Our results will improve, insists legend Armstrong
GERRY Armstrong feels Northern Ireland aren’t getting the results they deserve but believes they can hit back by sinking Austria.
The Northern Ireland legend has been impressed with the performances of Michael O’Neill’s men and that’s why he’s not too deflated by the disappointing results.
The men in green slumped to a 2-0 defeat in their last outing against Bosnia after a Marko Arnautovic strike saw them lose to Austria a few days earlier.
Northern Ireland sit bottom of League B Group 3 in the Nations League with zero points, Austria are above them on three points and Bosnia top the group having won both their matches. But Armstrong is confident of victory in their Windsor Park clash with Austria on November 18.
He said: “I can’t believe we haven’t won more games. We played probably the last three games as good as I have seen collectively.
“As a unit we have played some great football but just haven’t got the goals, but I am convinced they will come.
“We have Austria coming here and I’m looking forward to Northern Ireland beating Austria here.”
Armstrong, who famously scored the winner to knock hosts Spain out of the 1982 World Cup, says he’s still not sure whether the new Nations League will take off.
“There are play-offs to come, there’s relegation and promotion games involved in this new Nations League,” he added.
“Not too many people know an awful lot about it but we will find out in the next month or so whether or not it’s going to be successful or not.
“All I want to see is the boys keeping playing the way they’re playing. They’re playing really good football and deserve to have won more points than they have in the last three games.”
The Nations League launched in September and will be played every two years.
The winners from each group will qualify for the finals in June.
A team from each of the four leagues will qualify for Euro 2020.
O’Neill named his squad yesterday for the friendly against the Republic at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday and striker Kyle Lafferty was included after apologising for “an error of judgement” after pulling out of the panel for the Nations League double-header against Austria and Bosnia-Her- zegovina, citing an Achilles injury. • REPUBLIC of Ireland international Stephanie Roche is to resume her club career with Serie A side Florentia.
Roche had been at Sunderland since 2015 but her final season on Wearside was spent recovering from injury.
The 29-year-old broke her leg during a World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in September 2017 and has been out of contract since the summer.
The 2014 Fifa Puskas award runner-up previously had spells with clubs in France and the United States.