UNLOCKED - THE SUNDAY PAPER REVIEW | Are Ireland prepared for penalties? | OFF THE BALL

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I'm just going to go through the supplements and the back pages, folks,

to give you a flavor of what we're going to be going through.

So falling giants, Sanchez Error helps condemn Chelsea to another defeat

and Liverpool's title, if hence, goes from bad to worse.

That's a Sunday time-sport.

Worst run of games for Chelsea since 1993 losing four.

And LaWal, the Boston LaWal, not fit to play for Arden,

says Stokebus, Mark Robbins.

He's in the squad for the game against Czechia on Thursday.

We've got the Sunday independent.

Treesy escape, going nearly pull off, come back and live,

because that was a great match on TGKHR last night.

United to Van Fury at contentious calls, club to make a complaint after

Diado penalty decision.

It's a pretty weak story to be honest for a front page with supplements, who cares?

In my view.

So we have whatever it takes, Heymer meets Kenny to play off path.

There's a nice relationship, I'll see between the pair of them.

An interesting comment on penalties.

United boost as Chelsea and Liverpool flop,

and Limerick to meet Rebels in the final, that's in the hurling.

Matt Cooper, writing in the back of the Sunday business post today,

sometimes they don't do sports, but they do sometimes take a position.

So Arif, you must open Wallet to allow Farrell lead Irish to world glory.

This is Matt in the back page of the Sunday business post.

Just interested to get your views focused on, as opposed we'll start off with

the big match on Thursday.

Arden Chekki, there's lots of writing.

Philip, you have Marc Gala in your own paper on the history of d'Arche

and the Czech Republic, as it has been known.

Lovely piece on Troy Parrish from Michael Foley in the Sunday Times.

Antonin Penenke, the man who scored the famous penalty in the 1976 European

championship final to be West Germany, profiled and interviewed by Adrian Fitzmarrer

and the Sunday Independent.

Lost to get through.

I suppose what I'm interested in is, first of all, is the Hamer comments.

This is when he spoke to Stephen Kenny.

So Kenny called on as Hagrams and Ponders, Pennos.

He has spoken about the penalties, and that is quite an interesting thing.

I might have this back in my face, but if we end up taking penalties,

I'm not sure if we're going to do it.

We are going to talk about it and see if the players feel about taking one, etc.

And if a player is not ready to do it, absolutely no shame in that.

We had some talks before.

It was good to have his experiences on Stephen Kenny.

There are two things you learn from talking to him.

It was nice for him, but I'm not so sure that training penalties will be such an asset,

especially when you look at the time we have.

Other things are more important.

Reminds you of Mick McCarthy spoke after the defeat to Spain in the 2002 World Cup,

so the practice in penalties was garbage, but should we not be trying to do everything?

I would have thought so.

I love the fact that he's a lack of ego that he'll actually sit down and have the chance

with Stephen Kenny.

I think beforehand so many different relationships between managers and foreign managers.

There was a level of sniping and giving out.

So he seems to have no ego, and when you get to that point though,

I can't really get over the fact that you wouldn't practice that.

I know even doing a little bit with Luke and Sarasphus the Hurland last year,

and they, for a club championship,

the lads would practice penalties because it goes to that.

So all it takes is five, ten minutes at the end of the session,

and you quickly figure out who's up for it, who likes it,

who's actually taught about it, who are the ball strikers,

who's the mental side of it.

So I would have thought just boxed that off,

even in the limited time you have.

So I just don't, that whole idea of penalties is a lottery.

So many things, Jay, but to not practice,

I think every club and county team in the country,

no one that most matches go to winner on the day,

will actually be practicing.

And again, with the Ireland team, that idea that they don't have a sports psychologist

and that he was talking about visualisation.

Again, most amateur club and county teams will have sports psychologists.

I'd say there isn't a county team that doesn't have a sports performance,

whether it's from Caroline Curred Down.

So just at times, given the money and the level of professionalism,

the money washer and football, the fact that our flagship team

maybe doesn't have the necessary supports at times is staggering a bit.

But look for a playtum, he's got his new contract,

he's done a brilliant job to get us to this point.

And he seems to have very good handle about what's required.

But I must say that did jump off the page,

that they might just leave it to chance?

As a sports person, should they be doing this?

Yeah, it is a strange one.

And because he's such a rational man and every time we hear him talk

and everything is so planned and organised,

for him to come out with this is quite odd.

Perhaps, and I'm coming at this from a background,

I was coaching in West Maze for a couple of years.

And myself and the manager and head to head one night,

I was insisting that we practice the tackle from the basics.

His point was, we're at an inter-county level now,

this isn't club level, we're at an inter-county level.

Anyone in this panel should know how to tackle.

So perhaps he's coming from a point of view

that listen, we're at an international level,

these lads are all back with their clubs,

surely they're practising penalties with their clubs.

We're not going to, he's talking about time and time as of the essence.

We only have them for a short period of time.

Perhaps he's coming at it from that point of view,

but it is a very strange one.

Considering the fact that this game,

and if we get to the next game,

both could come down to penalties.

Even no one, you're a list of penalty takers.

But even the history of the fixtures,

it's amazing, that's an 8-fits-barrel,

it's a super interview with Antonin Panenko

through a translator and the history of Czech republics,

maybe football history is tied into a man who gave his name to a penalty.

The link, the microphone he talks about,

the link with Troy Parris,

who is our man who's going to save us and get us to the world,

talk about how he's missed a Panenko penalty,

how he's missed back-to-back penalties,

whether already this season.

So that idea that it would outtempting fate,

but the omens suggest in the history of this fixture

suggests that it could very well come down to that.

You'd also wonder as players,

you know, what would the players want or think?

But if you're not up for it now,

I think the manager needs to know that.

And we talk, yeah.

And again, you don't know what's going to happen

on the night with injuries, substitutions, and everything else.

But we've seen in plenty of other sports

that managers have ready-made substitutions,

again, for a player to come on with a minute to go

because they know you're a set-by specialist.

And also the talk all week has been about the stadium

and what a cauldron it is.

It's 20,000 people packed into the touch line.

There's going to be a thousand Irish people there.

You know, maybe it's because there is an absence

of a sports psychologist

who would plan for every single eventuality

and train the mind and train the brain.

And perhaps because of the absence of the psychologist

that this has been overlooked.

That's a joke.

But the panenka interview is fascinating

because the idea, the history of how it came about,

there's brilliant detail about how he planned this

originally in train.

He was losing bets against his goalkeeper all the time.

They clearly were doing it in training all the time.

And he says he kept losing the bets to keep her.

So he lay awake at night and was thinking

in a different way.

But he spent years.

That's interesting because it's a different world

and you'd lot less information.

It was a common stage.

But the Germans didn't know he was going to do this.

So that's the talk we've been so thorough

that you look, maybe there's a delegation aspect to a gamer

and there's no issue with Troy Parris' penalty

in the game with Budapest.

But I'm obviously this preparation is on here.

I'm just quoting here from the Sunday

independent piece again with Aiden Fitzmars.

For this game, we guys to check.

Obviously, they're strength to set pieces and crosses

in the box and bring in so-check from us time.

He's late, run into the box.

It's those things we need to be aware of,

first trying to neutralize whether they're going to bring,

now I'm talking about tactics here.

SH1T, I didn't mean to do that.

I was thinking about what threats they can offer

and how we can exploit what happens in the game.

That's what we were focused on.

So obviously, there's a lot of huge amount of preparation

being done by Hammer and John O'Shea and Paddy McCarris

and everybody involved in the Irish setup.

But this one is a bit jarring for me.

It's supposed to, you notice it.

You notice it because you're thinking that's just a given.

A given?

A thought level.

At any level.

As you said, a given.

The man who's most famous for the penalty

does a great interview explains how he spent years

perfecting the craft.

And actually, he said in his whole career,

he said, I think our piece of maybe 25 times

and missed only one.

He said that because there was a huge puddle of water

and the keeper couldn't dive across and basically hit him.

So the guy who's most famous for this penalty

has dedicated a part of his career to that one kick.

So look, I think there is a lesson there.

We hope we're not going to be here in Friday morning

having had a penalty shoot at which we've lost.

And then having these quotes at the back of our mind.

And on the other hand, your hero is zero.

We could win on penalties on both nights.

And well, there was a method to the madness here.

The Troy Paret story is interesting

because there's a few things about his journey

in the Michael Foley article in the Sunday Times.

Great name for a manager, Martin,

Martin's from Azay, Alkamer, where Troy Paret is score 28 goals.

And hopefully he'll be okay today when you have

everything to play Groningen and the Netherlands,

the air to visa.

There are a couple of things in here.

Just about, I mean, Robbie Keane,

game-recognizing game.

They met on the field at the end of the game.

This was when they met on one occasion.

A nice finish, Robbie Keane said.

I think he's got something difference.

As Robbie Keane, he's clever.

He's difficult to play against because he can go in behind

and he can come short.

In ways, he's very similar to me.

The two of us weren't the quickest for a sharp,

over 10 to 15 yards.

And then you see how his brain works in the football pitch.

And later on in the pieces, what Martin said to him,

I like the fact he's got high mental strength.

When he doesn't score, he's not nervous.

When he misses a chance, he doesn't get down.

If he develops physically, he becomes stronger

and brings more sprints to his game,

that's an area he can improve on.

He's got his head down, obviously.

And not saying that he didn't,

but it's been a circuit,

so choose his journey for Troye Pirates

since he was a Tottenham as a 17-year-old.

To now, about seven years later,

and 28 goals this season.

And everything is really resting on him next Thursday

and then the following Tuesday.

I know there's other important players

in the team like Weaving Culler and the Defenders,

but this guy got lighting in the bottle

and we're really carrying our hopes with him.

Yeah, and you look at his journey, John,

and you mentioned Tottenham.

You know, we spoke about him seven years ago

and he was going to be our breakthrough

and he took a massive hit to his career.

You know, he did confidence-wise.

I'd say, good, I know, because we fully expected him

to mature and progress at Tottenham.

And so I suppose go away,

go to the Netherlands and develop the way he's developed

is a credit to him.

And you know, you look at the likes of Delhi Ali,

who was at Spurs, you know,

and he had this massive bright future ahead of him.

Obviously, he was a little bit older

than Troy Paradise when he left Spurs,

but you look at how his career has completely taken,

you know, it's gone.

So he obviously has a very, very, very strong self-confidence

as well, and he obviously works really hard.

And I'd imagine that, you know,

if we do get your World Cup,

his goal will be to get back to the premiership

at some point, I'd say.

But we are so lucky to have him.

And it's funny, they're just their comparisons to Rabi Keen.

When you watch him, they are very similar.

I mean, they're just like those little,

those little runs in the box, great finisher.

Real, you know, he's really proud to play for Ireland too.

And you can see that in him,

and you can see that in him pre,

obviously, those magical two weeks that he had.

And even within the Irish team,

he's had to work very hard to get back in there.

You know, he had that time out,

and he had to battle hard, and he has done so.

Look, everything is resting on him up front, obviously.

But you'd feel that the confidence is so high

and you just went through his stats there.

There's absolutely no reason why he can't do it again,

why he can't replicate those two moments.

I must say, I love everybody's looking at his forum

and kind of going, will he get the Premier League offer?

But maybe there's a great line from himself saying now,

talking about Comet Holland, and it's refreshing.

It's a different style of football.

It's more which are head than the body and how fast you can run.

And like, maybe with the Champions League has shown again

that Premier League is for the week, at the moment it isn't.

The high bar for football is not created.

So moving to a league, which is now gone through the arteta,

a vision of the game, and going a certain way

that maybe for his development, another move

to a bigger European club would actually lead to the club.

You could kind of imagine Troy Paradise.

I watched the league's brand for game last night.

She was dreadful, really.

No big chances for either team, goalist draw, functional stuff.

And look, all these things are cyclical.

10 years ago, Lester won the league.

It wasn't a great Finters season.

Then you had the club and Guardiola era.

Now her made me move it into a different era.

What is a great Havanaugh strike or Edward King talking about

that is the game he prefers is a game of the head,

not just a game of physicality.

So I think that's for the future of Ireland as well.

That's encouraging as well.

Interesting that UK is not always the end point.

Oh yeah.

We're Brexit as well with the rules as well.

Whether or maybe why we should go to the continent

and I'll speak a lot of English in the Netherlands.

And it's been a great example for that.

Absolutely.

And Italy has also been a great place for Irish players to go to.

But I think when you talk about that Dutch league,

you look at all the Dutch players who came to the Premiership

and the majority of them absolutely floundered.

You look at Vandabique, you look at Blent,

you look at all those guys who went to United.

Very few Dutch players of this era.

You look back at the Bearcamps and the Overmars

and all those guys absolutely.

They were incredible and through their trophy hall proved that.

But in the modern game, you look at those Dutch players

and very few made any sort of an impact whatsoever.

But then it's Champions League level.

Obviously the English teams aren't performance.

So maybe could he go on to become if he takes another move

to a bigger European club?

And I think there is interest, isn't there?

Is it similar?

Were they tight at this week?

Yeah, look, I think the summer will say a lot.

And whether he's in North America in the summer

will also say a lot as well.

How do you feel about it on Thursday?

Yeah, look, if it was two weeks after the last game,

yes, we'd be highest kites.

Listen, I think it's going to be a war of attrition.

It's not going to be pretty football.

We all know that.

We're solid at the back.

Obviously, that's our strongest line.

We've called her, we spoke about Paris.

I feel, yeah, I do have a good feeling about it.

And if we can stop them and set pieces,

they're just going to be skipping that midfield.

They're going to be launching the ball in.

I think if Josh Cullen was playing the fact that

their midfield lacks any depth or creativity,

I think he is a big loss for Ireland in that regard.

But I would be confident of sneaking it.

And there's actually an interesting line

from Dermatol Carroll, Paul Rones,

he's the Careyman coaching at Sparta Prague,

and he referenced the fact that he's not sure

whether the checks have got over the infighting,

which married the latter part of the qualifying group

with the manager Ivan Hasic fired after a shock

by the Faroe Islands and Thomas Susha

have been stripped of the capncy

for refusing to acknowledge the fans.

So remember, that's part of their recent history.

So if you take a break like that and I think

had the Ultras scattered out with the team,

20 and I know a good friend is going over there with his son

and there's talk of five or six thousand Irish being there

and maybe some doesn't have a piece in the mail on Sunday

about some of the locals have got their Irish locals,

they've got their hands on tickets, fire.

Interesting.

Yes, on the ground.

So it would be very interesting to see if that kind of level

of support if Ireland can infiltrate the stadium

and maybe put the pressure on the cracks

that maybe we're already there through the team.

Well, it's a first game for either a manager

of Miroslav Kubak.

He's been managing a Victoria Bosnia to a check league.

But it's first game.

I mean, they've completely entaged.

And if we do get through this and look at the discussion

for next Sunday, if it is the Danes,

how much of the Danes want to be in North America this year

at a World Cup given what everything's happened

with Trump and everything.

So yeah, that's the Irish situation ahead of next Thursday

and the good piece of Mark out of her kind of chronically

in like the five minutes.

Brilliant missions.

Yeah.

That we're deciding before we go.

Sean Boyle reminded me of Sean Boyle

and when he made County Board use to pick the team

and like Mark's piece of brilliant part of the history

of Ireland's history with Czech Republic

and the nature basically of part of the history

of the FAI and the madness of their selection team

and the various how it fed into the various results.

Now, at offtheball.com, Ford's last join.