The ex-Ireland international suggested the team were not ‘hard to beat’ under the previous boss.
Paul Fennessy JAMES MCCLEAN has never been shy in offering a strong opinion and his punditry debut for RTÉ last night was no exception ahead of Ireland’s friendly with Portugal .
They had finished third in their group but only managed three wins — home and away against Gibraltar and home versus Georgia.They certainly played a different, more progressive style under Kenny compared to McCarthy but were they easier to play against or considerably inferior in this system, as McClean implied? Yes and no.
Compare that to the nadirs of supposedly more defensive, pragmatic coaches in Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill, when they lost 6-1 and 5-1 at home to Germany and Denmark respectively, and the easy-to-play-against insinuation seems misguided. It’s interesting to compare the statistics from last night to the last time Ireland faced the Portuguese away.
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