Evan Ferguson not overthinking it as he aims to rediscover goalscoring form

It's obvious that right now, Ireland need Evan Ferguson firing far more than his club Brighton. 

FINDING THE FLOW: Evan Ferguson, left, and Festy Ebosele during a Republic of Ireland training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

He’s not reached 20 yet it’s habitual to pine for Evan Ferguson’s former glories.

This time 12 months ago, he bounced into the Ireland camp off starting against Liverpool, unlucky not to score in the 2-2 draw, but content with his four-goal haul from the season’s preliminaries.

Within three minutes of kicking off against Greece a few days later, that youthful panache was lapped up by the Lansdowne Road crowd.

A shimmy of his hips eluded his marker and the 20-yard curler on the turn clipped the outside of the post.

Ferguson was top don for Brighton and Ireland at 18. Evidently, it’s Ireland whose need for him to revive is most pressing.

Fabian Hürzeler is content to ease the teen into his set-up and the approach has yielded their rise to sixth in the table after seven games.

By starting Ferguson in the Carabao Cup tie against Wolves, the new Seagulls boss displayed his trust in fielding someone sidelined for five months by ankle surgery in April.

If Joao Pedro or Danny Welbeck weren’t so reliable, maybe the academy graduate would be well towards regaining his regular role but instead the minutes have been sparingly administered.

Five as a late substitute on his return against Ipswich Town seemed part of a gradual reintegration but an increase to eight and nine respectively in the subsequent fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Chelsea were hardly indicative of progress.

Especially so when he wasn’t called upon at all in Sunday’s comeback win over Tottenham Hotspur.

We ought to be glad Hürzeler insists Ferguson has nothing to prove but it would be better from an Irish perspective if his actions spoke louder.

This Ireland team has found the net in just one of their six matches in 2024. Another blank in Helsinki doesn’t bear thinking about.

A two-spot lead over 64th-placed Finland in the world rankings is the only justification for Ireland being favourites and how they could do with their great hope travelling with the sharpness which had him linked with Arsenal and Manchester United in recent windows.

“I'm just playing how I'm playing — I'm not trying to force anything,” he said of his goal famine stretching back to November 2023 against Nottingham Forest.

“It's good to score goals as a striker. In this window, I’d like to get back into a flow, that rhythm of scoring goals again too, but I wouldn't say I'm going out of my way to score a goal.

“If you start doing that then you start overthinking stuff and end up going backwards.” 

MENTOR: Evan Ferguson and Ireland assistant coach John O'Shea. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Flanking Ferguson during the press duties was John O’Shea, a mentor since they worked together in Ireland’s U21s.

The centurion has forgiven him for missing the penalty against Belgium that denied him victory in his first match as standalone boss and chuckles in a paternal manner when the idea is broached of the Bettystown native soaring to world-class level.

Alan Browne attributed Ireland’s struggles to the absence of such an exalted star after the latest of their eight straight competitive defeats — bar strolls over minnows Gibraltar — in the September gathering.

“If he goes out of the room I’ll tell you,” said Heimir Hallgrimsson’s assistant with a grin.

“We all know what Evan has done already at international and at club level.

“So we just want him back up to speed as quickly as we can in terms of being fully fit, games under his belt and knowing what he can produce, and just getting that consistency going.

“Then we’ll see the levels he can reach.” 

Having applied kid gloves to his game time in the defeats to England and Greece, Ireland must make a call on Ferguson’s readiness to start on Thursday.

Neither O’Shea nor Ferguson were willing to vouch for his fitness levels, perhaps just as well after all the intrigue in September, but the player wasn’t buying into the assessment of the overall malaise identified by the new manager.

“It feels like the jersey is a little bit too heavy for some players," the former Iceland and Jamaica manager said after the pair of 2-0 losses.

When they put it on they don't maybe show the same quality as they do for their clubs. We just need to change that.

Ferguson foresees what many don’t — an uplift. Failure to win either of these games by Sunday will leave Ireland battling to avoid relegation into League C and cast-iron third seeds for the World Cup qualification draw in December.

“Maybe it’s just from the fact that we’ve not picked up the results that we’ve wanted,” he suggested.

“I think it could be a confidence thing. When we get the ball rolling and we pick up points and get a few wins, then it could be a different story. But I think it’s easy to look at the negatives when you are not doing well.” 

In dark days, a rare beacon like Ferguson is what supplies a glimmer of light.