Martin O’Neill: Scotland game is not make or break
“Of course it’s very important, absolutely,” he acknowledges. “If Scotland beat us then there’s a gap of five points and, with four games left, that might be hard to pull back, particularly if by the time that we finish, Poland and Germany have won.
“Let us not minimise the importance of the game. Do I think that if we win the game that’s it, it’s all guns blazing? Not at all, we’ve games still to negotiate. And if there’s no result in the game does that mean it’s the status quo? No, advantage Scotland still because they’ve now played us and that particular challenge is gone. So it’s up to us to win. No, please, I’m not minimising the importance of the game.”
But drawing from his own experience as an international player, he will also point out that, such is football’s ability to confound expectations, even the heaviest blow at this halfway stage of the campaign might not prove to be a fatal one.
“In Northern Ireland’s group (for the World Cup) back in 1982, if I could draw some sort of comparison, we got beaten in June by Sweden,” he recalls. “We hadn’t played for a while. Just like this. Sweden had got off to a poorish start and that game, while it didn’t help them a great deal, it was certainly a blow to us. Then they played seven or 10 days later against Portugal and I remember saying to Pat Jennings that they would beat Portugal. And they beat Portugal.
“So you’re right back in it again. And even those two wins were not enough for Sweden because they’d got off to a poor start. That left us right back in it. We had Scotland and Israel and teams like that and saw it through, just when you thought, ‘hold on...’ And was it not a case here under Jack’s regime that he thought everything was finished (until Scotland beat Bulgaria to see Ireland through to Euro 88)? But I wouldn’t want to be leaving it like that.
“It’s still in our hands and while that opportunity is in our hands — and firmly in our hands let’s try and take it.”
To that end, O’Neill would like Ireland to put in a first-half performance against Scotland similar to the one they delivered in the second half against Poland.
“If we could start like that in the game, if we could get ourselves going and try and get the first goal rather than chasing things, that will give ourselves a chance,” he says.
“We’ve got to apply some pressure and we’ve got to try and get on the front foot early in the game and establish some sort of foothold. To play well under pressure, to throw the shackles off and play as strong as we can — if we do that, I think we’ll win.”
Those shackles, he suggests, would be mainly psychological. “Don’t be tense,” is his message, “though that’s easier said than done. Of course there is going to be tension around the place. The same will apply for Scotland as well. But a lot of these players have been in these sort of situations before.
“I think it’s the sort of game, if you were to ask any players, they would all want to be playing. They would all want to be starting the game and that’s encouraging.”
It should also help the Irish cause that O’Neill currently has all his first-choice men available, with Wes Hoolahan, Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy and Marc Wilson back in contention after missing the 1-0 defeat in Glasgow.
“I’m pleased to have them around, absolutely,” says the manager. “Yeah, of course, because we feel as if we’re a stronger squad because of it and I think that’s right. They have great experience as well and I think that sort of experience should be important in a game like this.”
He will also, it now seems certain, be calling on services of Ireland’s newest left-full, Robbie Brady, whose set-piece delivery could make the difference in a tight game.
“Well those were excellent on Saturday (against England) but we weren’t so clever against Poland,” says O’Neill.
“We either overhit or underhit. But I’ve got no doubt that Robbie Brady is capable of dealing with those situations.”
The other Robbie, meanwhile, had his first successful outing with the squad at Gannon Park yesterday, having flown in from LA where his season has been disrupted by a groin problem.
“Obviously he was just getting over the trip,” says O’Neill. “I don’t think that he thought that he was going to play the whole 90 minutes (for LA Galaxy) on Saturday but because they were chasing the game, he was kept on.
“Today we’ve just done a little bit. He looked absolutely fine but we’ll see what he’s like after.”
In the only fresh injury news from the camp, Bournemouth’s Harry Arter was due to have a hip and groin problem assessed.
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