UNDER-PRESSURE Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny stressed his belief that progress is being made – but acknowledged the team needs wins to back that assertion up.
The Irish have now fallen to back-to-back 1-0 defeats in their opening two UEFA Nations League games to Armenia and Ukraine – but worryingly for the manager was the nature of both performances in Yerevan and Dublin over the past week.
Armenia are ranked 92nd in the FIFA rankings while Ukraine fielded their second string for Wednesday night’s clash with Ireland after they’d fallen to Wales in a World Cup play-off final in Cardiff just a few days earlier.
Viktor Tsygankov’ 47th minute strike was enough to bag the points for Ukraine with the home side going close to an equaliser through Shane Duffy, Michael Obafemi and Jason Knight in the closing stages.
“We're disappointed in the last couple of games,” said Kenny.
“I think we are building something really progressive. Statistically we are not backing that up, I know that. But I think we're building something really progressive and I think people can see that.
“We weren't perfect against Ukraine, we were okay and played well in spells. People have seen a lot of progression in the matches over the last 12 games. Obviously we have introduced a huge number of players who are getting better.
“We have missed a few players in this camp but that is part of it. We can't use that as an excuse, a couple of key players. But we have to dust ourselves down. We have no points after these two games. We should have more on the board but we don't. We just need to try and get a big win against Scotland on Saturday.”
Kenny felt his side didn’t deserve to lose either game and were good enough for at least two draws. But tomorrow’s home game with Scotland – buoyed by their 2-0 win over Armenia at Hampden on Wednesday night – now becomes a knife-edge tie for the Ireland boss and his players.
And yet, the Irish headed into this Nations League campaign on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run. But with Ireland in danger of a Nations League relegation if results don’t improve and suffering the inevitable consequences of finding themselves in tougher qualification draws going forward because of their weakened co-efficient, Kenny needs to arrest the surprise slide in form and results tomorrow.
Asked if he felt Ireland had the necessary quality to compete with higher-ranked teams, the Dubliner said: “We troubled Portugal and Serbia even though we haven't beaten them, we drew with them.
“We troubled Belgium recently. We have the capacity to do that. We troubled Ukraine too, as we hit the bar to equalise and had a few shots that went over, so we did trouble Ukraine. We can't say we haven't.
“We troubled them as much as they troubled us. I know they were missing (players), but we were missing five as well, but they were missing more than that.
“Are we striving to get better? Yes, we are. Jason Knight showed a lot of creativity in that opening half in particular. He nearly equalised at the death as well. All of those attacking players are creative in different ways.”
The manager also leapt to the defence of keeper Caoimhín Kelleher for Ukraine’s goal.
“You're a harsh man on the goalkeepers,” Kenny replied to a reporter.
“It bounced. It was a tough ricochet and bounced really high and just over the back of the defenders. You don't see it from distance, you only see it when it bounces like that and into the top corner. That is a harsh one.”
