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“Is Stephen Kenny telling him to do it?” – Liam Brady questions Ireland tactics and contract decision

Published 10:37 17 Jun 2022 BST

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“I’m still scratching my head."

Liam Brady has questioned the FAI's decision to award Stephen Kenny with a new contract before the four Nations League games in June. The former Arsenal midfielder also claimed that the Republic of Ireland manager has made the same mistakes on a consistent basis over the course of his two years in charge. Brady noted that Shane Duffy struggled to pass the ball out from the back in the 3-0 win over Scotland last Saturday, and wondered why Kenny appeared to be insistent on deploying this tactic.

Liam Brady discusses Stephen Kenny's new contract.

Brady said he believes that the Ireland players have repeated the same errors over the Dubliner's 26 games in charge of the Boys in Green. The two-time Serie A winner also questioned the timing of the FAI's decision to give Kenny a new contract until the end of Ireland's Euro 2024 qualification campaign. “There were a couple of occasions where Duffy tried to play the ball out of his own box and Scotland could have scored twice,” Brady said on The Stand with Eamon Dunphy. “You’re kind of scratching your head and wondering why is he doing it? Is Stephen Kenny telling him to do it? We’ve seen the Irish team do that far too much in my opinion. “I’m still scratching my head. I know we’ve talked about this before and I said the FAI should wait before they give him the contract, they should wait until now after he’s had these four games."

Brady reviews Ireland's Uefa Nations League performances.

Brady said that Ireland's results have not been good enough under Kenny, has a 23 per cent win record from his tome in charge. The national team ended the window on a positive note after beating Scotland and drawing with Ukraine in Poland. Ireland, however, started the window by losing away to Armenia and then at home to Scotland. "If I was the FAI, I would have been scratching my head on whether to give him a contract or not. It was a very good result against Scotland, but a few days before that we got beaten by Armenia," Brady added. “You have to look at the results and say that they’re not good enough.” Ireland are third in Nations League B Group 1 and their next game is against Scotland at Hampden Park on September 24th.