Liam Brady labels Ireland squad 'worst in my lifetime'

James Cox

Liam Brady described the current Ireland squad as the "worst in my lifetime" following the disappointing 2-1 defeat to Greece in Athens on Friday night.

The 2-1 loss leaves the Republic of Ireland with an uphill battle in Euro 2024 qualifying, with France and the Netherlands also in the group along with Gibraltar.

It wasn't so much the scoreline as the performance that was the most worrying for Ireland fans. Stephen Kenny's side were outplayed throughout the clash and with no points from their first two games, qualification seems like a tall order.

Speaking on RTÉ after the game, Brady said: "This is the worst group of players that any manager has had in my lifetime.

"You go through the managers - Martin O'Neill, Mick McCarthy, Steve Staunton, Jack Charlton.

"They all had better players than Stephen's got, but somehow you've got to mould them into a team that gets you a result here and there... we haven't done that."

Brady was particularly critical of the Irish midfield.

"We had one good pass from a midfield player. They passed the ball sideways, they passed the ball backwards.

"Greece was totally different. They played through us, they were getting people turned, and they knew what they were doing. There was positivity about their play."

Speaking after the game, Kenny admitted Ireland have given themselves "a mountain to climb".

“It’s only the second game. We’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb. At the moment we’ve just got to get ourselves ready for Monday, a home game, nearly a full stadium, we have to give them a victory and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”