O’Neill makes no apology for being set in his ways
MICHAEL O’NEILL will not deviate from the formula which took Northern Ireland to their first ever European Championship finals when he plots their route to a World Cup in Russia.
Two months after returning home from France to a heroes’ welcome, Northern Ireland return to action in the Czech Republic at the start of a qualification process for the next major international tournament in two years’ time.
O’Neill’s side are viewed differently on the continent following their run to the last 16 at the Euros and it was telling that new Czech coach Karel Jarolim not only spoke of their strengths but also pinpointed Steven Davis and Kyle Lafferty as threats.
One of the dangers Jarolim highlighted was Northern Ireland’s ability to trouble teams at set-pieces, with one of their two goals in France coming from a free-kick, and O’Neill insists his team’s style in this campaign will not differ from the one which has brought success.
Put to him that teams may be working to nullify their threat at set-pieces, O’Neill replied: ‘It’s been something which has been said about us but I’m never going to apologise to anyone for scoring off a corner or freekick. I see the best teams in the world score from corners and free-kicks so we will make sure that our set-pieces are of a very high standard.
‘We have players that attack the ball well; we have good delivery. It’s a big part of our game. We’ve had two sessions alone on set-pieces. The players are very focused on that. It would be foolhardy of us not to try and maximise those opportunities.’
Defensive solidity has also been present under O’Neill . His side have not conceded more than one goal in a game since November 2014.
‘We’re not going to score 25 goals in qualification, we have to make sure we concede as few as possible. If you look back at qualification for France, there was only one game, Romania, where we didn’t take any points. That’s based on a good defensive record, a good shape, a team that’s very good when not in possession but equally a team capable of hurting teams as well.’
He may have to alter his formation in Prague, though, as a groin injury will prevent Craig Cathcart from lining up in a three centre-back system alongside Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley.
Their opponents too are short key men and will be missing experienced pair Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky.