An international break that began with trepidation in Ireland became one that left Irish players, coaches and fans returning back to club football with a sense of cautious optimism. Ireland trekked to Helsinki last Thursday night with their backs against the wall after a lacklustre showing in the first international window of the season, but produced a stirring victory against the Finns, before a respectable, albeit losing, performance against Greece in Athens. There were a number of interesting takeaways from the two games.
1. Ireland’s best players continue to make strange, costly errors
This one has probably been the most talked-about aspect of the two games, and understandably so. The 17 minutes leading up to Joel Pohjanpalo’s goal for Finland at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium had not exactly been brilliant from an Irish perspective, but they were still reasonably comfortable. Nathan Collins man was under a little bit of pressure from the aforementioned Pohjanpalo when Liam Scales rolled the ball to him, but still had plenty of time to decide and execute his next pass. What followed was scarcely believable at that level of football. However it didn’t come completely out of the blue. Collin’s performances for Ireland have generally a slightly underwhelming after a strong start to his international career. Data from FbRef helps to show that broadly speaking, the Leixlip man has a mistake in him. He has averaged 0.10 errors per 90 minutes in games he has played over the last 365 days. He is in the bottom 15% of centre-backs in the top five leagues on this metric. However, Collins is still a good player, and the mistake on Thursday was particularly poor and inexplicable. Kelleher’s mistake was even more inexplicable, as he is a renowned ball-playing keeper and shows this at club level. It appears to be a deeper issues in the Ireland squad. There have been ridiculous suggestions that Ireland should essentially just hoof the ball away anywhere near their own goal, but this is an archaic way of thinking and insult to players of the calibre of Collins and Kelleher.
2. The importance of pace and dynamism
The lack of pace and dynamism throughout the team, and particularly in wide areas, has been a huge problem in recent years. Relying on ageing stars such as Doherty, Coleman and Brady – alongside others who have been selected out wide in recent times such as Alan Browne and Enda Stevens – has left the side looking frustratingly one-paced and one-dimensional. Another consequence has been an ever-increasing reliance on Chiedozie Ogbene, who is often the only genuine athlete in the team. In truth, although he had good moments in both Helsinki and Athens, this wasn’t his best international window. Luckily, Halgrimson had someone of a reasonably similar profile to bring off the bench in both games – Festy Ebosele. The Enniscorthy man made the type of impact against Finland that will live long in the memory. He showed the exact qualities this Ireland team lacks – fearlessness, drive, raw athleticism and the cool head to deliver the final ball when it mattered most. This is something that Ireland need more of. Mikey Johnstone will hopefully be able to add to this, after having some good moments off the left against Greece, whilst it is early days for Kasey McAteer. Aidomo Emakhu, Sam Curtis and Tayo Adaramolo are emerging U21 players who could add to this dynamic, athletic pool in wide areas.
3. Young strikers continue to misfire
On paper, we have a crop of young centre-forwards to be genuinely excited about. Evan Ferguson has been linked with €50 million moves to Champions League level clubs in recent times, whilst Adam Idah and Troy Parrott have scored goals in the Champions League and Europa League this season. Even outside of the current squad, things look bright. Tom Cannon was on fire in the Championship before the international break, whilst 2005-born Mark O’Mahony is also making an impact at that level. That’s before mentioning U21 talisman Sinclair Armstrong, who is a joy to watch at times and has gotten off to a bright start at another Championships side in Bristol City. Unfortunately, the situation isn’t as healthy on the pitch. Ferguson is really struggling as he looks to recover the form he showed before being injured at a fledgling stage in his career. Parrott and Idah have made the right career moves at club level, leaving England behind, but continue to only show flashes at international level. Maybe it is time for the likes of Cannon and Armstrong to be given their moment.
4. Side has a lopsided feel in possession
The move away from the back 5 has given the side a less passive feel and helps to work around the absences of Doherty and Coleman. However, one consequence is that the shape is quite lopsided, and can appear imbalanced. The plan for this window seemed to involve Darragh O’Shea joining centre-backs Nathan Collins and Liam Scales in a lopsided, situational in-possession back 3. The idea is that Robbie Brady can push on from left-back to provide width as a false left-winger pushed inside, whilst the conservative nature of O’Shea on the right is negated by the Ogbene being high and wide in front of him. This was a continuation from the Greece game at the Aviva. It worked reasonably well against Finland in the second half, with Brady executing his role well and Ebosele on the right offering verve off the bench. The system didn’t work as well against Greece. Brady couldn’t overlap, O’Shea looked slightly awkward and Ogbene was pinned back. The advancing, overlapping Brady manoeuvre worked better in the second half, with the Dubliner getting forward more. However for this side to pick up results more consistently, this game-plan will need to be worked on, and ideally more options will emerge in those roles.
5. Inability to solve in-game tactical dilemmas continues to be a problem
As much as the lopsided in-possession shape was a feauture, there also an unbalanced feel out of possession in the first half against the Greeks. The dynamic between O’Shea and Ogbene was particularly problematic. When Greece had the ball and were moving it forward with verve and confidence – as they did with every attack in the first half – O’Shea and Ogbene struggled to deal with marauding Greek left back Dimitris Giannoulis and inverted winger Christos Tzolis. Ogbene seemed to be either too high or too narrow – or a combination of both – when Ireland were defending, whilst O’Shea looked like a centre-back playing at full-back. The obvious solution appeared to be a switch to a back 5 , with Ogbene dropping in at wing – back, which is a role he has done well in before in. The situation did improve as the game went on, with Greece’s left-hand side being less dangerous, and Ireland’s general defensive shape being less of a problem as the Greeks eased off and Ireland imposed themselves on the game.