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Brian Kerr: "Too many times in the group, it's been left to chance"

While it was Ireland who made the dream start at the Aviva Stadium last night, a watching Brian K...



Brian Kerr: "Too many time...
Soccer

Brian Kerr: "Too many times in the group, it's been left to chance"

While it was Ireland who made the dream start at the Aviva Stadium last night, a watching Brian Kerr still felt Denmark looked the more likely to open up the opposition.

The former Ireland manager joined us tonight as the post-mortem continues into the evisceration of the Boys in Green's 2018 World Cup dreams last night. 

And by the time, the game began and scoreline began to get away from Ireland, Kerr feels Martin O'Neill erred with his sudden decision to throw on Wes Hoolahan and Aiden McGeady and simultaneously removing the midfield base.   

Brian Kerr: "Too many times in the group, it's been left to chance"

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"The second half, the changes were too dramatic at half time. He opened it up too early," he said.

While that was a stark sea change, the elevation of David Meyler was another one that jumped to mind for Kerr.

"David Meyler went from being a kind of a sub who got used sometimes to becoming a player in the team to becoming captain in a very short space of time to becoming a player who got hooked off at half time last night," he said.

"It's all a bit dramatic that he's good enough to be captain before the match but then he's the first player hooked off at half time."   

Brian Kerr/INPHO

The sudden switch of formation between Copenhagen and Dublin was also another issue.

"For me, the biggest priority is if you're changing the shape of the team and the responsibilities of the players in the midfield area and the front area, that's the work that needs to be done followed up by some specific set piece work," he said, also pointing out that in his view "too many times in the group, it's been left to chance with the late selections and late information passed onto the players".

He added: "In this group, we got away with a lot of things. In a lot of games, we were out-played and we got away with it."

On the point of passing problems and a perceived lack of technical ability, Kerr pointed out that centre backs Shane Duffy and Ciaran Clark are often the ones who instigate moves from the back for thier clubs despite not doing so for their country. 

And contrasting that with the more composed performance on the ball that we witnessed at Euro 2016, Kerr said: "I can't understand how we've gone back from that right through this group." 

And highlighting that many of the Danish players are at clubs in Spain, top clubs like Tottenham and other countries, he felt that gave them a "bit of an edge" over their Irish counterparts.

"They look technically better and more comfortable with the ball because there was an intent to play that way fairly consistently," he said.

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