Former Ireland International Damien Delaney joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show on Tuesday to discuss Stephen Kenny.
Over the last week, Stephen Kenny has received public votes of confidence from Keith Andrews, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson.
All three said that Kenny has a long-term vision that needs to be nurtured rather than abandoned. But Damien Delaney believes that Kenny also has to start winning games. Upcoming games against Azerbaijan and Qatar offer him the ideal opportunity to do so.
"He needs wins," Delaney said.
"There's a certain portion of this country that are fans of this country that think that results are everything. It's a results game. I agree with those fans to a point. Unless he starts getting results on the board, and Qatar is an ideal opportunity to do that, as is Azerbaijan away.
"This window is going to be critical."
Beating Qatar likely won't carry much weight with those fans who are doubting Kenny. There are no points on offer in that game. Beating Azerbaijan would be important but it will also just wipe out the loss at home rather than be pointed to as something to build on.
Kenny isn't in a situation where he can turn the tide of perception in this window and this window alone. But it would definitely help a lot to come away with two convincing victories.
"When you've got Portugal and Serbia coming up in the next one, if he can get two wins — and I think he needs two wins to be perfectly honest with you — I think that will certainly calm an awful lot of people down and put him in a much better light moving forward.
"A much better atmosphere going into the final two games."
Delaney hopes that Kenny and Ireland go to Azerbaijan to play without fear. That's the key to overwhelming them despite their relative technical prowess.
"The Azerbaijan team are technically quite good and they will have long periods of possession but it will be in their own half. As soon as you press them you can win it back off them. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a little bit more direct against them, especially away from hom.
"I'm not advocating going back to Giovanni Trapattoni direct but I'm just saying the best way to get a result against this team is to put them under a certain amount of pressure and they will make mistakes.
"An awful lot more balls forward, pick up a couple more second balls and apply enough pressure to get a win because I do believe Stephen Kenny is in must-win territory.
"His contract is up."
Ireland have "huge determination" to get elusive win | Stephen Kenny.
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