Laboured Ireland fire blanks with pitch battles no excuse for some basic errors
THE body language of the Irish players at full-time in the Boris Paichadze Arena showed that the two points dropped theory did carry weight inside the dressing-room.
Mick McCarthy sought to remove any lingering disappointment in his post-match discussions. “They weren’t in there cheering and hollering,” he said, “I asked them would you have taken four points before we started, beat them at home and draw away? They weren’t all saying yeah. And I said, ‘Well I would’. Because that’s how you qualify, that’s how you win things
“I’m just making it plain to them that I appreciate what they’re doing for me, the team and the country because they’ve grafted today to get the point. And I’m just at a loss, me, why everyone just thinks we should come here and win.”
The Georgia manager Vladimir Weiss was on message by suggesting that it was a good point for Ireland. But he also unintentionally tapped into the negative view of the Irish display by speaking about how the coach was “nervous” about losing with the introduction of a defender (Derrick Williams) for a midfielder (Conor Hourihane) at the death cited.
McCarthy asserted that the Irish mission was to win the match, but they weren’t going to take unnecessary risks that would lose it. One of the reasons that Aaron Connolly was kept in reserve until late on was that James Collins was doing well defending set-pieces.
The competitive debutant probably had more joy in his own half on that basis, which is not necessarily a satisfactory return for a striker.
Then again, he was given precious little opportunities to attack the ball in the box. “It’s probably the biggest moment of my career,” said Collins, who was honest in his reflections.
“Georgia are not a bad team by any stretch but before the game we did fancy ourselves to come here and get the win, that’s the truth. But we have got out of here with a clean sheet and maybe could have nicked it at the end, so I think a draw was fair,” he added.
“We go to Geneva aiming to win now. You can’t qualify for the Euros by drawing games.”
His position could be under threat, however. Prior to Connolly’s arrival, Ireland were laboured, with their ball retention painfully inadequate. Basic errors in possession were rampant. The skipper Seamus Coleman was even guilty of it, and the poor playing surface couldn’t explain it all.
McCarthy was reluctant to sacrifice established names when he made changes. Jeff Hendrick was spared when the first sub was made and moved to the right wing in place of Callum Robinson in order to give him a better chance of making runs into the box.
The inability of Conor Hourihane and Hendrick to impose from central midfield, a contrast from the March victory in Dublin, tells a story.
In the end, it was only the spark of Connolly and the threat from setpieces that gave Georgia genuine cause for concern. Otherwise the strategy was predictable.
“We know we can be a bit more creative but that will come the more work we do,” said goalkeeper Darren Randolph. “It’s different at club level when you work with each other day in, day out and here you’re straight into the games.”
Weiss was complimentary about the character of the Irish players, but said bluntly that they would find it hard in Geneva. A repeat display will be nowhere near good enough.