Pragmatic King admits result must come first

Noel King is a football fan and a football manager — but it will be the latter not the former which dictates how Ireland set out to play against Kazakhstan tomorrow night.

“All of you will be telling me that we should be more attacking and if I wasn’t in this position then I’d be saying the same thing,” he admits, “but the reality is that you have to respect your opponent.

“Obviously we like to attack as much as we can but the nature of football is that you have to defend, and defend well, in these games. If you don’t then you can end up with egg on your face.”

Though many have long since dismissed this match as a dead rubber, the three points at stake do have significant meaning for the home side, with the FAI confirming yesterday that a win is necessary if Ireland are to retain hopes of a second place seeding in the draw for the qualifiers for Euro 2014 (see panel).

And for King, on what will be only his second but also, in all likelihood, his last shot at managing the senior team, a win would also be a source of genuine personal and professional pride.

“I do feel responsible because you don’t want to be a dud,” he says. “You don’t want to be seen as the dud interim manager. For me, I was happy with the game in Germany and I think it was good. We did not win and now we have another one, a very tough, tough match. We in Ireland do not think it’s a tough match [laughs] but I don’t want to go down that road.”

Interestingly, King believes Ireland may have done the Germans some service on the back of the chances the visitors created in Cologne.

“I think we’ve helped Germany,” he suggests. “We showed Germany they have weaknesses and I think anybody who is playing them in the future will take out that video and say, ‘Ooh’, in terms of the chances we created, absolutely. That would be a worry for them. They got away with it but I’m sure it will be addressed.”

King will again employ a 4-2-1-3 formation for the visit of Kazakhstan, but with Richard Dunne and John O’Shea back from suspension and Robbie Keane hopefully on his way back from injury, there will be changes in personnel. (The skipper trained yesterday and will be monitored today for any negative reaction).

King appreciates there will be a clamour to see gifted players like Andy Reid and Wes Hoolahan on the pitch, but insists he can’t be swayed by the popular vote.

“I pick the team on what I think will be good for the team in two matches,” he explains. “I put those players into the group and I recognise that I like that type of player and that they have a role to play. But if you play a lovely game and lose 1-0, I will be slaughtered and they will be slaughtered. So you have a game to win and I don’t mind that people can have a view. But at this moment my view matters in the 11 that starts and I can not be influenced by anything other than trying to win the game.”

The betting is that Reid will get the nod ahead of Hoolahan, with King more or less conceding that both players were unlikely to be accommodated.

“It would be very difficult wouldn’t it?” he says, before highlighting other selection dilemmas. “We have two centre-backs coming in who are very experienced and who have been ever-present everywhere and you also have [Ciaran] Clark who was outstanding [in Cologne] and [Damien] Delaney who did the same thing. In other words, [do you] reward people for doing so well? That’s the dilemma isn’t it? That’s the dilemma because you have asked people to do a job, they’ve done it, I’ve said I’m delighted with it — and now they’re not playing. What’s going on? That’s the manager’s dilemma.”

Giovanni Trapattoni, a man never shy about stressing the primacy and permanence of the result, liked to say that if people wanted a show they should go to La Scala.

King desperately wants victory too — but he also understands that, on the last night of a deflating campaign, it would be nice if the team could bring a touch of, as it were, Gaiety to the nation while they’re at it.

“Every opportunity we get in the game, we will try to play,” he promises. “Every opportunity we had the other night, we tried to play. That’s fair. If those opportunities arise tomorrow night, then we will play and play and play.

“I just hope that people come and get behind us. They will get honesty and they will get attacking if we can attack. But they must appreciate that defence is a skill and is a very important aspect of the game. If we get that understanding we could turn the Aviva into a fantastic place.”