Niall Quinn urges patience with Ireland’s raw striking talent

Niall Quinn. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

A video nasty presented to him by his son reminded Niall Quinn of the need for patience with young strikers.

The Republic of Ireland’s 11-hour goal drought means the excitement around emerging striking talents such as Aaron Connolly, Adam Idah, and Troy Parrott has melted into angst.

Each have had their struggles this season. Idah has suffered with injury, Parrott’s loan spell at Millwall didn’t go to plan and he has moved on to Ipswich, while Connolly has been in and out of the Brighton side and copped abuse online following a recent miss against Tottenham.

But that spurned sitter had nothing on some of the howlers Quinn has watched lately.

“My son put together some YouTube clips of me as a young Arsenal player, and I was hopeless,” says Quinn.

“I missed chances, I missed one from under the bar against Wimbledon ... I don’t know how he found it. I went: ‘Oh my God, how did I miss that?’

“So I have to now think a little more logically about young players and how you get to the point of being ready for international football. Focusing on a 20-minute spell they get in an international match is wrong. Looking at their overall development and their pathway to getting better — are they going the right way — it’s got to be baby steps.”

It’s a process that can’t be hurrried, he says, even with World Cup qualifiers next month.

“Suddenly you are mentioning young players and we are almost saying: ‘It’s up to you guys’,” Virgin Media pundit Quinn adds.

“That’s wrong, we need to be more understanding. I guess young players today, while they are learning their trade and improving every day, there is nothing like experiences, and even bad ones at the start, to improve your mental toughness to make the step up.

“About a year ago, the one I was watching the most was Troy Parrott. You think: ‘Wow, he’s got something, this fella’. Obviously he’s been injured, and his loan at Millwall didn’t work out. I’d love to see him get a goal or two and put in a good performance, and you build on that.

“Idah will be a player I hope, with being in and around the [Ireland] team, with Stephen [Kenny] having faith in him, that he starts to get streetwise as a centre forward this year.

“Coming in and having all that raw ability is fine, I hope for his sake that it does happen. I spoke about myself playing at Arsenal, raw as could be, but you get cuter — it’s self-confidence, a goal here or there makes you cuter.”

A goal on his Arsenal debut eased Quinn’s introduction to senior football, though the learning curve remained steep. Rather than listening to former pros, he’d encourage the young pretenders to watch current stars.

“I would say, on the sports psychology side, that they retain their belief, that they don’t listen to old pundits having a go at them because they miss a chance or whatever. As I say, I got a bit of a rude awakening by looking back at my early efforts at Arsenal.

“It’s a tough journey. I would say watch the better players. I’d ask Idah, if I saw him, to have a look at Harry Kane. Don’t be afraid to look at people like that, study them. On a day off, when crowds come back next year, go and watch him live, focus on him the whole game.

“Watching on telly is one thing. I can remember Arsenal sent me to Spurs-Man United as a young player and they told me to watch Mark Hughes. And I watched him. And I remember ringing John Giles once for advice. He gave me great advice at the time, as a centre forward, where to go off the ball.”

All of Ireland’s prospects bring different attributes to the forward roles, but as far as this old number nine is concerned, old-fashioned values still apply in the six-yard box.

“I get frustrated at times watching centre forwards play these days, how they are attracted to the ball. The false nine has come in. Our academies have made our players become so technically good in that they are interested in the ball, they want to do nice things around the box and bring other players into the play.

“But sometimes you need more to your game than that. I’d love young players to look at what Harry Kane does as a cross comes in, what Alan Shearer used to do, that first movement to make the space to get your half a yard and you have half a chance of scoring.

“How much work he puts in to give himself a better chance. That’s old-fashioned, but wouldn’t it be useful if people had both as a centre forward?”

- The Champions League returns to Virgin Media Television tonight, with all games live on Virgin Media Sport. Niall Quinn — Bootroom to Boardroom airs on Virgin Media Two this Wednesday at 10.15pm.