Gasperini's barbs could 'anger' Evan Ferguson, says Heimir Hallgrímsson
ANGRY: Evan Ferguson and head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson during a Republic of Ireland media conference. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Heimir Hallgrímsson reckons some of Gian Piero Gasperini’s cutting comments about Evan Ferguson could be designed to make his Ireland striker ‘angry’.
The Italian has adopted a tough love approach to his loan player since he arrived from Brighton and Hove Albion, publicly questioning his attitude and physical condition.
His latest quotes from the Italian capital referred to Ferguson being ‘depressed' from suffering four ankle sprains since he joined in the summer.
Ireland boss Hallgrímsson reckons the 21-year-old will be fit again for Sunday’s trip to Serie A champions Napoli. He foresees his tall, powerful striker being available for Ireland’s World Cup playoff semi-final away to Czechia on March 25.
“I spoke to Evan and he thinks he's going to be good for Sunday,” said the Icelander following Thursday’s Uefa Nations League draw pitted Ireland against Israel, Austria and Kosovo later in the year.
“His injury is taking longer than he thought. It’s not unfair to see he’s been injured since he came.
“Roma’s manager wants him fit to play in every game but he’s brought in a new striker (Donyell Malen) because he gets injured a lot.
“He sounds in a really good place - and not far from being fully fit. Let's hope he'll stay fit until we play at least in March.”
Hallgrímsson has yet to visit Italy to take in a match but is watching with curiosity.
“I'm not watching the training and in-camp things, so I can't comment on his comments in that sense but he must have his reasons for saying it.
“It might be just to get him angry or whatever and start playing.”
Also on the personnel front, the manager confirmed that Corkman Alan Browne is playing himself into a recall – albeit from the right-back position.
Ireland’s midfield that helped beat Hungary last time out is devoid of Josh Cullen, as he’s out for the season following a recent ACL rupture playing for Burnley.
“I've thought about this a lot because at the moment we don't have many options,” he said with an air of concerns.
“Those players who are playing in this position, the likes of Conor Coventry, Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight aren't playing regularly for their clubs.
“Alan Browne is playing, and has really impressed us, but as a right back. But he's shown really good games.
“Bosun Lawal too, playing right back, left back, everywhere but midfield, and now he’s injured.”
Meanwhile, Hallgrímsson wasn’t offended by Czechia boss Mirolav Koubek by branding his team as having an ‘island’ style, which is nothing more than ‘simple’.
“I don't know what island football is – so don't know what he meant,” he said with his trademark grin.
“I'm not overly worried about what he was saying. He was probably trying to get into the heads of the media in Ireland.
“We've analysed his tactics from his previous roles: how he plays and what he wants.
“In their situation, I think it's clever to hire an experienced coach that knows a lot about football in the country.
“He would definitely know the limited time he has to make changes. That's one thing.
“Secondly, in the break in the season, they used it to host national team camp for the domestic players. So he could actually gain some time in that period. So clever for them to do it this way. But an experienced coach knows everything about all their players.
“So it's not like a guy that needs to find out things. I don't think they will do a lot of changes because you don't have time.
“We have maybe one real training session before this game. It's a Thursday game. Coming together on a Monday means that Tuesday training is probably the only one.
"And then we have a match day minus one in the stadium. So for us, it's just one training day. It's not much that you can do. At least, it's not much that can change in one training session.”
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