Players must take on responsibility
THE plan was hatched down the back of the team bus as it weaved its way through the streets of Paris. Twenty hours before one of the most infamous nights in Irish football, a mutinous plot was already being planned by those Republic of Ireland players preparing to face France in the second leg of their 2010 World Cup play-off.
Trailing 1-0 from the home tie at Croke Park, Giovanni Trapattoni’s charges were en route to the Stade de France for their final training session. The crew of conspirators, those in their prime and determined not to miss out with a whimper under orders from the conservative Italian, made a pact. ‘It was proper Paddies off the street stuff, just going, “Let’s have a crack off these”,’ Damien Duff, one of the Paris plotters, later admitted.
‘Trap wanted us to remain as we had in the first match. He wanted us rigid and deep without pressing too much. He wanted us to nab a goal from somewhere and maybe force extra-time — and then who knows what might happen?’ Shay Given wrote in his autobiography, Any Given Saturday.
That wasn’t going to cut it for this group of Ireland players. On the night of the match, this time with The Dubliners blaring, there were further discussions. The message was simple: ‘We’re after ye France. The Boys in Green are coming after ye,’ Given recalled.
‘I’d said my piece in the build-up to the match and I was as black and white as I could be. “Lads, I don’t care what he (Trapattoni) says, we’re going to go at these tonight. We’re going to f***ing go for it, we’re going to press them, we’re going to hurry them, we’re going to throw everything at them. Whatever happens, if we get beat we get f***ing beat — but nobody gets back on this bus without giving it everything”.’
Of course, Thierry Henry’s handball dominated the fall-out but that night in Paris, with so much on the line, was a prime example of what that particular Ireland squad were capable of, had they not been continually neutered by an untrusting manager.
The Ireland of 2018 doesn’t have the same touch of class as the 2009 vintage and while the stakes are nowhere near as high against Wales tonight, it feels as if the national team has reached a point where they need to show the public they are capable of taking responsibility for their own destiny.
After all, Martin O’Neill so often repeats the point that he expects players to figure things out for themselves on the pitch.
Mutiny won’t be in the air as the Ireland team bus passes through Dublin city centre bound for Lansdowne Road this evening, but something needs to stir this squad into life because there were certainly no signs of it on Saturday.
Jeff Hendrick revealed in the match programme at the weekend that the journey to Lansdowne Road is when he begins to feel the excitement, but there will be few punters feeling the same levels of anticipation.
‘We’re playing at home for a start, we want to try get on the front foot as quickly as possible. Sometimes it doesn’t work out like that. Sometimes opposition players are exceptionally talented and can drive you back,’ Martin O’Neill said yesterday.
But that won’t be the case with Wales missing Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and young midfielder Ethan Ampadu, who toyed with Ireland in Cardiff last month.
Does this Ireland team still possess the personalities willing to take advantage of an opponent shorn of two leaders and who have also lost their last two games (against Denmark in the Nations League and Spain in a friendly)?
Ability may be lacking, but there is a lot to be said for the power of imposing one’s will through energy, determination and a desire to win. Or, as Darren Randolph put it: ‘Use the ball better, be a bit braver, it’s international football and this is a new squad coming together, it might take people time to get comfortable and get used to international football.
‘It’s about being physical, that’s one of our strengths but it’s also about getting on the ball and proving that we can play, the boys at their club teams get on the ball and play football every week.’
Callum Robinson, a lively enough sort from Preston North End, feels there is the ‘character in the dressing room to kick on’ while Richard Keogh is adamant they won’t freeze under pressure.
‘There have been some pretty good performances at home, so I think like any game we want to start well. We want to get the crowd with us, it’s down to us as players to make sure that we get the crowd involved.’
Parking the bus just won’t suffice tonight, and it will be the players’ responsibility to lift spirits.
“Something needs to stir the squad into life”