Kevin Kilbane: ‘Man for man,’ Ireland as good as Italy in Euro 2016

Kevin Kilbane is convinced that “man for man”, the Irish team is as good as the Italian side they will face at Euro 2016.

Tue, 16 Feb, 2016 - 00:00

Liam Mackey

But given the Azzurri’s tournament history, and their proven ability to eke out a result when required, the former Irish international still thinks victory will be necessary for Ireland in the opening group game against Sweden before Martin O’Neill’s men face their toughest test when they take on a star-studded Belgian side.

“I’ve covered every single Italy game through the qualifiers and, honest to God, I don’t see any real threat within that side,” says the former international turned media analyst.

“I think man for man we’re as good as Italy. It’s a big statement but I think we are.

“Darmian — he’s not as good as Seamus Coleman.

“Upfront, Pelle is not as good as Shane Long.

“In midfield they’ve got good players — Verratti is a good player, he would get in most sides in the world — but defensively they’re vulnerable.

“I saw them struggle against Malta and Azerbaijan, and pace is one big thing they’ll struggle against.

“My problem would be if we’ve got to beat Italy in that last game.

“I think they’ll probably do enough just to get a draw so I think we’ve got to beat Sweden. Man for man we’re not as good as Belgium but man for man we’re probably as good as the other two sides.”

Allowing for the fact that Kilbane seems to have briefly overlooked a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic there, his confidence that Ireland can do well in the summer is also based on the upbeat way team finished its qualification campaign.

“You’d like to think we’re getting momentum at the right time,” he says.

“Look at the way we controlled the play-off games. That was certainly the most outstanding play-off victory that we’ve had.

“I look back to the Iran play-off (for the 2002 World Cup): We certainly didn’t dominate or control those games in the manner in which we controlled those two matches against Bosnia.

“I think we’re maybe peaking at the right time. Certainly towards the end of the campaign, I think Martin started to get across his ideas, to get his methods across to players, and I think they were taking it all on board.”

Kilbane was one of those in the Match of the Day studio drooling over Chris Forrester’s performance for Peterborough in their televised FA Cup game against West Brom last week but, though he considers him one for the future, he reckons it’s unlikely that the 23-year-old will be able to secure a place in the squad for France.

“I think it’s probably too late for him to push on to get a place in the squad for the Euros,” he says. “If he had had a full season ahead of him, or perhaps if he had been pushing for a move in this January window, then it could have been a possibility.

“But I think there’s probably lads ahead of him at the moment.

“But it’s certainly good ahead of the World Cup because he’s got to be now pushing the likes of Jeff Hendrick, Glenn Whelan and all these sort of lads.

“He’s probably in the same mould as Glenn Whelan because he puts his foot in, breaks up play and he dictates tempo of the matches.

“So maybe we should just let him go play his football and hopefully get 50 or 100 games over in England — but I do think he’s destined to play at a higher level.”