ROY KEANE HAS accused some Republic of Ireland players of being too arrogant and says it doesn’t look good for manager Heimir Hallgrímsson after the disastrous start to World Cup qualifying.
The Boys in Green lost 2-1 to Armenia on Tuesday night after salvaging a 2-2 draw at home to Hungary in the opening game on Saturday.
The Ireland boss expressed his own shock at the level of the performance in Yerevan, describing it as the worst of his 14-month tenure and reiterating his belief that his squad have an issue with confidence.
Keane, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, once again aimed stinging criticism towards the FAI, stating they “couldn’t organise a p***-up in a brewery”, and also pointed the finger at some in the squad for their attitude.
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“It’s been tough on the manager. Physically, they’re not mobile. We got a couple of defenders there… oh my goodness. The other issue, Ireland do have a few players who strut around like they are players and if they ever went into a decent club or a decent team, they wouldn’t last two minutes,” he said.
“And they’re kind of the important players for Ireland. There’s a bit of ego, a bit of arrogance for Ireland and they’ve got nothing to be arrogant about.
“If you just compare obviously to England or even Wales, they do have a lot more players competing at the highest level and that makes an international manager’s job a lot easier.
“So when they turn up, they’re already up to speed, they’re playing top level matches. But are the Irish lads and I’m watching and some of them are playing in the Premier League, but they’re not even that good in the Premier League.
“They’re just kind of surviving themselves. A lot of players in the Championship. Ireland are a long way off getting back to competing at the top.”
Keane said it was a “sore one” to be well beaten by Armenia and felt Hallgrímsson “will be under huge pressure” because “the Irish media are really powerful.”
He stated once again that he had been interviewed by the FAI to replace Stephen Kenny before Hallgrímsson was eventually confirmed as the successor, and that there would be “an emotional” attachment to possibly returning having worked as Martin O’Neill’s assistant when they qualified for Euro 2016.
”I don’t know, honestly. You don’t know until you’re asked the question. It’s not on my radar because there’s a manager in the job. I hate talking about jobs when there’s somebody in there.
“There’s obviously an emotional side there and for all the negative stuff, it is a great job for someone because you can go in and walk into national football and I love the flow of the job.
“But you hope this manager can get his act together and get some results, but it doesn’t look good.”
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'There's a bit of ego, a bit of arrogance for Ireland. They've got nothing to be arrogant about'
ROY KEANE HAS accused some Republic of Ireland players of being too arrogant and says it doesn’t look good for manager Heimir Hallgrímsson after the disastrous start to World Cup qualifying.
The Boys in Green lost 2-1 to Armenia on Tuesday night after salvaging a 2-2 draw at home to Hungary in the opening game on Saturday.
The Ireland boss expressed his own shock at the level of the performance in Yerevan, describing it as the worst of his 14-month tenure and reiterating his belief that his squad have an issue with confidence.
Keane, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, once again aimed stinging criticism towards the FAI, stating they “couldn’t organise a p***-up in a brewery”, and also pointed the finger at some in the squad for their attitude.
“It’s been tough on the manager. Physically, they’re not mobile. We got a couple of defenders there… oh my goodness. The other issue, Ireland do have a few players who strut around like they are players and if they ever went into a decent club or a decent team, they wouldn’t last two minutes,” he said.
“And they’re kind of the important players for Ireland. There’s a bit of ego, a bit of arrogance for Ireland and they’ve got nothing to be arrogant about.
“If you just compare obviously to England or even Wales, they do have a lot more players competing at the highest level and that makes an international manager’s job a lot easier.
“So when they turn up, they’re already up to speed, they’re playing top level matches. But are the Irish lads and I’m watching and some of them are playing in the Premier League, but they’re not even that good in the Premier League.
“They’re just kind of surviving themselves. A lot of players in the Championship. Ireland are a long way off getting back to competing at the top.”
Keane said it was a “sore one” to be well beaten by Armenia and felt Hallgrímsson “will be under huge pressure” because “the Irish media are really powerful.”
He stated once again that he had been interviewed by the FAI to replace Stephen Kenny before Hallgrímsson was eventually confirmed as the successor, and that there would be “an emotional” attachment to possibly returning having worked as Martin O’Neill’s assistant when they qualified for Euro 2016.
”I don’t know, honestly. You don’t know until you’re asked the question. It’s not on my radar because there’s a manager in the job. I hate talking about jobs when there’s somebody in there.
“There’s obviously an emotional side there and for all the negative stuff, it is a great job for someone because you can go in and walk into national football and I love the flow of the job.
“But you hope this manager can get his act together and get some results, but it doesn’t look good.”
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FAI having his say Roy Keane