A SQUAD OF FIRST-TEAM PLAYERS IS O’NEILL’S WISH
AS A player, Martin O’Neill never forgot the pain of being left out of the Nottingham Forest team for the 1979 European Cup final by Brian Clough. And as James McCarthy gasped until yesterday afternoon for first-team oxygen at Everton under Ronald Koeman, O’Neill has encouraged the Irish midfielder to ‘fight like mad to stay in the team.’
Since bursting into the senior ranks at 16, McCarthy has been first choice for Hamilton, Wigan Athletic and Everton but now finds himself in a rather alien position as Koeman shuffles the midfield deckchairs on the SS Everton – his place in the Toffee’s first XI in yesterday’s 3-2 defeat away to Watford was only McCarthy’s fourth start in the league this season.
O’Neill appreciates the dilemma McCarthy finds himself in and knows what response is required.
‘James is well aware that he is in a fight for his position,’ he said. ‘It’s probably the first time in his professional career that James’ position has been under threat, at first-team level. So if it is, fight like mad, that would be my advice.’
O’Neill has seen how Darren Randolph had to bide his time at West Ham before seizing the gloves.
‘Darren’s not playing has caused me less problems that I thought it would, but of course it’s better that he and everybody else is playing first-team football when the World Cup matches approach,’ observed O’Neill. Expectations are rising as the Republic of Ireland are the only fourth seeds leading any of the nine European groups in the qualifiers.
With four out of six games to come at home, can O’Neill manage the level of anticipation?
‘Yes, because the people I have to worry about are the players themselves. If I focus on that and that only, that’s fine for me,’ he said. ‘If the players focus on what they are capable of, or not capable of doing, that’s fine too.
‘For me, it’s about getting the players to know that we have to be at it the whole way, for every minute of every game. We can’t take a 15-minute time-out anywhere as we’re not good enough to do that.’
O’Neill witnessed the slacking off against Georgia in Dublin in October where Ireland were so sloppy they might have lost. ‘The classic one was the first half against Georgia where we didn’t take them for granted but we were outplayed. It was a simple as that,’ he recalled.
‘Coming in at half-time, the players knew we’d not played well in the first half and now we had 45 minutes to do something about it. It didn’t take much from me for the lads to realise that we had not played well in that match and were in danger of losing the game.’
O’Neill acknowledged that Ireland are ahead of where he thought they would be at this stage of the qualification.
‘Without question I’d have settled for ten points. In fact, eight would have done nicely. I never plan for a draw in a game, but you would have taken draws in Belgrade and Vienna. In fact, we got more.
‘When I saw the fixtures, with three games away, just as it was in the Euros, I said to myself, “don’t let us be out of this before we’re even in it”. I was a bit worried about a hangover from the Euros, but the draw in Serbia was great, I still say that’s a wonderful result. And for us to go and win in Austria which gave us some extra points, that gives us a chance (to qualify), that’s all.’ With his team on top of Group D and no matches to concern him for three months, O’Neill has gone back to what he and so many others derive joy from: watching football. ‘I think you have to take a wee bit of a break with the pressure off. I’ve not stopping watching our lads but always watching from a professional viewpoint, sometimes that can drive you insane. ‘Only the other night I went to watch Fulham and Reading. As it turned out Stephen Quinn didn’t play, but Paul McShane did and if I don’t know Paul’s game by now, well then I’m wasting my time. But just to go and enjoy the game was great, I really enjoyed it and that’s what I’ll be doing until Christmas.’ Even so, O’Neill will continue to keep his eyes skinned for any eligible player who might add something to the squad, and is hopeful that Brentford forward Scott Hogan will be on board for the resumption of the World Cup campaign. ‘To find a striker who can score at international level is not easy; it’s a jump you have to make from club football. I could scour around and find someone who’s scoring at a lower level, and then find you they are not good enough for international football,’ he said. ‘Could they get a goal for us against Wales or Austria? That’s the issue. I’ve a wee bit of time now, and while I’ve said in the past that I’m not here running a kindergarten, it would be nice to unearth someone who could make an impact for us in 2017.’