
After September’s baptism of both fire and irony against Lee Carsley’s England, as well as yet another game against the side who have joined Denmark in the bracket of teams we never want to be drawn with ever again, Greece, Heimir Hallgrímsson was afforded a sigh of relief in Helsinki after a moment of quality from Festy Ebosele to tee up Robbie Brady gave him his first win in his third outing as Ireland boss. While Sunday night’s result in the return fixture against the Greeks slightly tainted an otherwise good window, there will be plenty of positives to take into November’s international fixtures from October’s performances.
In that first fixture on Thursday evening, Ireland lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Nathan Collins captaining the side. Finland edged the possession with 54% to Ireland’s 46%, however Hallgrímsson’s men were much more efficient with the ball, creating 15 chances – 8 more than their counterparts. The quality of Ireland’s 10 efforts that were on target were also much higher than their opponents’ 3, with Fotmob giving The Boys In Green a cumulative Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) figure of 2.46 to Finland’s 0.44. Finland’s first goal, gifted to them by an uncharacteristic lapse in composure by skipper Collins, accounted for 0.36 xGOT, which backs up the general consensus that anything other than a win on the night would have been hugely disappointing. It is that early pressure that Finland applied which gives us the first tactical talking point from this game. Their pressing plan could be seen from the first minute as Liam Scales was dispossessed before Robbie Brady bailed Ireland out by cleverly reading the play on the edge of the box.
Their plan was clear; stay in a compact block and begin applying higher pressure once a pressing trigger occurs, which in this case was a backwards pass to Nathan Collins who was in a negative position facing towards his own goal.




Ireland figured out the mechanics of the Finnish press pretty quickly, and in the 9th minute showed some quality to play through the lines and quickly move the ball into the final third, with a last ditch Adam Stahl clearance preventing Sammie Szmodics from getting his first goal for Ireland. A near-identical situation to that early press above, this time Liam Scales was expecting the pressure to arrive and broke the initial lines of the Finnish press with a great pass to pick out Szmodics, who was allowed to drift inside all game thanks to Robbie Brady’s high and wide positioning in build-up. Because Finland moved from zonal to man-to-man pressing in this phase, Ireland’s number 7 was able to receive behind their central midfielders and Ireland could quickly break in a move that fans of Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton would have called an ‘artificial transition’.

Appearing to be caught in two minds while anticipating that aggressive spring into a high press, Collins’ error in the 17th minute gave Finland their biggest chance by far of the night to put the hosts 1-0 up.
Ireland’s out of possession strategy, particularly in the first half, was more conservative. Structurally, however, it was the same as Finland’s, with Hallgrímsson opting to use the formation that became a staple of his Iceland side’s success 8 years ago when the opponents had the ball. Refusing to bite even with a back pass from the halfway line to the keeper, Ireland remained a compact unit, with Finn Azaz joining Evan Ferguson to become a situational front two in the block. When they did move forward it was measured, and Ferguson angled his press to block off any nearby, easy passing channels, with Lucas Hradecky not willing to take any chances early on, clearing the ball long for Ireland to win back.
Ireland were also willing to spend periods in a low 4-4-2 block, soaking up pressure and denying easy access to their goal from within their half.

However, from the beginning of the second half, the Irish were clearly instructed to begin pressing higher in order to impose themselves on the game. Like Finland’s early press, a backwards pass was the trigger for Hallgrímsson’s men to push higher, though the Icelandic’s set up appeared to catch his opposite number Markku Kanerva out, as the home side were twice caught out by a clever central trap.




However, Ireland’s high press was far from flawless and Finland found two easy out-balls in the 10th minute of each half which were strikingly similar.
In the first clip, by the time the keeper gets set Finn Azaz is in no man’s land in the context of the press which leaves Szmodics visibily confused as to who he should be picking up. While the keeper was collecting the ball, Azaz should be making his way towards Finland’s number 5 and pressing to from in-to-out to protect the central channels. This would allow Szmodics to drop back into that wider space in line with the right back, negating the issue that broke the press and likely forcing Finland long.


In the second clip, Ireland’s pressing structure again looks to be out of sync. In a similar situation shown earlier from the 5th minute of the game, Ferguson lead the charge through that curved press which looked to block two passing options for the keeper and subsequently force him long. In that situation, his priority was correctly focused on blocking the pass to the Finnish pivot, with him blocking the centre-half being a result of both the goalkeeper’s hesitation and the Brighton man’s pressing technique. Even if that ball was played to the right centre-back, he could have still applied pressure while blocking the pivot.

This is what should have happened on the side that Finn Azaz was covering above. Instead, Szmodics came to press the right centre-back which left Azaz redundant and opened up an easy passing lane to the Finnish full-back. This meant Robbie Brady then had to come out to press the receiver, leaving a gap down Ireland’s left channel which, against better quality opposition, could have been punished.
In possession, there were some clear principles to be seen in Ireland’s play. Ireland built up in a 3-2 structure with O’Shea, Collins & Scales as the 3, and Knight & Cullen in front of them. Robbie Brady pushed up into the same horizontal line as Ogbene, which allowed Szmodics to drift inside to receive in similar central areas on the left as Finn Azaz was on the right. Ferguson naturally lead the line.


And it was in those moments when Szmodics drifted in from the wing that Ireland looked most dangerous in the final third. His touch map (taken from SofaScore) reflects the degree of freedom he was afforded thanks to the system that Ireland played in attack, but the footage begs the question whether he should be given a run of games centrally, particularly when you consider his 23/24 form which earned him a move to the Premier League.

Elsewhere in the attack, Ireland were also not afraid to play direct to Ferguson who held the ball up well all game, a tactic that Hallgrímsson’s assistant John O’Shea was clear that they should use during his interim tenure.
However, it was man of the match Brady who won it for Ireland. His cultured left foot setting up Liam Scales for his first Ireland goal to equalise, before Festy Ebosele’s explosive cameo saw the ball delivered to the back post where the Preston man had made an unmarked run to secure the 3 points.
At last, Ireland have secured their first ever away win in their beloved League B. This campaign has largely been focused on Hallgrímsson learning about his players ahead of next year’s World Cup qualifiers, and a win against Finland in Dublin next month will secure their relegation to League C and Ireland’s place in a newly-introduced promotion/relegation play-off. While the biannual loss at the hands of Greece on Sunday night was disappointing, the win in Helsinki and the window in general showed that clear tactical principles are being coached into this team, something that will be crucial ahead of a huge 2025.
Footage taken from DAZN
Image taken from BBC.co.uk