A new era of Irish football kicks off under Heimir Hallgrimsson this evening as last summer’s Euro 2024 finalists England roll into town for an intriguing Uefa Nations League opener.
Hallgrimsson exuded a calm authority at his first pre-match press conference, but drill beneath the surface and the 57-year-old Icelandic knows that the odds of getting off to a positive start are stacked against him.
He came into the job in the middle of the close season and was forced to lean heavily on his assistant John O’Shea to select the 23-man squad because he didn’t know the players well enough.
And he’s only had a few days with the players for this opening fixture.
It’s the natural out-workings of an interminably long managerial search – and now England “the nearest crocodile to the boat”, as FAI Football Director Marc Canham described it, have arrived.
Beyond his cool exterior, Hallgrimsson is very much the student in the exam hall guilty of serious cramming.
But there are enough subplots in this fixture to distract from Ireland’s lack of preparation for their first Nations League game – a competition they’ve always shared an awkward embrace with.
For starters, the Irish fans that will pack out the Aviva Stadium for the tea-time kick-off have their choice of panto villains among the opposition.
Declan Rice and Jack Grealish will undoubtedly incur their wrath.
Rice played three friendly matches for Ireland before declaring for England, while Grealish enjoyed a long flirtation with Ireland’s underage teams before making the same move.
And Lee Carsley will be hoping his image doesn’t flash up on the stadium’s big screen too often.
The 40-times capped Ireland international has taken the English reins on an interim basis even though he was being heavily touted as successor to Stephen Kenny once the Dubliner exited the Irish post last November.
However, it took Carsley, who was coaching England’s U21s, four months to publicly rule himself out of becoming Republic of Ireland’s next manager, with perhaps the carrot of taking over from Gareth Southgate after Euro 2024.
Whether by design or default, that’s the way the cards have fallen for Carsley.
From an Irish perspective, the hope is that England’s ambivalence towards the Nations League continues in Dublin while their squad is significantly weakened by the absence of Euro stars Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Ollie Walkins and Cole Palmer.
Grealish, though, will want to prove a point in Dublin having been omitted from England’s Euro 2024 finals squad, with Coleman expected to be handed the man-marking duties of the Man City winger.
Hallgrimsson, meanwhile, will be hoping to discover the b****** gene in his squad.
Jayson Molumby was often Stephen Kenny’s wrecking ball in midfield – a player, he described, as bringing a welcome “chaos” to games.
The West Brom player politely rejected the phrase coined by his manager – but his tough tackling could be a vital cog in Ireland’s microwaved gameplan in the hope of causing an upset tonight.
Moving a central defender – someone like Nathan Collins – to the base of Ireland’s midfield is also a possibility.
“We’ll see – if we were considering it, I would probably not tell you,” Hallgrimsson coyly replied to the theory.
The new manager is likely to ‘park the bus’ by playing five at the back, with wing-backs Coleman and Robbie Brady playing conservatively to try and frustrate their visitors.
But Hallgrimsson’s strikers carry enough sting to hurt England with Sammie Szmodics, Chiedozie Ogbene and Evan Ferguson strong options.
He may go with two out of those three and keep one in reserve.
Yesterday, Hallgrimsson was at pains for his players to play the game - not becoming too wrapped up in the historic rivalry between the two nations.
Coleman added: “You can most certainly tap into the emotional side of it but I think that goes, to be honest with you, for any time you put on that green jersey for Ireland.
“When I get them lads into a huddle beforehand, you can tap into the emotional side of it all, about the historic game and England [being] our rivals coming over.
“For us lads, we’re representing our country, unbelievably proud to do so as well, some amazing journeys along the way for them lads, myself included, to get to this level.
“We can tap into the emotional side, but it doesn’t matter if it’s England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland because you’re playing for your country.
“Hopefully we can do that in a positive way, but you know we can’t just be gung-ho, you have to have a smart head as well.”
Hallgrimsson was co-manager of his native Iceland when they sprung a major upset by knocking England out of Euro 2016.
He reckons that England’s class of 2024 is of a much higher standard than the team Iceland beat eight years ago.
“The individual quality, the technical skills, the speed, of this team is much higher than the one we played.
“Also, they are coming off from a good tournament and I would say the biggest difference is they have stayed together for two months now, and we have three days to prepare. That is going to be challenging as their routine is so drilled, whether it’s on the pitch or off the pitch.”
The Ireland manager also insisted that rather than focusing on England’s strengths and weaknesses, the approach he’ll take will be the same for most opposition they face.
“Normally, we will prepare in the same way,” he said.
“It’s six camps a year, each camp is a week. I think the way forward is to try and have consistency in what you are doing - consistency in how you play. And try to build on that in the future.
“Whether we are playing superstars, or the best teams it shouldn’t be a lot of difference in how you prepare because you don’t have time to be always changing from this to that. Just be better in what you’re doing.
“And I think for Ireland to go forward, to play a good collective team - we can never succeed unless we do it as a unit, as a group. So, whether we play England or Greece, it’s kind of the same philosophy, same way of working, same way of playing.”
Republic of Ireland (probable): Kelleher, Coleman, Brady, Collins, O’Shea, Scales, Molumby, Smallbone, Szmodics, Ogbene, Ferguson
