Andrew Omobamidele: I understand the fans' frustrations, its up to us to change that

Ireland's Andrew Omobamidele. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Andrew Omobamidele says he understands the frustrations of Ireland supporters who greeted the final whistle with a chorus of boos after the national team lost 2-0 at gome to Greece on Tuesday evening.

The defeat was just the latest ill turn for a side that has fallen into a funk and just can’t find its way out of it regardless of whether it is Martin O’Neill, Mick McCarthy, Stephen Kenny, John O’Shea or Heimir Halgrímsson who holds the reins.

“It’s obviously not nice to hear as a player,” said the Leixlip man who played in the relatively unfamiliar role of right-back in the new-look back four formation.

“I grew up watching Ireland, I’ve been a fan myself so I know the frustrations.

“They’re obviously coming out to watch us play and put in a performance and, ultimately, if we’re not getting results, I completely understand the reactions and it’s up to us to change that.”

And had he a message for those fans?

“I think just kind of re-enforce that every single body on this team wants to play for Ireland and is proud and knows it’s a privilege to put on the green jersey.

"We know ourselves we need to be better and that’s what we’re going to do.”

This felt all too familiar in so many ways. Another 2-0 loss to the Greeks, another goal conceded from just outside the box and just after the break, another night when a loss will prompt deep debates on where Irish football is going wrong.

There were certainly familiar failings but there were glimpses of better here too after the universal despondency that dawned after another 2-0 loss, to England, in their opening Nations League Group B game last Saturday.

“The positive we can take away from that is I felt it was a better performance than the England game,” said Omobamidele.

“Still, all the hard work done in the first-half, going in strong, I felt we were on top. It’s something we spoke about, switching off in some moments, and getting punished.

“We spoke about it after in the changing room, we need to find a way to make this place a fortress in a sense. That’s two home defeats, we can’t let that happen. We’ve got two away games now.

"It was a much better performance than the England game. We know what we need to do, we know we need to be better.”

It’s been a long ten days in camp under a new boss who has leaned heavily on John O’Shea and admits that it has taken time to adapt to the new team and the new culture after stints with his native Iceland, in Qatar and Jamaica.

“Any new manager is going to take time to implement what he wants to do. So hopefully this next camp we can take new information from the new manager and what he wants to do, it’s going to take time until we see it on the pitch.”