Rice looks a happy Hammer
Rice must realise an Irish career has put players in shop window — O’Neill
DECLAN RICE was back in the spotlight last night helping West Ham to victory in the Carabao Cup — but the storm continued to rage about the talented 19-yearold’s availability for the Ireland national team. The former Ireland Under 21 captain, capped three times at senior level in friendlies, caused a furore earlier this week when it emerged he had decided to assess his international options following an approach from England. Rice’s stance has divided opinion but it’s looking more and more likely that the Londoner, who qualifies for Ireland through Cork grandparents, won’t wear green again.
You play to your team’s strengths
AS HE waits for white smoke from West Ham regarding Declan Rice’s international future, Martin O’Neill has stressed the benefits at club level to players who help the Republic of Ireland qualify for major tournaments.
On Newstalk’s Off The Ball last night, O’Neill pointed out how Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady were both transferred to Burnley in the Premier League for huge fees on the back of eyecatching performances in the finals of Euro 2016.
It’s something Rice may consider as he weighs up the benefits of being a regular Ireland international, or opting for a bitpart role with England, where there are fewer guarantees.
In a wide-ranging interview, O’Neill insisted his players were properly briefed before games about their roles on the pitch. He defended his training methods and stood over his decision to name his team an hour before kick-off.
‘If you ask any player who has played with me at club level, including ones I fell out with it, they knew what their job was. Then, it’s a matter of them doing their job,’ he said.
‘For example, when we get a corner kick, I expect a player to be able to deliver a telling ball and I expect players who are good in the air, to come and try head the ball, or keep it alive at the far post.
‘Our plan, number one, is you’ve got to be comfortable on the ball, particularly under pressure. The players know what’s expected of them. You have to play to the team’s strengths.
‘Secondly, options for players. Say James McClean has the ball on the left-hand side, 10 yards in the opposition half. He should have three options. He should be able to look up, can I take this player on, secondly, if he’s got me covered he should be able to look in to edge of penalty area and see the centre forward shaping up for the ball.
‘The safest place in the world is inside the penalty areas because he won’t be tackled from behind.
‘Third option, to look for a midfield player so he can play the ball sideways and we can go again. That’s what we’re trying to do. We try not to play aimless balls up the field.
‘In the Euros, we enhanced our reputations, players [Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick] got big money moves because of it. Ideally, it would be nice to play like that all the time. We haven’t been able to do that but we’ve gone very close to qualifying, and we were fourth seeds. It feels like I’m defending myself. One, know you’re job, and two, do the job. The players know what’s expected of them, to do their jobs.
‘Brian Clough was considered a manager, never a coach. Yet, he coached points to us during games that stood the test of time, such as closing players down.
‘I’d been a professional footballer for three years and never heard things like that.
‘Brian Clough didn’t spend every day at training. We didn’t practice a corner kick, yet we won two European Cups. He’s one of the great managers of all time, also a brilliant coach.’
Ahead of his 50th game as Ireland manager next week, O’Neill will again hold off on naming his team until an hour or so before kick-off against Wales in Cardiff.
This is a procedure he was familiar with as a player, and after almost 30 years of management, sees no reason to change, even if some players feel they are kept in the dark.
‘If you talk about someone not knowing the side, there is a fairly decent chance that at least eight of the players will know that they are playing, a fairly decent chance that eight will know their position and eight will know what’s expected of them,’ he added.
‘And I may have told one or two the night before that they’re playing.’
O’Neill recalled a story about George Best before his first game for Manchester United.
Clough didn’t spend every day training
‘George Best was told by Matt Busby an hour before that he was playing as Matt didn’t want him to have a sleepless night.
‘Not every player wants to know. Some players who are told the night before that they’re playing may not sleep.’
‘If I thought that announcing the side the night before would win us games, I’d do it the night before,’ he added.
Asked if Ireland might come up with more ideas from set pieces, O’Neill agreed, but pointed out the restrictions.
‘When you’ve the time to do it, great. When you’ve qualified for a competition, you have a number of weeks beforehand. That’s why we did so well with the Euros. I’d three weeks to work with the players,’ he said. ‘We’ve got the Welsh game on Thursday (week). We’ve got three Burnley players playing on Sunday and their normal routine is not to train on Monday. We continue that routine, so they won’t train.
‘We fly on Tuesday for the game on Thursday night, so it stands to sense you don’t have time to do all the particular things.
‘It will be interesting to see how many goals England score from set pieces in the (Euro) qualifying, contrast to the nine goals out of 12 (set pieces) in the World Cup.’
O’Neill also acknowledged that his reputation, and that of assistant Roy Keane, has brought a level of expectation regarding qualifying for tournaments.
‘I think there’s expectation, which I don’t mind, that because I’m managing the side and that Roy is assistant, we should automatically get through,’ he said.
‘If you don’t do, then (there is a sense) you’ve let everyone down.
‘Then people turn around and say “he doesn’t do this or that.” Sir Clive Woodward once said to me, “How good a coach I was, when I’d the best players available to me.” It does help,’ he said.
As a yardstick, O’Neill’s squad named on Monday included 12 Premier League players out of 31. He would have named 13 but for Rice’s late climbdown.