LAST UPDATE | 18 Nov 2022
IT’S NO coincidence that the vast majority of Ireland’s best performances under Stephen Kenny have come away from home.
You could point to the 3-0 Nations League win over Scotland and the 0-0 World Cup qualification draw against Portugal as exceptions to this rule, but too often, so-called home advantage has felt more like a burden.
Last night’s drab 2-1 loss to Norway at the Aviva Stadium followed a pattern of Ireland struggling to open up opponents.
Any mid-to-lower-ranked team who comes to Dublin must now know that if they play with a low block, they have a relatively strong chance of success.
It evidently worked for the Norwegians. Before then, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg both took points off Ireland at the Aviva. Lithuania almost secured a draw but a last-gasp Troy Parrott wonder strike spared the Irish team’s blushes on that occasion.
And interestingly, it is when the supposedly better teams come to Dublin, such as Belgium and Scotland, that Ireland invariably look more of a threat.
The simple reason is that sides who play more expansive football enable Kenny’s men to revert to their favoured counter-attacking style.
The manager has overseen just four home wins since taking charge — 4-0 v Qatar, 1-0 v Lithuania, 3-0 v Scotland and 3-2 v Armenia. Of that quartet, only the Qatar and Scotland victories could be described as convincing.
Scoring goals and opening teams up has been the biggest issue for the Boys in Green in recent times (with the defending set pieces also high up on the list).
There were of course caveats such as Covid and injuries wreaking havoc on the squad, but Ireland scored just one goal in their opening eight winless games under Kenny.
There were intermittent signs of improvement thereafter. The October and November windows last year yielded an unexpected goal rush with 10 goals from four matches.
The 2-2 draw with Belgium last March was similarly encouraging, but since then, Ireland appear to have largely reverted to old, unwanted habits.
The fortuitous 1-0 win over Lithuania was followed by back-to-back 1-0 defeats against Armenia and Ukraine.
The rare moment of unequivocal joy provided by a 3-0 victory versus Scotland changed the narrative, but the performances since then have been inconsistent at best — a 1-1 draw with Ukraine, a 2-1 loss to Scotland and a 3-2 defeat of Armenia did little to inspire confidence.
Last night may only have been a friendly, but it was clearly a game that Kenny was determined to win, as the strong starting XI selected would suggest.
The first half felt like a summation of the worst aspects of this current era. Ireland had 62% possession, but in 45 minutes, registered just one attempt on goal — a Callum Robinson effort that was well off target.
Norway were hardly much better but did manage to create a single clear-cut chance, which Leo Ostigard expertly headed home.
The hosts did improve after half-time — they started to play higher up the pitch and the pressure eventually told, thanks to Alan Browne’s superb strike from distance.
Yet they could not build from there — there were several stoppages as Norway’s players, realised Ireland were in the ascendancy, deliberately slowing the game down and disrupting its flow with a raft of substitutions, before grabbing a late winner out of nothing.
The frustration for Kenny will be how comfortable the visitors looked for the majority of the contest, aside from that 20-minute period after half-time.
So it is no secret that Ireland’s big problem is breaking teams down — the players themselves frequently allude to this matter.
“The first half we had a lot of the ball,” Dara O’Shea told reporters after the game. “Norway sat off in a deep block and made it difficult from that perspective. At half-time, the gaffer told us to get in behind and penetrate more, which we did in the second half, and it showed, we put them under pressure.”
Asked whether creativity was an issue for Ireland, Alan Browne’s response was similar.
“Yeah, it probably is. But again I keep repeating myself but it is tough, especially at this level when a team is going to sit in and try and nullify your game, no matter what team you are in the world, you’re going to find it tough and we definitely did. First half we really struggled, we kind of ran out of ideas, second half, we were the much stronger team and had a few chances that we could have put away, but it wasn’t to be.”
So the problem is obvious, but the solution less so.
Kenny also undoubtedly understands that Ireland’s greatest flaw is trying to overcome the low block.
The manager gave an interesting answer last month when he was asked to comment on Ireland U21 international Joe Hodge, who had just made his Premier League debut against Chelsea.
“Personally, in relation to our squad, I would have preferred if it was Connor Ronan who came off the bench,” Kenny told reporters.
“I spoke to him last week and I was hoping that he might be the one to come on because he can add to us.”
Alongside the likes of Dara O’Shea, Jayson Molumby and Troy Parrott, the Wolves youngster was a key player for Kenny at U21 level.
Ronan is not necessarily the answer to Ireland’s prayers but he is the type of player the squad patently lack at present — a creative midfielder with an eye for an incisive pass who adds a degree of unpredictability to the attack. These players are often extremely useful against a low block in adding some ingenuity to proceedings.
Too often last night, Ireland were one dimensional going forward. At times their only idea seemed to be relying on the wing-backs hitting hopeful crosses into the box.
Yet there is no real justification for selecting Ronan, who has joined other teams on loan six times, as it stands.
As Kenny himself explained in that same aforementioned interview: “Wolves kept him [this year] because he had such a good pre-season but that wasn’t necessarily the best thing for him.
“It is hard to play in the Premier League and just because he impressed in pre-season, he is behind Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho and it’s not easy. Unless he’s featuring, it’s difficult to select players.”
The 24-year-old did actually make his Premier League debut recently, albeit as an 89th-minute substitute amid a 3-2 loss at home to Brighton.
It would be a surprise were he not to remain a bit-part player at Molineux this season, though he could reconsider a loan move in January.
For now, though, Kenny’s attacking conundrum is difficult to solve with his options limited.
But perhaps the one consolation to being drawn into a daunting Euros qualification group is that Kenny and co are unlikely to have to worry about a low block when the Netherlands and France come to town.
