IRELAND’S IS FOR FAI
Josh trusts chiefs to come up with the right answer
JOSH CULLEN says the Ireland squad must trust in the FAI to put the right manager in place to get the best out of them.
Leaving Aviva Stadium on Saturday night, the Burnley star and a host of other players were singing off the same hymn sheet in terms of how good a week’s build-up it was before the Belgium game due to the work done by interim boss John O’shea and his backroom team.
“They were brilliant,” said Cullen.
“I can’t speak highly enough of them.
“The way they’ve come in, the atmosphere they’ve created around the place first and foremost, the detail they’ve gone into in such a short period of time to prepare us for the game, it’s been absolutely brilliant.
“It’s been great to work under them.”
Back in an Ireland set-up for the first time since his contract as manager wasn’t renewed 18 years ago, Brian Kerr gave a stirring 20 minute speech on the eve of the game that Cullen says will stay with the players.
“Yeah, it’s been great having someone who’s been around the game for a very long time, coached at a lot of different levels,” remarked the 27-yearold midfielder.
“For him to speak to us was really good and it’s something as a group we can hold onto and take forward.
“He had the group interested. There’s a lot of things in that little talk that as a group, we can hold onto and use to our advantage moving forward.”
However the reality of the situation is that O’shea’s last game in charge is due to be Tuesday’s friendly against Switzerland.
FAI chiefs have said that they will be in a position to unveil Stephen Kenny’s permanent successor early next month.
“Listen, I don’t know who the new manager is going to be,” Cullen said.
“But a new manager is going to come in with fresh ideas.
“We have to trust the people that make the decisions.
“I’m sure they’ll bring in a manager who wants to play in a good fashion for Ireland, who wants to win games and qualify for tournaments and that’s what we all want.
“Whoever comes in, we’ve got a group of players that will buy into ideas and will do everything in their power to fight for a result and play for the manager.”
Cullen made a point of praising the work done by Kenny and his coaching team in building a foundation and blooding a new generation of internationals.
O’shea was part of his set-up for the final year of his reign and Cullen also highlighted the “very clear ideas” put forward by the former Manchester United star from the start of the week in terms of the shape of the team to face the Belgians.
“We knew the ideas as a team, how we wanted to hurt Belgium and I think we showed that,” he said.
“There were a lot of things we worked on this week that I think we can be pleased with from the game.
“We know we have to keep working hard to get better. We’ve got another game on Tuesday and two in the summer.
“So by the time the competitive games come around in September we’ll be hoping to be in a better place and a stronger position than we are now.
“We’re always learning. “Under the previous management we did a lot of good work and a lot of credit had to go to them for that period and the transition, bringing a lot of new players into the squad.
“A lot of the work they did has stood us in good stead for this week.
“We’ve got a lot of good attacking options now and hopefully over the next few months, we can carry on developing, keep doing well and by the time the competitive games come around, we can be a force to be reckoned with.
“We have been in tight matches and come out on the wrong side of results.
“It’s a stepping stone, the work we have done with the new management this week, if it was a competitive game we would have come away with a point.
“By the time the Nations League comes around the qualifiers will be important.
“The next step is turning positive performances into winning games.
“We’ll keep striving to do that.”