There is no doubt that Ireland have made progress under Stephen Kenny. They have blooded quite a few young players, improved the playing style, and have secired some promising results over the last couple of years.
The issue has been that the progress has not been linear, even in individual games.
Ireland have looked excellent at times, passing the ball around nicely and attacking freely. Quite often, this is then undone with one or two mistakes that ultimately ends up costing the team.
That is something Kenny will have to address.
Liam Brady identifies Ireland issue under Stephen Kenny
Liam Brady has seen some improvements from Ireland in recent times, coming away impressed with a few of their performances. In saying that, he does see one persistent issue that continues to trouble them under the current manager.
Speaking on RTÉ, Brady said that lapses in concentration were something that the Irish players will have to cut out of their game moving forward.
I think a lot of people are undecided about Stephen Kenny. He has had some very good performances as of late, the two games against Scotland I thought were particularly good.
Unfortunately, at Hampden Park we undid it in the second half when we lost concentration. I think that has been a problem for him. We have had leads that we surrendered a bit too easily.
He hasn't made the breakthrough results wise that people would have hoped...
My concern is that in the middle of the park, we haven't got a top player to control the game. That will be a worry for me.
It's difficult to argue against that.
Ireland have certainly lost concentration in games at times under Kenny. This has resulted in cheaply conceding leads as they did in home games against Latvia and Armenia, as well as switching off and allowing opposition players to get dangerous shots off from long range.
What the cause of this issue is remains up for debate, although there is no doubt that it has to be cut out if Ireland to make the next step in their development.
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