Results over style the centre of O'Neill's World Cup plan
It has now come down to one match between the Republic of Ireland national football team and the World Cup. One game, a knockout, Denmark the opposition, the Aviva Stadium the venue. When you break it down into those direct facts, you can see why it is only the result that matters. However, there is always more to the story than meets the eye, this Irish team lacks any style or any flow. A tactical and structured approach has been enlisted to paper over severe creative deficiencies. Yet, no matter how engulfed some people are in watching and cheering on their country, you could never say the style this team plays is entertaining.
Unlike some professional club teams, Ireland's lack of entertainment is not through a lack of spirit or courage. Ireland play a very high energy and defensively concentrated way, a system that is tough to breakdown for opposition teams. What potentially assists O'Neill in his implementation of this style is that three of the starting team are all playing under Sean Dyche's leadership at Burnley. Dyche's style wouldn't be overly dissimilar to that of O'Neill's with Ireland, allowing teams come onto them before trying to make surges forward on the break. However, what is frustrating about this Irish team is that the counter-attack that is there way of coming forward, is barely ever used. The natural ability and speed of the Irish midfield line is being completely put to waste. At times, balls get harmlessly lumped over their heads by a set of four well disciplined defenders who have been instructed to hit long when in any danger at the back. This leaves the lone striker, which is usually Daryl Murphy or Shane Long, to fight for themselves, a task which no one would envy. Ireland's use of the ball in Denmark yesterday was alarmingly poor, there was no value for the ball and therefore there was no retention of it, Denmark should have taken advantage.
What Ireland must realise is that despite a pretty inept performance on Saturday for the majority of the match, they still have a massive chance. It takes one big performance, one time for the team to click, perhaps just the one moment of magic. This Irish team is not completely defensively sound, but it's not that far short. Therefore I doubt that they will concede more than one goal during ninety or perhaps one hundred and twenty minutes at the Aviva. However, one goal for Denmark could well be enough. There is a lot of talk that Ireland should be playing Wes Hoolahan if they're to have a honest chance of winning, this could well prove to be correct. Despite this, Hoolahan could well not get a game as he still doesn't fulfil the defensive responsibilities that O'Neill and Keane see fit, despite playing in a creative position. I would counter their point of view by reiterating the fact that it is a creative role and surely a team is allowed one or two men who don't have to do as much when it comes to auxiliary defensive work. I would say it is more likely that we will only see the veteran playmaker by the second half at earliest, perhaps a time when we really need a goal.
As is usually the case with football fans, there are differing views and judgments on performances through the results they gain. Personally, I didn't see much difference between Ireland's effort yesterday away in Denmark and that of the historic win against Wales. The only slight deviation was one piece of play, a good run by Hendrick, a clever dummy by Arter and a crisp finish from McClean. It took people's perspective of that game from another dire and uncreative Irish display, to people clambering over Martin O'Neill trying to find suitable synonyms to the word 'masterclass'. It is the fine lines of football that make it such a compelling and debate worthy sport, how a whole countries perspective over something can change after just one strike. Similar over estimations of the performance would have been made if somehow, Ireland had managed to strangle a goal last night. That wasn't to be, and therefore the O'Neill criticisers and doubters are out in full force today.
I would be the first to admit that I'm no particular fan of the way Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane have this Irish team playing, I think we could use our resources better. There are certainly players in that midfield like Arter, Brady and Hendrick who are better than some of what they produce for the Irish team. However, we all must be realistic and in a lot of ways, thankful to O'Neill. The same staffing got us into the European Championships and not only that, but we beat Italy and lost out narrowly to runners-up France in a terrific campaign. Now, we sit here and this team is one win away from a World Cup trip to Russia. It would be only the second time ever that an Irish national side has qualified for back to back European Championship and World Cup tournaments. O'Neill is getting success that Ireland has previously never had from a team which is not seemingly a golden generation of Irish players. There must come a time where we need to respect the management for getting us this far, not to criticise them for the way they got us there. In a country which so often relinquishes football to the national sports of Gaelic Football and Hurling, there will be only one focus come Tuesday night. For a certain two hour period, this fine country will freeze into a trance, they will focus on one thing, and that thing is the Irish football team.