Ireland are in safe hands.
Considering the last international break resembled a John O’Shea-coached team rather than anything especially new or fresh, this had to be the window where we started to see Heimir’s handprints.
Thankfully, whatever your thoughts on Ireland’s two matches, you’d have to acknowledge that The Dentist’s surgery is underway. Both games showed a new mixed-style, characterised by a flexible formation and a 4-4-2 set-up out of possession.
Then, within the formation, there were selections that only an outsider could conjure up.
Is Dara O’Shea the right-back we’ve dreamt of? Is Jason Knight the link midfielder we’ve needed? Certainly not, but hey, Heimir’s doing it his way and has already learned a lot from watching his convictions play out on the grass.
Clichéd at this stage, but wouldn’t it have been great if he had four friendlies to prepare for his first competitive matches?
We don’t yet know if he’ll do a great job – or even a good job – but he’s not resembling an underqualified fraud and that might be enough. Ireland have looked okay and he speaks especially well, but the biggest thing in his favour right now might be the lack of games behind him.
Fans felt markedly more positive about Ireland’s 2-0 defeat to Greece last night compared to the 2-1 defeat in Athens in the summer of 2022. The 2022 game was better under most headings like XG, possession, shots and chances, but Heimir’s post-match comments about needing to cut out errors, to be more confident and to take more initiative don’t come with the baggage of repetition.
We feel like he’s in the business of fixing issues, not making stale excuses. That’s the best honeymoon period the humble Irish Football Man can ever ask for.
His 2-1 win over a sloppy Finland team has allowed Irish fans to believe that he’s the guy – and he’s the earned that privilege. Fine margins helped Ireland to victory in that fixture but football is a silly game and an injection of silly belief into our players, fans and media could go a long way towards a healthy World Cup qualification campaign next year.
Build-up play is going to need some work
Of course, those World Cup ambitions can be forgotten about if Ireland fail to improve their build-up play. Just like Heimir’s first game against England, the Boys in Green repeatedly kicked long against Greece, only to invite wave after wave of dangerous attacks straight back down their throats.
Although many people want Ireland to be “hard to beat”, it’s strange to watch a team with slight players like Szmodics, Knight, Cullen and Parrott choosing to neutralise matches by turning them into tussles, instead of taking the sting out of them by retaining possession.
Ferguson is the main targetman but he is yet to prove himself as particularly capable at winning aerial duels against physical centre-backs at Premier League or international level, instead preferring to take the ball to feet. You’d also have to question if Ogbene is wasted when chasing long-balls instead of carrying the ball further up the pitch.
The second-half showed a big improvement in this regard with Scales finding the likes of Taylor in midfield, but this issue is something which has already hurt Ireland against England and against Greece at home.
Ray Houghton bemoaned Ireland playing out form the back when Kelleher made his mistake late on, but we all know every game will be a “slow death” (in the words of Coach Kenny) if we don’t look to take care of the ball when we have it.
The quality of the team has improved immeasurably.
We already knew this by tracking their club careers, but Caoimhin Kelleher, Liam Scales, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Jason Knight, Sammie Szmodics, Troy Parrott and Finn Azaz are better than they’ve ever been.
In fact, the one pleasing part about every Ireland camp is how – no matter the results – it’s always pretty evident that these players are growing and maturing into the competitors so badly needed.
Even when Szmodics isn’t making game-changing contributions, the sharpness he adds to the Irish frontline is invaluable. With neat control, fast feet and a burst of pace, he serves Ireland as a momentum generator; a fella who can get fans up on their feet even when Ireland are struggling to find a breakthrough.
He wasn’t an option in previous years, and Finn Azaz – who was useful against Finland – is another new face in attack who wasn’t ready to make the step up until now. Mikey Johnson, Kasey McAteer and Jack Taylor also came off the bench in Athens, two of whom are Premier League players.
For anyone who thinks Ireland aren’t going anywhere, have a quick look at our teamsheet from when we played Finland on this very day in 2020.
Cullen aside, the heart of midfield has been an issue for some time so Taylor’s swift impact in the Greek game emerges as one of the most positive points from the two-game window.
The Ipswich Town man made an impression off the bench in the Tractor Boys’ 2-2 draw with Aston Villa two weeks ago, and looks destined to get more Premier League gametime after the break.
Centre-back stocks see a shift
Nathan Collins was captain for the two fixtures but he came under some scrutiny when his lapse of concentration gifted the Fins a first half goal in Helsinki. His excellent showings for Brentford in the Premier League probably assure him of a place in the Irish eleven for the foreseeable, but your mind does cast to Championship battlers like Richard Keogh and Sean St Ledger who, curiously, made far less – if any – errors in the green shirt.
Liam Scales might be a cut above Championship level but his “unsexy” style makes him that plucky underdog character of the current Irish defence. The Celtic man scored an excellent header in Helsinki and saved Ireland numerous times in Athens with a mix of intelligent interceptions and desperate interventions.
The Wicklow native showed an appetite for defending perhaps not seen by Collins or his teammates in recent campaigns, surely cementing himself as one of Heimir’s early favourites and maybe, just maybe, making him first-choice centre-back – even ahead of Collins.
Robbie Brady will always pull you back in
It feels implausible that I’d ever stop supporting Ireland so religiously, but what if history was rewritten?
Had Robbie Brady not scored the winner in Helsinki, many of us might have already felt dejected and depressed about the new Heimir era. The last moment of “joy” felt by our fanbase was Ireland’s 3-2 home win over Armenia in 2022, but the memory of that was fast fading in the rear view mirror.
That Nations League match saw Ireland surrender a 2-0 lead, before being bailed out by an injury-time VAR-awarded penalty. Who converted from the spot that night? It was of course Robbie Brady – a guy who had been out of the picture for a long time before then because of form and fitness.
It was just as well he scored that penalty. Yeah, Ireland had the remarkable 3-0 win over Scotland earlier that year, but if you were to look back further than that, you wouldn’t find much to shout about from Kenny’s campaigns, Mick’s reprise or O’ Neill’s 2018 Nations League calamity.
Instead, the six years leading up to that Scotland game were charged by a famous goal from all the way back in 2016 – the last time Ireland were a good football team. That glancing header from Brady corrupted a new generation of Ireland fans – giving them the drug for the first time, then leaving them chasing the same high – fruitlessly – for the bones of a decade.
Now, just as some of us might have been at breaking point, the bastard has whispered in our ears to keep going.
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