Where to from here for Ireland?
On the 18th
June 2012 on a balmy evening in Poznan Cuneyt Cakir blows his whistle to end
the Euro 2012 group C match between Italy and Ireland. Italy have won 2-0. This
is Ireland’s final game at the championships. The record is played three, lost three,
goals scored one, goals conceded nine. How did it come to this?
The cynics
may say that Ireland were fortunate to end up in a somewhat soft qualifying
group for these championships where Russia were the only realistic opponents
for the top spot.When the quest for automatic qualification failed they were
again blessed to draw Estonia in the play offs. It could also be argued though that Ireland's main rival for
second spot in qualifying group B, Slovakia, performed very credibly at the
last World Cup. They qualified for the knock stages in South Africa at the
expense of the then reigning world champions Italy. Their campaign at the World Cup was ended at the second round, but it took the challenge of the eventual
finalists, The Netherlands, to send the Slovakians home. In Marek Hamsik
Slovakia also possess one of the most promising talents in European football
and one of the driving forces of Napoli’s resurgence as a force in Italian
football.
As for
Estonia’s less than glamorous billing in the play off. It must not be forgotten
that the Estonians out qualified Serbia and Slovenia to reach the play offs. A
qualification campaign that included a highly credible 3-1 victory in Belgrade.
A lot of chickens
came home to roost for Ireland at this tournament. The first factor being the fitness
of John O’Shea and Shay Given. In the lead up to the opening game against Croatia
there was considerable speculation as to the fitness of these two stalwarts of
the Irish rearguard. A big decision needed to be made, it looks now the like
the wrong one was made on both counts. This was a situation that needed to be
managed. Such a situation that Giovanni Trapattoni is charged with managing.
What resulted was Shay Given turning in three performances that could easily
see him ranked as the worst keeper at the tournament. John O’Shea was well
below par for the first two games and his ninety minutes against Italy are
possibly his poorest performance in an Irish shirt.
Another
factor is having our captain playing his club football in the MLS. His brief
stint at Villa Park aside it is now clear that Robbie Keane’s usual sharpness
is being blunted by playing against some defenders that would struggle to get
into most Championship squads. Also it is difficult to understand how after
seeing Keane train and play for four years that a manager could possibly think
that he is suited to playing up front on his own, This tactic against Spain was
always doomed to fail and in conjunction with employing Simon Cox as a third
midfielder it was like sending in a middle weight in against a heavy weight
boxer and then tying one if his hands behind his back. To continue the boxing
analogy the Ireland Spain game was like watching a good friend receive an absolute
pummelling in the ring and for someone to hide the towel.
The final factor
is the system Ireland play and most importantly how the previous warnings as to
this system’s limitations were ignored. It now seems clear that Ireland’s
current system has a glass ceiling when it comes to achieving results. In
certain circumstances or against certain teams it will produce the goods.
However as the home qualifier against Russia in October 2010 demonstrated a
good side can use a third man in centre midfield and pass Ireland off the field.
In truth Russia gave Ireland a mauling that night in the Aviva and the 2-3
final score masks the gulf that existed between the two sides. Ireland were
well beaten, lessons could have been learned, they weren’t. A brief flirtation
with and extra man in midfield was attempted in the friendly against Uruguay
when James McCarthy was played in the ‘No. 10’ slot. Trapattoni didn’t seem
happy with how the experiment went and it wasn’t tried again. Not until the
Spain game at the European Championships when Simon Cox battled manfully in
what was a ‘square peg in a round hole’ solution.
So where to
from here for Ireland? Well in practical terms it’s off to Belgrade for a
friendly on the 15th August then in September the World Cup
qualifying journey begins. After the ill-fated Euro 2012 campaign Trapattoni
hinted that Ireland could switch to a 4-3-3 formation. 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 doesn’t
really matter if the players aren’t encouraged to pass the ball and retain
possession. In the game against Italy in Poznan whenever Ireland lost possession
they seemed to gradually retreat to twenty five yards from their own goal and
attempt to set up the defensive line from there. The space between five yards
outside the Italian penalty area to twenty five yards from the Irish goal line
is almost immediately conceded. If Ireland did regain possession more often
than not the ball finds its way to the full backs and they send it long into the
Italian half in the hope for scraps from knock downs. This is what needs to
change. The midfield area needs to stop being a ‘no mans land’ for Irish
players with the ball at their feet.
