International friendly: Republic of Ireland v Lithuania (Tonight, 7.45pm, Dublin)
KEITH Andrews has backed Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny to create a brighter future – and reflected on his own international career under Giovanni Trapattoni and how the veteran Italian didn’t have enough belief in the Irish players.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s friendly international in Dublin against 137th ranked Lithuania, Andrews fashioned a good international career under Trapattoni but felt his safety-first approach didn’t get the best out of the players at his disposal.
"The Ireland team that I played in was very well organised, very difficult to break down. The main focus was what we did without the ball,” said Andrews, who won 35 caps.
"There was a big reliance on the technical players with most ability, in an attacking sense. It was based around that with a manager who probably didn't have enough belief in what we could do, or was stuck in the way he had always seen the game and the way he always coached.
"Stephen and myself see it differently and have tried to take the team in a different direction."
Andrews has consciously kept a low media profile since hooking up with Kenny as his assistant. The fact that the Ireland manager had met the press five times during this camp was perhaps the reason why the assistant manager was put forward for yesterday morning’s pre-match press conference.
Andrews has previously engaged in media work with Virgin Media, Off the Ball and Sky Sports but cut back on all those commitments to concentrate on a job he "loves" and that his "time was getting taken up in areas that I wasn’t as passionate about".
He did, however, agree to be interviewed by Off the Ball last September to offer a stout defence of Kenny’s approach to the Irish job at a time when the Dubliner was coming in for some criticism, particularly from ex-Ireland internationals.
Unbeaten in their last seven outings, the Irish side have turned the tide and backed up that feeling again with a battling 2-2 draw with Belgium last weekend.
"Stephen was very composed, always very much sticking to the principles and the belief he has in what the players are capable of achieving,” Andrews said.
"Of course we'd make little tweaks here and there, but he's a very strong individual and I thought he dealt with it remarkably well because there were some not very nice days that we had to endure. You've got to take it on the chin.
"But during that process, he stood really firm. It would be very, very easy as the manager to maybe take a step back, to sacrifice, maybe, some of your values, your principles for a short-term view, but he stood by it and obviously I was in full support of that."
Kenny is expected to make several changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Oxford United’s Mark Sykes hoping to make his international debut and be the first Belfast man to wear the green jersey in 80 years.
Defender Dara O’Shea and midfielders Jayson Molumby and Conor Hourihane are expected to play at some point against Lithuania who finished bottom of their World Cup Qualifying group and were boosted by a 2-1 win over San Marino last Friday.
