlier this month rather than scrubbing the whiteboard clean and starting from scratch."
