O’Neill must show more faith

The Irish went into yesterdays encounter with the Scots needing three points if they had any chance of realistically qualifying for France in 2016. The atmosphere in the Aviva was electric with the Irish supporters hoping for a performance as energetic.

All week I was baffled to read about Wes Hoolahan possibly not getting into the starting XI.

“We have to play well under pressure, throw the shackles off and play as strong as we can”

– Martin O’Neill was quoted saying in the Irish Independent midweek.

Throwing off the shackles implies expressing your ability on the field with your best footballers available and going for it. Thankfully O’Neill went with the in form Hoolahan in the Irish midfield. Everton star James McCarthy partnered Glenn Whelan in the centre of the park. They played conservative football throughout with neither of them penetrating the Scottish back four with any telling passes. The Scots were happy enough to let the Irish pair play lateral balls across the park to each other without posing any danger, the Irish pair duly obliged. Hoolahan on the other hand looked up and aimed to pass forward as much as possible as well as running at his opponents. His ball control in close quarters was fantastic and a joy to watch.

I noticed that every time Shay Given was on the ball full backs Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady walked towards the half way line with their backs to Given. O’Neill obviously doesn’t trust this quality pair to take the ball to feet off Given and try to play their way forward. Instead the Irish hoofed long ball after long ball up to Jonathan Walters and Daryl Murphy hoping for some luck from a knock on. If O’Neill doesn’t have the confidence in his team to play football how can the players have any sort of confidence in themselves?

Source: Scottish FA

The Scots were organised and the Irish struggled to create any clear cut chances in front of goal. Steven Naismith was effective in frustrating the Irish and won the Scots plenty of free kicks. Hoolahan slipped Murphy in at 1-1 and he should of scored. Apart from that the Irish hoped to score from a set pieces or a Murphy/Walters flick on. Brady played well, Wilson made some hard tackles and tried hard.

Seamus Coleman’s bursting runs forward seem to be a thing of the past, the same runs that contributed to him being linked with a big money move to Old Trafford a couple of summers back. When O’Neill called Wes Hoolahan aside after 70 odd minutes there was understandably a lot of baffled faces in the crowd. Gordon Strachan couldn’t believe his luck I’m sure. Why call your most creative player aside when going for broke? Some may argue O’Neill didn’t want to leave the Irish too exposed at the back by taking Hendrick off but pulling Hoolahan aside put a big dent in any hope the Irish had of scoring again.

James McCarthy is one of Evertons best players but he hasn’t brought that form into the International stage yet, mainly due to the fact that he is often like a tennis spectator watching the ball being kicked over his head rather than passed to his feet. The Irish have the players to try to play football and compete. At one nil down in Germany they “threw the shackles” off and played some fantastic football eventually resulting in a John O Shea equaliser.

Scotland were happy with the draw and sit two points ahead of the Irish in group D.

If Ireland are to have any hope of qualifying they should play to their strengths by getting the ball on the floor and playing football. A draw at home to Germany and an away win Poland isn’t an impossibility.