As ever for international managers, the main area of concern is outside of O’Neill’s control, namely where and how often his players are seeing the pitch.
Bradley has appeared off the bench in the first three of Liverpool’s games under Arne Slot but that is the only Premier League minutes for his entire squad this season.
Charles left newly promoted Southampton for Sheffield Wednesday on a season-long loan deal, while Callum Marshall will spend another year away from West Ham, this time at Huddersfield. After finally sealing a transfer out of Newcastle, there will be hope too that Jamal Lewis gets regular football at Sao Paulo.
“I think this is an exciting group of players,” O’Neill said.
“They have to develop individually. The concern a little bit is where are their minutes going to come from?
“It’s very difficult to come and play international if you’re either not playing or your club situation is not particularly positive. I know that from my own experience.”
And while O’Neill can relate to the harking back to what are now the glory days of a past generation – he came into a Northern Ireland side in 1988 that had qualified for the past two World Cups, something the country has failed to do since – he sees the Nations League as an important step in his new side’s journey, especially given the dearth of competitive victories of late.
“As great a player as Jonny, and Steven and Craig and these people were, they played through a lot of times when they didn’t win a lot.
“You have to go through these periods as well. This Nations League will give us the opportunity to win games against opposition that will test us.”