For Stephen Kenny, Friday night in Athens marked one of the biggest disappointments of his reign as Republic of Ireland manager thus far.
His Irish side fell to a 2-1 defeat in the OPAP Arena, after goals from Anastasios Bakasetas and Giorgos Masouras. The defeat means that Ireland now face an even more challenging route if they are to stand any hope of
Though Greece were always going to pose a huge test, especially on home soil, Ireland offered nothing in open play, and several players put in some of their poorest performances in an Irish jersey.
READ HERE: Chaos As Hordes Of Ireland Fans Stranded Outside Athens Stadium At Kick-Off
It now means that Ireland will likely need to get results in both games against the Netherlands if they are to stand any chance of progressing from their group to EURO 2024, and questions are likely to be asked of the regression in Kenny's team.
In his post-match interview with RTÉ, Stephen Kenny was asked for his thoughts on the issues in the Irish performance.
Kenny defended his players' performance, suggesting he felt it was better than they had been given credit for, but did accept that criticism was coming his way for the result. Sadly for the Irish manager, that was exactly what came his way.
Greece v Republic of Ireland: Stephen Kenny interview leaves fans underwhelmed
Tony O'Donoghue asked Stephen Kenny for his thoughts on what was a thoroughly underwhelming performance from his Irish team on Friday night.
“Criticism is part of it and I have to accept it tonight. We wanted it to be better than it was.”
Ireland manager Stephen Kenny speaks to @Corktod after the 2-1 loss to Greece. #Euro2024 #GREvIRL #RTESoccer pic.twitter.com/3J02YALzVh— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 16, 2023
The Ireland manager strangely said that his team had started the game well - something the naked eye would have told onlookers was not correct - and rattled off a few excuses, before eventually taking responsibility for the team's poor showing:
We're disappointed with the performance, but we were still well in the game for all of it. We let ourselves down with the defending for the two goals. That's the disappointing aspect.
We're trying to get a bit of parity, because their league finishes six weeks earlier. All the other leagues played right up to this week.
In the first half, Greece were better than us, they had more control of the game. They hurt us with the big switches from right to left and left to right, 40-50 yard switches from full-back to full-back. We overcompensated to give ourselves too much to do, too much ground to make up, a little bit.
We started okay, but we got pinned in for them corner kicks, five in a row and we couldn't get out. We got through that, and then a bad goal to give away. It was a bit of a harsh penalty, but it is what it is...that went against us.
We changed [at half-time] to a 3-4-2-1 to establish more control of the game.
To be honest with you, we did have more control, but it's probably because...they dropped off. We can't assume credit for that.
We've made it hard for ourselves but all we can do is get ready for Monday (against Gibraltar).
Criticism is part of it, and I have to accept it tonight. I do have to accept that, we wanted it to be better than it was tonight. There's no doubt about that. At the same time, we were still right in the game at the end and had chances to equalise. We kept going, kept going.
Three years into his reign as Ireland manager, Stephen Kenny will be facing fresh questions about his suitability to carry this team forward after yet another setback on Friday. A year on from Ireland's awful performance in Armenia in the Nations League, things do not seem to have progressed, and fans were not filled with confidence by Kenny's post-match interview.
READ HERE: Liam Brady & Richie Sadlier Were Not In The Mood To Justify Ireland Horror Show In Greece
This Stephen Kenny interview is horrendous, it's genuinely giving me less confidence in him than I had beforehand
— Luc (@lucfitz_) June 16, 2023
How can anyone watch that interview with Stephen Kenny on RTE & think he should still be manager? He hasn't a clue what he's doing. #KennyOut
— 🇮🇪 (@CelticSean81) June 16, 2023
Not his fault he was given the job, everyone takes it, but Stephen Kenny is on a hiding to nothing now and his ideas were uninspiring as are his interviews.
He pulled the excuse early when Bazunu and Cullen didn’t.
He is really uninspiring.
Hope he has more ideas somewhere— For The Love of Paul McGrath Villa Podcast (@LoveMcGrathpod) June 16, 2023
That interview from Kenny just says he's in denial mode of where we are. You can blame defending all day long but on the flip side where was the creativity? 🤔#GREvIRL
— Dr Paul 😉 (@1paulmcel) June 16, 2023
#COYBIG Kenny was in denial with his comments in the post-match interview that Ireland started well and were in the game. Greece totally outclassed Ireland from the early stages of the match.
— Mark (@markmgr) June 16, 2023
Some of the assessments of Stephen Kenny after his interview were undoubtedly harsh, but it's hard to argue his fanbase will have taken another hit after Friday night's game.
Ireland will need a big result against Gibraltar on Monday at the Aviva Stadium to reignite any kind of faith in this qualifying campaign.
SEE ALSO: Chaos As Hordes Of Ireland Fans Stranded Outside Athens Stadium At Kick-Off
