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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Paul O'Hehir

Stephen Kenny won't change Ireland's style of play after Ukraine and Armenia defeats

Stephen Kenny insists he has no intention of changing Ireland’s style of play on the back of two defeats in a week.

The Republic of Ireland boss is desperate to avoid an unwanted hat-trick when Scotland arrive at Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

And he goes into that game without injured captain Seamus Coleman and centre-back John Egan.

Coleman has left the camp because of the groin injury he shipped in the defeat to Armenia and won’t travel to Poland for Tuesday’s away game with Ukraine.

Egan remains with the squad but his availability for next week’s final game is in serious doubt after coming off against Ukraine on Wednesday with an ankle injury.

Kenny will make changes to his team for tomorrow’s game (5.00pm) and said today: “We’ve one or two late fitness tests on one or two players.

“Hopefully everyone else will be OK. But yeah, we definitely (need to make changes).

“It was such an open game the other night. The physical data was extremely high, the demands on the players of both teams.

“It was such a stretched game and the demands of the game were huge on the players so we will definitely freshen up the team for tomorrow.”

But although Kenny’s attack is misfiring, he has no intention of abandoning the style of football.

Kenny said: “There’s a difference between tactics and style of play. The style of play won’t change, we are committed to that regardless.

“Tactically we always have to adapt. That is a different question.”

And the Ireland boss added: “I don’t feel pressure, only internal - I’m disappointed we’ve not got points on the board - and professional pride.”

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