Friendly
20.11.2002 at 00:00 - Athens
Don Givens yesterday opted for John O’Shea and Richard Dunne in preference to Gary Breen as he nominated a new defensive set-up for Ireland for the game against Greece tonight.
Breen’s dropping was the only real surprise in a team selection that was, to a great extent, dictated by the withdrawal of no fewer than 11 of Ireland’s regular players.
But in stressing that his first objective was to try and set up a victory, Givens showed current club form influenced his first team selection.
The men who have benefited from this approach are O’Shea (Manchester United) and Dunne ( Man City), two of the youngest defenders in the Premiership, and midfielders Lee Carsley (Everton) and Stephen McPhail (Leeds United).
Givens said: “I’d like to think we’d be in the position to give a few of the new boys a baptism, but that is all in the lap of the gods at the moment.
“I certainly won’t be making any experiments. I hope we are in the position, and if we are 4-0 up then I’ll give everybody a game, but I do think the result is the priority.”
Breen must privately feel disgruntled. He was outstanding for Ireland during the World Cup, arguably Ireland’s top player alongside Steve Staunton at the heart of the defence.
But he has had problems at club level and was unemployed at the World Cup having been released by Coventry City. And since his move to West Ham he has not been able to keep a regular first-team place, even though the Londoners have the poorest defensive record in the Premiership.
Givens confirmed he has no wish to continue as manager after this game, and believes he is better suited to looking after Ireland’s developing young players. His work with the U21 team over the past couple of years meant he is acutely aware of the potential of youngsters like O’Shea, Dunne and McPhail.
He said: “I look at the side and it looks fairly good to me. Obviously I am asking Richard (Dunne) to play out of position but I have had a talk with him and he doesn’t seem to have any problem at all with that. “It is a chance for these boys to produce and I am reasonably confident with what we have got that we can get a result.”
For Dunne this represents a huge opportunity to show that his new lifestyle at Manchester City suits him well. It is not so long since manager Kevin Keegan fined him for turning up late for training and gave him a private training schedule designed to help him lose weight.
Said Givens: “I saw Richard play for City against West Brom and I saw the Manchester derby on television and he looks in terrific condition.
“Once that was right, Richard is a very good player. When I called him back into the squad I felt he deserved a reward for the effort he has made and now he is starting the match and is delighted to do so.”
McPhail is another whose progress from underage level to senior international status was not without heartache. He was hugely promising when he played for Ireland in their brief tour in America in the Summer of 2000 but he returned to Leeds Utd for an immediate operation on an Achilles tendon, missing a full season.
Givens expects him to play slightly left of his more natural position in the midfield and he said: “We are slightly disavantaged in that we haven’t got an out and out wide player.
“The circumstances are that I am asking Stephen to play out there and I don’t expect him to be a left winger.
“But he has got great qualities on the ball and I hope he’ll get on the ball as much as possible and hurt the Greeks a little bit with his passing.”
This team selection has an attractive youthful look to it and Colin Healy (Celtic) contributes to a picture that conveys a flavour of what Ireland’s future will look like. Givens was well aware of his outstanding qualities at under-age level and saw him excel for Ireland at senior level against Finland in Helsinki in August.
Said Givens: “Colin Healy has played in a lot of positions and is a very good player. He just probably needs a decision to be made for himself very shortly if he is to go forward as a player.
“It seems he is not getting enough games at Celtic and for his own point of view he’ll have to decide something. He has never let me down at under-21 level and I expect the same kind of performance and commitment from him at full level.
“I had Richard at that level too so in some way the withdrawals are an advantage because I am bringing in boys I know and that makes things easier for me.”
Lee Carsley’s back-up of the World Cup squad in Japan and South Korea was lauded as impeccable even if he saw only a few minutes of action against Saudi Arabia.
He was a first choice in midfield up to three years ago and he has played himself back into the frame by his outstanding form for Everton in their recent run of five matches without defeat.
Said Givens: “I have seen him on television and I have seen him in training and he is buzzing, he is full of confidence.
“The position Everton are in the league is rubbing off on him and that is an area of the field I don’t have any worries about.
“We have two very good central midfielders in there who have proved in the past they are capable of doing it.
“I have always seen Lee as a central midfield player, very solid, dependable, and alongside Holland I felt it would give us a solid base in there.”
Givens acknowledged the strength of Greece.
He said: “Of course it will be a difficult match. They will be fired up for it, especially as they haven’t started well in their campaign European.
“The Greeks are very formidable at home and I am expecting a hot time for us.
“I really do think we need a result and there won’t be any experiments at all unless we are sailing along,” he added.
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