Stephen Kenny 'doesn't think' about pressure on jobs as Euro 2024 hopes crumble

Stephen Kenny, a provocateur, refuses to consider his position despite the Republic of Ireland's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 dashed by the Netherlands.

Three days after a 2-0 loss to Group B leaders France in Paris put them at the point of no return, Ireland lost 2-1 to the Dutch in Dublin, thus exiting the race for a place among the top two. .

Kenny, who was adamant in the build-up to the match that he still hoped to be in charge of next month's doubleheader against Greece and Gibraltar come what may on Sunday night, remained equally determined to following a heart problem. -resounding defeat.

Asked about his future, he replied: “Look, from my point of view, I'm not thinking about it right now. I'm just very disappointed that we couldn't finish top two in the group. I'm just very, very disappointed in that and it's heartbreaking that we can't, you know?

“I think France is the best team in the world, at a higher level. The Netherlands are probably not at the level of France, but they are still… Argentina beat them in the World Cup on penalties.

“They have a lot of world-class players, but when you take the lead like we did, you are capable of winning. But we didn't defend well enough overall to achieve that. »

Kenny's men couldn't have gotten off to a better start when, having already caused panic in the Dutch defence, they were awarded a fourth-minute handball penalty by Virgil van Dijk.

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Adam Idah, who had scored just one senior international goal before – and that against Gibraltar in June – sent the penalty with the confidence of a man with a much more impressive record and the home side among a crowd of 49,807 people dared to believe.

However, a defensive error allowed Denzel Dumfries through on goal and when he fell under the challenge of goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, Cody Gakpo was equally decisive from 12 yards.

Ireland gave their best before the break, prompting Ronald Koeman to send on Wout Weghorst and Tijjani Reijnders before the restart, and it was Weghorst who scored what proved to be the winner on 11 minutes when he converted on Dumfries. reversal.

Asked about the pressure on his shoulders, Kenny said: "There is pressure, pressure from us because we were desperate to get into the October window, still very much on the hunt.

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"We desperately wanted to do this, so there's this pressure that comes from ourselves, so we're disappointed, really disappointed.

“From our point of view, we have to prepare for Greece and Gibraltar in October, which is only a few weeks away, and the Netherlands, so we have to finish the group strong and see if we have dams. [via the League of Nations] in March therefore. We're not sure. »

Koeman admitted he was far from happy at the break, but pleased with how his players responded to his half-time message.

He said: “It was a really bad start. We expected high pressing from the Irish team, but we lost a lot of balls in our possession and didn't have control of the game.

"After 20, 25 minutes it was a little calmer and the decision at half-time to change the system to play four in defense was a good decision.

“After halftime we controlled the game. Only in the last 10 minutes, maybe they did the same pressing, but they didn't create any chances to score and we defended well in the last part of the match, and ultimately I think it's a fair result ."