This Ireland team is in dire need of Hoolahan to get hold of the ball
THIS is not the first time we have had to pick the bones of a poor Ireland performance and seek the positives, and it will not be the last.
The squad which arrived back in Dublin last night can prepare themselves for a few days of everyone telling them how bad they are. But that has always suited the best Ireland teams.
We were far from our best last night. And this was against Georgia. That is the worrying thing, with so much at stake in the Aviva on Tuesday, and a chance to go top of the group with two games to go. Now we are playing the group leaders Serbia.
Like so many of the teams from that region, they are not an outstanding side with truly world class players. We can beat them, if we are more positive. But the only way we will beat them is to get at them from the start and really go out to beat them. The responsibility to do that comes from the entire team.
So let’s forget about Georgia, and the fact they should have won more than one point against us in two games. They could easily have won in Dublin, as well as last night but we have remained unbeaten so far. Now we have to look forward to beating Serbia and going top of the group.
Last night was a poor game, a poor Ireland performance. Like so many games in the last two campaigns, we had a cautious mentality, we sat too deep, we didn’t pressurise in midfield and that left Shane Long feeding off scraps. He missed a couple of good chances but mainly because he hadn’t seen the ball.
There were times in the game when the gap between the Ireland striker and the midfield was vast. And we were being dominated by Georgia, who are 112th in the FIFA rankings.
Georgia are not a great side at all and they should not be enjoying so much possession against an Ireland team. We have better players and yet the first-half stats were 76 per cent in their favour.
The fact that they didn’t really create anything after the goal, despite all their possession, shows how good they are. Now, I have been in that position against so-called lesser teams and I understand how easy it is to sit deep and defend but we couldn’t break from that and attempt to squeeze up the pitch.
The responsibility for that comes from the whole team, especially centre-backs Shane Duffy and Ciaran Clark who need to be braver and play 10-15 metres higher up, which takes the rest of the team with them.
It comes from Darren Randolph telling the pair of them that. It comes from the full-backs telling James McClean and Jon Walters to get off their toes. It comes from Glenn Whelan being told to do his job of blocking off passes higher up the pitch.
There were times when we were completely overloaded, McClean and Walters were trying to contain their full-backs and Long was just completely isolated.
Once again, with Robbie Brady’s dead balls, we were dangerous from set pieces but we hardly created anything from open play, although there were good chances missed from James McClean and Aiden McGeady, plus Long’s missed header.
It is blatantly obvious that our best performances in this campaign have come against Austria and Moldova, both away. But we have struggled to get wins at home when they have mattered. And Tuesday night matters.
Over the years there have been players who have been left out of the team, or the squad, who have been pushed by the media and supporters to get a run.
When I was in the squad, we saw the calls for Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid to be included by Giovanni Trapattoni. And we all know how well that went.
And I don’t want to jump on any bandwagon and claim that Wes Hoolahan must start and Martin O’Neill is getting his team selection wrong. He will feel he was right to leave him on the bench in Tbilisi last night.
But clearly, as we have demonstrated against a side like Georgia, we are not built to maintain possession if Hoolahan is not in the team. And Georgia have two or three decent players, they certainly do not have a depth of players playing at our levels in England every week.
He is the one player we have who is prepared to take a chance with the ball and keeps us in constant possession. He can do things with the ball, and keep it, which other players in the side can’t.
Because he can take four or five touches, and be brave on the ball, he gets players in different positions and just brings a different dynamic to the side, which I think we will need against Serbia.
It might be that Martin O’Neill sees something different in training, which is in his thinking, but when he doesn’t start, we look a totally different side. It was not a good night, but it can still be a good week. The responsibility for doing that comes from everyone in the Ireland camp.