European Cup Qualifier
16.10.2002 at 19:30 - Lansdowne Road
Ireland will seek to silence critics of manager Mick McCarthy by extending his remarkable record of never having lost a competitive match at Lansdowne Road when they face Switzerland in the European Championship at Lansdowne Road tonight (7.30pm).
His players this week rubbished suggestions that McCarthy’s position was under threat after last month’s 2-4 loss to Russia in Moscow and pointed to his record over six years of his management as evidence of his success.
Dean Kiely, Ireland’s capable reserve goalkeeper, was the latest to point the finger at the media representatives for over-reacting to the loss to Russia by focusing on McCarthy’s role. He highlighted results since he joined the squad three years ago and suggested the team manager should be proud of his record.
“The statistics don’t lie” he said, “and the stats over the past three years of games played, games lost and won, are very weighted in our favour. They’re not bad statistics and they read very well whatever way you look at them.”
Kiely was only one of several players to express puzzlement that there should be debate in the newspapers about McCarthy’s future. And an examination of his record in his six years as manager of Ireland spectacularly supports their point of view.
Ireland, for example, have never lost a competitive match at Lansdowne Road in McCarthy’s reign. That amounts to a run of 17 consecutive competitive matches in Dublin without loss.
Overall Ireland have lost only seven out of 39 competitive matches under McCarthy, and most of those were lost in the early years while he presided over an almost total change of personnel from Jack Charlton’s years. In Ireland’s last championship campaign, for the World Cup, they lost only one of 16 matches, for the penalty loss to Spain was technically a draw.
Kiely was unequivocal when he addressed the press corps yesterday and firmly put the newspaper controversy surrounding McCarthy into context.
He said: “All that controversy is being manufactured by yourselves really because at the end of the day our job description is to come and meet up, to train hard and give 100%.
“That doesn’t change regardless of what’s going on in the media, we’re asked to do the same thing whatever the occasion and I think it is a good trait of the lads that whatever is going on around we can only control what is controllable for us which is putting our boots on and playing football. I think over the past three or four years we have done that very well and that will continue regardless of whatever situation is going on.”
He dismissed queries as to whether the public debate had impacted upon the team’s preparations by saying: “His (McCarthy’s) job description does not change, ours does not change and we’re just doing the things that have brought us immense success in recent times.”
It is important to fill in the relevant background details to what has grown virtually into a campaign to remove McCarthy from office over the past couple of weeks. And the first thing to stress is that there are newspaper commentators who have decided, for whatever reason, that it is time for McCarthy to step down.
It is only right to point out as well, however, that McCarthy’s position has not been best served by events over the past week, particularly the speculation on who would fill the vacancy at Sunderland.
But now only the result of tonight’s match matters for Ireland must win here to restore confidence after Moscow.
In this regard it is to be hoped that McCarthy will take his courage in his hands and go for an attacking selection, one that will set a high tempo from the opening whistle and impose themselves on the game and on their opponents.
He will not reveal his team selection until shortly before kick-off but judging by his comments this week the team will be on predictable lines with the set-up on the right flank the only one presenting him with a problem.
This means he will have Damien Duff as centre-forward partner with Robbie Keane with Kevin Kilbane wide on the left in front of Ian Harte. Likewise Gary Breen and Kenny Cunningham will be at centre-back with Mark Kinsella and Matt Holland in midfield.
It is time to restore Duff to his best position on the left of midfield, not because Kilbane is not a good player but because Ireland need a more creative input in the midfield area if they are to take their football to the next level.
No one in this Irish squad can be faulted on their attitude or their contribution to Ireland’s cause, least of all the committed Kilbane, but Duff is the one irrepressible force in Ireland’s ranks in the creative sense and he is much more capable of punching holes in opposing defences on the flanks.
Switzerland play to a pattern that has the midfield four playing out of a diamond formation and this suggests they are likely to be more vulnerable on the flanks.
Ireland’s progress will be dictated by how much success they enjoy on both wings.
The hope is that McCarthy will seek to provide penetration as well on the right by favouring an attacker over a defender. In this regard Colin Healy should come into the reckoning. It is unlikely that McCarthy will hand John O’Shea a starting position at right-back, so Gary Kelly looks a certain starter.
Healy played superbly against Finland in the August challenge when his pace and passing ability made him a very positive force on the right flank. Despite his lack of first team exposure with Celtic, he may well figure prominently in McCarthy’s plans.
IRELAND (probable): Given (Newcastle Utd); Kelly (Leeds Utd), Breen (West Ham), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Harte (Leeds Utd); Healy (Celtic), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Sunderland); Keane (’Spurs), Duff (Blackburn Rovers).
Ireland's goal-scoring star Robbie Keane, yesterday paid tribute to his partner Damien Duff.
He stressed how the players were looking forward to tonight’s opportunity to wipe out the memory of last month’s loss to Russia in Moscow..
Keane said that it was always a great thrill to run out before the home supporters at Lansdowne Road and the atmosphere should be special for the visit of Switzerland as it was Ireland’s first game in Dublin since the World Cup.
It seems certain manager Mick McCarthy will pair Keane and Duff together once again at centre-forward even if he acknowledged the Blackburn player was more naturally a winger.
“I pick the players in the positions I believe can do most for the team, even if that is not necessarily the best for the individual,” he said.
Duff is capable of embarrassing the opposition in any position and Keane acknowledged his special talents: “Damien is a tremendous player. He is naturally a left-winger but the manager has put him up front and he can do the job up there, it is no problem to him.
There are solid grounds for suggesting that Duff’s enforced withdrawal because of injury against Russia was one of the principal reasons why Ireland lost. And Keane acknowledged this while still pointing out that the team overall had not played well.
“You don’t want to lose any players, especially one as good as Damien, but when he is out we definitely miss him,” he said.
Keane may still be only 22 but he is unusually experienced in football terms and few have accumulated as many clubs as he already has after spending periods at Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan, Leeds and now Spurs.
The Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle recently suggested it was time Keane settled but Keane explained his attitude to his regular moves: “I wanted to settle down at Leeds and at Inter but in the circumstances I had to change.”
Keane has accumulated 14 international goals in 39 appearances since 1998 and is well on the road to re-writing the record books.
But he said the goals were just the by-product of the team’s work and the more important thing for any striker was to help his team win.
The match against Switzerland will be special for Gary Breen who will win his 50th international cap and Keane stressed how seriously the squad was approaching the game: “We don’t really feel there is pressure. We just want to go out there and do our best for our country and obviously we want to win the game.”
He elaborated by referring to the loss against Russia last time out and said: “We don’t think back and say we had better win this game because we lost the last one in Moscow.
“That game is gone now and there is no point in looking back. We have got to look forward now and I think in training there has been a good buzz and all the boys are desperate to play against Switzerland.”
He spoke of his ambitions for the game and of the special effect it will have on him and his colleagues.
“It will be good to run out in front of our fans again for the first time since the World Cup. We all know how they always give us that little extra step to go forward during games when everything is not going that well, how they are always singing and they can lift you,” he said.
“We want to do as well as we can for them, we want three points from this match and with the fans there singing all the time it is only going to help us. It is a massive game for us, but I’m sure we’ll produce the goods.”
|
