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Soccer

Brian Kerr criticises Stephen Kenny for reliance on inexperienced players

Republic of Ireland continued their poor run of form in the Stephen Kenny era with a 1-1 draw aga...



Brian Kerr criticises Stephen...
Soccer

Brian Kerr criticises Stephen Kenny for reliance on inexperienced players

Republic of Ireland continued their poor run of form in the Stephen Kenny era with a 1-1 draw against Azerbaijan in Dublin on Saturday evening. 

A result that ends Ireland's run of three defeats on the trot in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, it will be little solace that Kenny's team could not overcome Azerbaijan on Saturday evening.

"Massively disappointed" with what he had witnessed, former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr was critical of Kenny's decision to play with an inexperienced attacking trio.

Adam Idah (20), Aaron Connolly (21) and Troy Parrott (19) were the three players Kenny decided to play up front against Azerbaijan.

While Idah was selected as man-of-the-match, Kerr believes that Ireland were seriously lacking going forward.

"We don't have great players," he stressed on Virgin Media, "I don't care what anyone says about how well we played against Portugal.

"But when you put the five players we had on tonight from the midfield up to the forward positions and you look at where they are [in their careers], you're open to the situation we had tonight.

"You're putting in Troy Parrott and yes, he scored two against Andorra one of the worst teams in the world and there was a bit of a hullabaloo about, 'Yeah, he did great.'

"When you're putting him in the match tonight it was a different level and he struggled."

The Brighton & Hove Albion attacker Aaron Connolly also came in for criticism for his performance.

"Yes, he has gotten into good attacking positions," Kerr clarified, "but he hasn't scored any goals.

"Adam Idah held up the ball better, played reasonably well the other night... but didn't play well tonight and the three of them haven't scored any goals between them.

"Hoping that they're going to do it in the short-term is unrealistic."

Stephen Kenny

Discussing Stephen Kenny and his tenure thus far, Kerr identified that the promised change his era was set to enact has not yet taken hold.

"The progress is not at the pace that we were told it might be from the beginning," he explained.

"We were told that the players are good enough that we should dominate possession in all areas of the pitch and play a new style of game that would be much more enjoyable to watch.

"It has been at times, but we haven't been able to dominate possession in all areas of the pitch.

"We should be making more of a fist of [qualifying though] than losing at home to Luxembourg and drawing with Azerbaijan."

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Azerbaijan Brian Kerr Damien Delaney Republic Of Ireland Stephen Kenny