Onwards and upwards

It’s often said that a week is a long time in football, and I can honestly say the last week or so has been as hectic as any I’ve experienced as a player.

It started off with me losing my club manager at Bolton, Owen Coyle, who had only signed me in the summer. Then there was the demoralising result against the Germans at the Aviva and the mass negativity and uncertainty about Mr Trapattoni’s future, not to mention a tricky trip to the Faroe Islands.

There’s no doubt in my mind the game against the Faroes on Tuesday was a very pivotal one in the boss’s reign. He was a class act in the build up to that match, showing great leadership by trying to take all the blame off the players and lifting spirits around the hotel and in training.

Losing in the manner we did against Germany was very tough to take and we all knew we owed everyone a performance and a result against the Faroes. You can tell a lot about people when things aren’t going well for them and I think the whole squad showed great resolve and character in the way we performed in Torshavn.

The manager showed again he isn’t afraid to make tough decisions by selecting Marc Wilson and Robbie Brady. But then I think he could have left any of the starting 11 against Germany out for the Faroes match without any grounds for complaint from anyone.

After training on the plastic pitch on Monday evening we were all fairly content with it, with the lads who’d played on the artificial surface in Kazakhstan last month remarking that the Faroese version was a lot better.

I felt we started the game very well and for 20 minutes we dominated possession and territorial advantage. I was guilty of missing a glorious chance from a super cross from Aiden, but fortunately it didn’t cost us, especially because, as the half wore on, the Faroes did play some good football and caused us a few problems, mainly from set pieces.

At half-time we all said we needed to restart brightly and take the game to them. It was a wonder strike from Marc Wilson that gave us the breakthrough – and it wasn’t really a surprise to any of us as he had been doing it in training all week. It was pleasing to see us keep pressurising them high up the pitch after we took the lead as so often in the past we have gone a goal up and then dropped off and let teams play.

I thought Seamus Coleman again had a very good game and showed a lot of responsibility in possession, often starting our attacks by his direct running.

It was also a pleasure to play with James McCarthy. He is a young player with a lot of experience for his age. He is getting a great football education under Roberto Martinez at Wigan and showed on Tuesday, especially in the second half, that he is very well suited to international football and will be a big player for us for years to come. I think he’s been a lot more settled in the squad over the last few trips and having some other young lads to knock about with has certainly helped.

There was a lot of confusion and speculation after the match about the manager’s future. After a few of us spoke to the media, we knew from their questions that they had suspicions it might be the manager’s last match. But I have to say that when he arrived back at the hotel about 45 minutes behind us after doing his press conference, he looked like he hadn’t a care in the world. He was obviously content with the result but I was very impressed by the great dignity in the way he dealt with everything that had been thrown at him.

I was obviously delighted when news broke on Wednesday evening that the FAI had a board meeting and unanimously decided the boss would remain in charge. It was imperative they came to a decision and made it public knowledge, as it wouldn’t have done anybody concerned any good for this situation to linger on.

We now have to move on and concentrate on trying to qualify from this tough group so we all have something to look forward to the summer after next. With six points from nine I feel it’s a decent start to the qualifying campaign. When I see the likes of Scotland and Wales continuously struggle to even mount a serious attempt to qualify from their respective groups I think we need to get a sense of realism about our expectations.

Of course our aim is to qualify, but we have no divine right to finish ahead of Sweden and Austria in second place in the group. We got spoilt in the Jack Charlton era and since then expectation levels have soared. When you look at the players Jack had at his disposal, there were a lot playing for the top teams in England. Now, unfortunately, we are made up mainly of a mix of Premier League and Championship players, with Aiden McGeady being our only player playing in the Champions League.

I’m sure the manager will use the friendlies against Greece and Poland to experiment and have a further look at some of the younger lads coming through, with one eye on the crucial double header in March with Sweden and Austria.