FORMER Republic of Ireland legend Ray Houghton says the lack of cutting edge in Stephen Kenny’s teams over the last three years was arguably the biggest flaw, as the FAI announced his departure on Wednesday night.
Kenny was in charge of the senior international team for 40 games – winning 11, losing 17 and drawing 12 – but in 16 of those games the Irish failed to score.
While Houghton feels Ireland have become better at passing the ball out from the back, he felt Kenny’s sides kept the ball for possession’s sake at times.
“I think we’ve got better at passing the ball out from the back but where we haven’t moved forward, and is a big minus, is that we just don’t look like we’re going to score goals.
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“Evan Ferguson is going to be huge to us in the future but we need a bit more than that, we need a bit more creativity – someone who’s going to look forward first and not go square and backwards.
“We just need to find a way of playing that’s a bit more exciting, a bit more care-free. It’s a bit like, ‘We’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that’, which is a little bit paint by numbers.”
Despite Houghton’s criticism, he’s more pragmatic than some of Kenny’s harsher critics that include Brian Kerr, Didi Hamann and Richard Dunne.
Houghton, who made 73 appearances and played in two World Cups and a European Championships for Ireland, added: “I never get too high or too low with our players because I’m always reflective of where they are and where they’re playing.
“I’d never question their attitude because they go out and give their best – we’re just missing a bit of quality at times.
“We haven’t got better over the last three years at creating chances. We’re okay from corners and free-kicks but from general play we don’t like opening teams up.
“The teams in and around us and the ones that are a bit better than us, we just don’t look like we can do things well enough.”
Houghton also feels the modern player could benefit from more stripped-back feedback which was the norm during his playing days.
“Nobody, it seems, like dogmatic players; everyone is subservient, you can’t tell anyone off because you might upset him.
“That’s the way it is going and I think that’s society in general. I reflect back on my time – the managers I played for praised you at the right times and they criticised you too.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with criticism. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes. You can’t have people being nice to you all the time. You’ve got to take responsibility yourself.”
