Hallgrimsson putting his stamp on Ireland squad after hands-off start

The Icelander will prepare the Boys in Green for a double header against Finland and Greece. 

CHANGES: Head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

It would be premature to say that the next week will show us exactly what a Heimir Hallgrimsson Republic of Ireland team looks like, but the new manager has gone some way towards moulding the Boys in Green in his own image.

The squad named on Thursday for next week’s Nations League window and away games in Finland and Greece presented us with half-a-dozen new faces when compared to last month’s gathering and with another six sitting this one out.

That only two of that latter sextet were injury-related is significant. The biggest reveal as to the Icelander’s thinking came with his explanation as to why Matt Doherty had been omitted when his other right-back Seamus Coleman was unavailable because of a foot problem.

“Unfortunately they will not play forever, so we need to have a Plan B if they are not there, he explained having named just one recognised right-back, the inexperienced Festy Ebosele in his 20-man panel.

“My job is to get this team to the World Cup in the US in 2026 and, given that next year, 2025, if we end up in a group with five nations, all our FIFA windows next year will be official World Cup matches, so this is the only chance to experiment, to give players a chance to show what they can do.” It was a fair point if one he risked confusing by emphasising yet again the need for consistency in selection in his line-ups - how the “rotation” of too many players is a self-defeating approach when the national team’s time together is so limited.

The response to that was to explain that there is a middle ground that needs finding and that’s fair enough. It would be all too easy to find loose threads and unravel this line of thinking but that won’t change the fact that Coleman is 35 and Doherty 32.

This brutal realism was evident in other ways.

Stephen Kenny told us we should aim for the stars but couldn’t get near those heights. Hallgrimsson’s preference is to be more grounded, as was the case when he reiterated the intention that his team “should be more pragmatic” in its approach.

This won’t excite anyone, not least the sizeable rump that bought so eagerly into Kenny’s vision, but there was something in the first 45 minutes against Greece when Ireland mixed the agricultural with some intricate patterns to suggest that it needn’t read so grim.

His language is interesting in all this.

Talk of “quick options” and “players with the vision to find it” doesn’t necessarily translate into a rudimentary ‘Put Em Under Pressure’ ethos. And if he talks about getting more basics right against the Greeks last time then who are Ireland right now to find that beneath them?

Step back a bit and Hallgrimsson makes for an interesting case study. A man who leans so much on his assistants yet stays resolutely true to his own path. Someone with a short-term contract building for a future that is only around the bend.

There was a similar dichotomy at play when he spoke of where and how he has been keeping tabs on his players lately, his decision to ignore the boots-on-the-ground option last month having aroused a fair bit of harrumphing from his new constituency.

“I don't count the games I've been at, but last week was pretty intense for me, up and down England seeing matches. I thought time efficiency for me is to see more players than the [one] individual.

“We don't have many players playing at the same team or the same club so for example last week when I was travelling, I could see one or two players play and the whole day went into travelling between matches.

“That's why I have invested more time watching more players on the apps we have, on the computer, on the telly etc, so we have more knowledge, more time investment for me.” 

All of which sounds like a man who was persuaded that a bit more visibility on the UK club scene at the weekend might be a good way of keeping the chattering classes happy. Whether he covers similar ground again is another thing.

Hallgrimsson is going to follow his own road on this. That much is clear, and more than welcome given the confusion over who was or wasn’t picking the squad and the starting XI when he took charge for the first time last month.