League of Ireland-winning manager Vinny Perth joined The Football Show to discuss Jayson Molumby.
Ireland lost 1-0 to France on Monday night. It was a result that everyone expected, but most people expected France to score more goals.
And to dominate the game more.
But instead, Ireland set up defensively to quell the threat of the French attackers and managed to retain possession in dangerous areas more often. One of the standout players in the game was Jayson Molumby.
The former Ireland under-21 captain was composed on the ball but did his best work harrassing opponents in the middle third and shutting down counter attack opportunities. Molumby showed bite in tackles and overt passion when demonstrating to the crowd.
Vinny Perth and Joe Molloy both noticed and appreciated the old-school approach from the young West Brom player.
"Chiedozie [Ogbene] got man of the match from an Irish perspective, rightly so," Perth said.
"Molumby for me played like what you would typically associate with Ireland in terms of...blood and guts. And he was bloody impressive. I loved his performance."
"For me, that's been missing from this team too much in the last year," Molloy interjected.
"I understand the focus that Stephen Kenny has and I agree with it. There were times I was watching the game and I loved the respect that Ireland had for the ball. Even if they weren't necessarily picking France apart. But I would have felt over the last couple of months, 'Where is the Molumby performance?'"
"You're seen as a dinosaur as a coach if you mention blood and guts and thunder and all of that stuff," Perth replied.
"You're seen as a bit of a dinosaur if you shout squeeze and press and all that stuff. But then when [Diego Simeone] does it, it's brilliant. We are battling against somebody who is better than us and it needs that.
"Molumby set a real tone for us in midfield."
John Egan on the challenge of marking Evan Ferguson in training.
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