John O’Shea expects Ireland to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to England as they welcome Greece to Dublin on Tuesday evening.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s reign as Ireland manager failed to ignite in his opening match as he watched his side get comprehensively beaten by Lee Carsley’s Euro 2024 finalists, however, they have a chance to kick-start the Nations League campaign with a victory over Greece.
The new manager targeted the games against Greece and Finland in the League B schedule to start building a winning mentality and to ensure that the team do not get relegated to the third tier of European football.
The game against England was always going to be a free hit, however, it only served to show the manager the gulf in class between Ireland and the top nations.
Hallgrimsson was not present for the pre-match press conference, and it was attended by O’Shea instead, which raised questions about who is actually in charge of the side at the moment.
O’Shea made it crystal clear that the buck starts and stops with Hallgrimsson as the former interim manager continues in his role as assistant coach.
“That’s the ups and downs of it, how competitive international football is,” said O’Shea (below), when asked about how the players cope with the quick turnaround after losing.
“The beauty of having a game a few days later gives everyone the chance to bounce back as quickly as possible and improve performances and improve everything about the performance.
“That’s the key bit for us, if you improve the performance levels hopefully that will eventually bring consistent results in our favour. Make sure we are hard to beat and then we go win some matches on the back of that.”
The team have a chance to finally put Hallgrimsson’s plans into practice as they take on Greece, however, it remains to be seen whether they can gel, as they take on a side who beat them twice during the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
And O’Shea was asked how much focus remains on those two crippling defeats when planning for the game, or whether Greece’s 3-0 victory over Finland on Saturday is more relevant.
“You reflect on the games against them because the players will be familiar with them,” said O’Shea.
“But also understand there is a new manager in place. (Ivan) Jovanovic, he has managed in Greece with club teams, so he is familiar with their players.
“He’s gotten off to a good start, but now it’s their first away game under the manager.
“Will they tweak anything a bit different? In general, he likes to keep things fairly similar with what he has done with his club and obviously so far in the game he has played with Greece.
“It gives us a few reference points but ultimately it comes back to us as well.”
And O’Shea warned against complacency against a side who will arrive with confidence having beaten Ireland twice recently, while buoyed by opening their Nations League campaign with a win.
O’Shea echoed Hallgrimsson’s words from before the England game, where he called for a collective effort to make sure that the shape remains compact throughout, while knowing when to press and when to sit.
“It’s great in a sense that the lads will hopefully have that bit of knowledge to know that there is no underestimation of this Greece team now. They know they are a very good team, so the levels will have to be increased.
“It’s always a case of the team being compact as a unit. But that has to come from everyone in the team, not just when you talk about back-four or back-five, the midfield unit, the front unit.
“The pressing is the combination of it all together, and the areas on the pitch that they are looking for to set the triggers, to set the presses, all those things come into it beforehand. And the players are fully aware beforehand in terms of the timings et cetera, the triggers to set it off and what you look for.”
As for the system, O’Shea gave little away regarding how Ireland might set-up, although he did appear to imply that the current practice of playing three central defenders could be up for grabs.
“I wouldn’t say it is what I believe,” said O’Shea, regarding playing three at the back.
“Every game you take individually, in terms of what strengths different teams have. First and foremost, your own group of players. You find that balance in between and hopefully take each game on its merits and put a plan in place.”
Caoimhín Kelleher joined O’Shea for the pre-match press conference, and while he spoke of his personal situation at Liverpool, he also said that he felt that both the squad and the manager need more time to properly implement the changes that are being asked of the team.
“It takes time to adapt to new ideas so we need to listen to the manager’s new ideas but also implementing the stuff we’ve been doing in the last few camps,” said Kelleher.
“Because if we do too much and change too quickly, obviously that’s very difficult for us players to adapt to.
“It’s different at a club where you’re coming in and working every day. Here, it’s a few days, we come in, and then we are playing a game so it’s hard to implement them ideas.
“We’re having meetings every day, we’re really working hard and he’s trying to get his message across. We’re an open group and willing to learn and trying to take everything on board.
“Hopefully by October we’ll be a bit more prepared and have more of an understanding of what the manager wants us to do, and yeah it’s also about getting the results as well, that’s important. We’ll be more prepared in October.”
Watch Republic of Ireland v Greece in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on 2fm’s Game On