Uefa’s Euro 2016 report confirms Ireland’s Route One reliance

It’s easy to scoff at claims from European stars Dusan Tadic and Robert Lewandowski Ireland are long-ball specialists but the proposition is indisputable according to Uefa’s technical report from the summer European Championships.

Twenty-six years on from Jack Charlton’s “Put Em Pressure” mantra and it seems Ireland’s tactical evolution is stuck in neutral, with only Northern Ireland and Iceland unleashing more scuds from back-to-front as a proportion of their overall passes in France.

One-fifth of the “passing attempts” over the four games against Sweden, Belgium, Italy and France were categorised as long-ball in Uefa’s 51-page report on the expanded 24-nation tournament. That surpassed the volume under Giovanni Trapattoni at the previous Euros.