From Brendan Crossan at Abbotstown
HEIMIR Hallgrimsson says Ireland must “stop the bleeding” and break the habit of losing games.
Speaking at yesterday’s squad announcement for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Finland and Greece, the new boss knows he faces an uphill task to turn the team’s fortunes around.
In his first international window in charge last month, Hallgrimsson oversaw two 2-0 defeats to England and Greece which typified the general malaise of the national team - conceding goals and failure to create chances.
Hungary, Gibraltar (twice) and Latvia are the only teams the Republic have beaten in the last 18 months and there are scant signs of things improving.
“It’s really important because at some point we need to stop this bleeding,” said Hallgrimsson.
“Losing becomes a habit like winning does and we need to break that connection. It’s more likely we’ll get a good result with good performance.
“I think I know what we need to improve on the pitch. I’m going to focus on that rather than listen to what others think.
“Hopefully we can show on the pitch that we can results against teams. They’re different teams to us. Finland and Greece have been playing together for a long time, their average age of around 30, 30-plus so their individual understanding is much higher than ours. Their passing and decision-making are quicker. This is what we need to improve quickly.”
The manager is without injured duo Seamus Coleman and William Smallbone for the double-header and omitted Matt Doherty, Callum Robinson, Jake O’Brien and Alan Browne for a few new faces in his 24-man squad.
Luton Town defender Mark McGuinness and Ipswich Town attacker Jack Taylor received their first senior call-ups while there are returns for Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz, Mikey Johnston and Jamie McGrath.
The FAI’s lofty notions of wanting a certain style to be played and to trickle down through the underage set-ups seems fanciful now – which was always a vague tipping of the cap to Stephen Kenny’s desire to have a defined style of play for all Irish teams.
Hallgrimsson has paid little heed to these utterances since taking the reins from interim boss and now assistant John O’Shea.
“We should be pragmatic in our approach, especially on the ball,” he said.
“That is something that I have been trying to implement from the beginning. To be quick finding the options. I am repeating myself, with a lot of rotations it is difficult to be a good possession team when we are rotating players and we don’t have many matches together.
“So, yeah, at this moment it is better for us to be more pragmatic, seeing the options early and it is good to have players with the vision to find it.”
So far in his press conferences Hallgrimsson has displayed a very calm exterior. He kept his cool yesterday when Glenn Whelan’s scathing comments about the lack of belief among the Irish players were put to him.
Whelan, appointed first team coach at Wigan Athletic last month, was part of O’Shea’s interim management team but was surplus to requirements when Hallgrimsson took over.
The manager batted the question back.
“Now, you’re talking about someone else’s opinion. It’s just his opinion. You want me to comment on his opinion? You can ask me the question.”
The question was reframed and the manager was asked did he think Whelan’s comments were valid.
“I don’t think so. Everybody comes to do their best and hopefully the players will stake their claim and say, ‘This is my spot’.
“Don’t give it to someone else. ‘I’m here, I’m gonna take the position and hold it for the next 10 years’.
“We have a pretty young squad so now is the time to step up and be a leader. Stake your claim and own your position.”