Swedish coach backs Stan and Bobby to achieve success

SWEDISH coach Lars Lagerback believes Ireland’s unorthodox managerial team of Steve Staunton and Bobby Robson has the ingredients to work.

Lagerback has overseen the fortunes of his national side for six years, but spent the first four of those as co-manager alongside Tommy Soderberg who stepped down after Euro 2004.

After a difficult beginning where the team flopped at Euro 2000, the double act that was fondly referred to as ‘Lars-Tommy’ worked smoothly enough to see Sweden through to the World Cup in 2002 and the European Championships two years later.

“Experience is an important thing in all areas,” said Lagerback when asked about the Staunton-Robson pairing. “On paper it is a very good combination. You have your younger manager and an older man with more experience behind him. I don’t know either of them personally so it is hard to know, but it looks good on paper.”

Lagerback hasn’t suffered for the want of his sidekick however with quality players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg spearheading an impressive World Cup campaign that saw them qualify automatically as one of the better runners-up behind Croatia.

Disappointingly for Arsenal fans, a calf injury picked up in the defeat to Blackburn on Saturday means Ljungberg will sit out tomorrow’s game but Lagerback suggested that most of his other first-choice players will start.

For the visitors, tomorrow’s game is arguably less important than the week surrounding it, a week that has allowed them a rare opportunity to sit down and plan their campaign for Germany where they are grouped with England, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

It was for that reason that Ljungberg has travelled to Dublin despite the injury which may or may not keep him out of Arsenal’s trip to play Fulham at Craven Cottage next Saturday.

“It is very important that Freddie is here because this week is about team planning for the World Cup as well as the match,” said Lagerback. “It is always nice to meet the players, especially when we have so little time to get together before the World Cup.”