Chiedozie Ogbene: We have to put pressure on ourselves to start getting results

The 27-year-old believes the players have learned enough lessons from their difficult defeats in recent years to start producing more positive results.

Mon, 09 Sep, 2024 - 10:00

Andrew Horgan

Chiedozie Ogbene has backed Heimir Hallgrimsson to help the Republic of Ireland achieve better results, but he admitted the players need to start putting more pressure on themselves in order to do so.

Ireland were humbled by England on Saturday evening in Hallgrimsson’s first game in charge with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish returning to haunt their former side.

But while the new manager will need time to settle into his new surroundings, the 27-year-old believes the players have learned enough lessons from their difficult defeats in recent years to start producing more positive results.

“We have to put pressure on ourselves,” began the Cork native, looking ahead to Tuesday’s clash against Greece at the Aviva Stadium.

“We can’t be learning, we want to be winning games for our country, we want to be going to big competitions, so I’m not going to sit here anymore and say we need to learn.

“We learnt a lot in the past, so we need to just… ultimately international football is about getting results. I believe the manager will set us up right to get results.

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“Tactically the way the manager is, it’s a different. It’s more of a solid compact shape and maybe we can press from that shape, and I think with Stephen (Kenn) we were more aggressive.

“But we just have to pick our moments because international football is not easy.

“We just have to fine tune it and let the players adapt because I know some players in their clubs play front foot and some players sit back so we all kind of have to be in tune to maximise what the manager wants us to do.

“But the likes of Greece and Finland, without being disrespectful, those are the ones we want to battle against and pick up points from.

“Obviously yes, we wanted to pick up points against England and see what happens, but against Greece and Finland we have to put pressure on ourselves to pick points up.

“It doesn’t matter who you play, you know it’s very difficult to win a game. So, I don’t want to sit here and tell you that we’re going to go and beat Greece.

“All I’m going to tell you is we’re going to try and put out a performance to try and win the game.

“We have to respect them but to be on the front foot and try and win the game, especially on our home field.”