For players, it’s about the next game not the end game
First, though, a few words about my own situation, having to look in from the outside. Too often when players get left out of squads they react negatively and give into the temptation to shoot their mouths off rather than having a good look in the mirror. So, as much as I was hurting watching the match on Friday — knowing I could have influenced it — I still find it hard to condemn a manager who, for a long period of time, showed great faith in me and gave me the honour of representing my country when there’d been a time when I thought that maybe I never would.
However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was devastated not to be involved in games of the magnitude of these two. I gave up my summer holidays to go at my own expense to Qatar for six weeks’ rehab on my Achilles injury to ensure I was fit for pre-season training but also with one eye always firmly fixed on getting ready for these two qualifiers. I feel that I’ve never let the manager down and always given absolutely everything in the green shirt, quite often putting country before club. So, to have not even been contacted by him when he knows I’m fit and available for selection has hurt. I’m really not sure how I’ve gone from his first-choice selection to not even being in the squad. Even Glenn Whelan pulling out after Saturday night due to injury didn’t warrant my call-up for this crucial match.
Leaving my deep personal disappointment aside, I still think there is real sadness in the realisation that Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign as Ireland manager could be coming to an end.
On Friday night he faced a barrage of questions from the press about his future in the job. He is so experienced at dealing with the media in various countries that, in the past, this kind of pressure has been like water off a duck’s back to him. This time I felt it was different, almost as if he had prepared himself for what most see as the inevitable.
But, regardless of what happens this evening against Austria or in next month’s fixtures, I will always regard his time in charge of us as a success. His critics seem too quick to gloss over the fact that Ireland had endured ten barren years of failure to qualify for a major tournament before he took over. But, in just two campaigns under Trapattoni, we went so close to getting to South Africa in 2010 and then, at the second attempt, succeeded in qualifying for the Euros last summer. I think the backlash is, in part, because when we do overachieve as a nation in sport, our expectations sometimes tend to run away with us.
Going back to the disappointment of Friday night: in my column before the match I said we needed to start on the front foot and take the game to Sweden. And, encouragingly, that’s exactly what we did. Right up until Robbie’s goal, we dominated with our high-tempo closing down, slick passing and sheer urgency on and off the ball. I was very impressed with what I was seeing and felt very confident about getting the result we desperately needed.
Time and time again Robbie gets written off or not given the credit his devotion to playing for his country and miraculous goal tally deserves. To a lot of people watching I’m sure they thought it was just a lucky goal, but I have witnessed him scoring goals like that ever since he was a schoolboy playing at Wolves. He has a great instinct and preys on defenders’ mistakes. Certainly he had a stroke of luck when the ball hit the post and came back to him rather than the two Swedish defenders, but then if Robbie hadn’t been so alert in the first place, what looked a simple enough finish would never have been on.
Unfortunately, an old failing quickly presented itself at that crucial point. Too often in recent years, when we score a goal, we subconsciously take our foot off the gas and drop off teams. As players, we have identified it, spoken about it and tried to rectify it — but we still seemingly haven’t learnt our lessons. We all know we are a better side when we get at the opposition, trying to harry and harass them. But since it’s nearly impossible to do this for a full 90 minutes at this level, you must be able to adapt. It’s imperative you retain possession of the football for periods of time as, believe me, it’s a lot easier running around when your team has the ball than when you’re without it.
Against Sweden, we had kept possession very well in the opening period but let’s not forget where our goal came from. Long ball down field, flick on from Shane Long, a defender’s error, and Robbie sniffs out a poacher’s goal. So, as impressive as we were, the goal still came from a very recognisable method.
For me, the game turned on the half-hour mark when we had a big let-off with Larsson heading wide when he should have scored.
This seemed to spark Sweden into life and give them the impetus they needed. Ibrahimovic started to drop deeper and got them ticking after being on the periphery in the opening stages. As disappointed as we will be with the two goals we conceded, you have to give Sweden credit.
The quality of the cross for the first made it nearly impossible to defend. When you cross a ball you always try and beat the first defender and Lustig did this with the perfect trajectory and pace to enable Elmander to make his clever run and finish it very well.
Glenn Whelan took the brunt of the blame for the second goal but I don’t think it’s as simple as that. He initially did very well to see the run of Svensson and track him but, in the cold light of day, it might seem obvious now that he should have let him run offside.
However, with the speed at which the game is played at the top level, decisions have to be made very quickly, so if there is ever any doubt you must stay with your runner.
However, I don’t think it’s going to be difficult for the team to get themselves up for tonight’s match in Vienna. Players being players, they will be delighted to have a match so soon after the disappointment of Friday. Football is indeed a funny old game and you simply never know what might happen over the course of any given 90 minutes. Dropped points for Sweden in Kazakhstan and a win for us in Austria and the qualification picture would change again.
But, of course, that belongs to the realm of speculation, some would even say fantasy. The one thing we know for sure is that tonight in Vienna our own task is straight-forward: we have to ensure we do everything in our power to win and hope and pray that results go our way elsewhere.
