Givens warns Republic under-21 team focus is essential

Republic of Ireland Under-21 boss Don Givens has warned his young players to sharpen their minds otherwise their European Championship qualifying hopes will be torn to shreds.

Givens’ squad face make or break in their Group Four clash with France at Turners Cross in Cork as they must win to retain an outside hope of a play-off place.

With three matches remaining, they trail the second-placed French by six points and third-placed Switzerland by five, with leaders Israel seemingly away and clear.

One of Ireland’s biggest problems in their campaign has been a lack of concentration, particularly conceding goals at the start of each half, or as was the case against France in Troyes last October, suffering a 1-0 defeat at the death.

“We played very well for 75 minutes in that game, but we tired a little bit towards the end and were beaten from a dead-ball situation,” reflected Givens.

“They have proved costly throughout this campaign, and that is something we need to put a stop to.

“We conceded two goals from dead balls in the recent [2-2] draw with Northern Ireland. It’s all down to a simple lack of concentration, and if we can get that sorted then we have a chance.

“It’s something I have addressed by changing the warm-up before games to try and get the players lively, on their toes and ready for the game, but when they cross that white line it’s down to them.”

Givens feels his squad are crying out for a Roy Keane-type figure to shout and bawl at players, that they are lacking a natural leader and are too softly spoken for his liking.

“We have a bit of a quiet team,” said Givens.

“We don’t really have anybody who pushes and pulls people around. We need a player like Roy Keane in our squad to get the players going, while I am sure someone like Tony Adams at 18 or 19 was a leader.

“But it seems to be the way of the modern game these days, producing players who seem to be more concerned about taking responsibility for themselves.

“In my day, players had plenty to say for themselves and they were two a penny, someone like Frank McLintock being a prime example.

“You daren’t come out of the dressing room if you hadn’t done your job properly. You would get a right earful from both him and the manager.

“I’m sure if we had that type of player in our squad then we would have done better in this campaign.”

Givens has again lost three key players in Leicester’s Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan of Sheffield Wednesday and Darren Potter of Liverpool to injury, with Mansfield’s Steve Dawson, Gary Dicker of UCD and Longford’s Sean Dillon the replacements.