O’neill anxious to end winless run ahead of October double-header

Michael O’neill has emphasised the importance of putting a win on the board when Northern Ireland face Israel in a friendly tonight.

O’neill’s team were frustrated on Saturday when they dominated their Uefa Nations League opener against Bosnia & Herzegovina only to be defeated 2-1.

They have now won only once in their last eight games, and O’neill is wary of losing the momentum built in qualifying for Euro 2016 and coming close to making this summer’s World Cup.

The manager now hopes to see a performance similar to the one against Bosnia, but with a different outcome.

“We’d like to see the same level of performance, the same intensity and same running power within the team and also a victory,” he said. “We need to get back into that mindset.”

Saturday’s defeat puts Northern Ireland on the back foot in their Nations League group before trips to Austria and Bosnia & Herzegovina in October, and O’neill wants his side to pick up some confidence before then.

“It is time for us to get back to that habit of winning games,” he said. “We have two very difficult games in October so it is important we do everything possible to try to beat Israel.”

O’neill will freshen up his team but said he is not in a position to make wholesale changes. “We’re not in a position where we can just change nine players,” he added. “To do that we’d need to ask players to play out of position, and when you bring players in you want to give them the best chance to do well, so it’s important to put them into a team which is cohesive and as strong as possible.”

Goalkeeper Bailey Peacockwe Farrell, pictured, made his first competitive appearance at the weekend but found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons with the Bosnians’ decisive second goal the result of a horrible mix-up with Craig Cathcart.

O’neill may make a change but said the goal would not come into his thinking.

“It was good for me to get Bailey on the pitch,” he said. “He will be disappointed with the second goal but I’ve noticed he’s already left it behind. He’s not the type to dwell on things.”

Martin O’neill has accepted full responsibility for Roy Keane’s clash with Republic of Ireland players Harry Arter and Jonathan Walters.

O’neill found himself having to defend his “brilliant” assistant manager as they prepared for tonight’s friendly in Poland after audio of defender Stephen Ward, outlining a version of the former Manchester United skipper’s trainingground altercation with the pair during the summer, was leaked.

The manager admitted last week that Arter’s decision to make himself unavailable for Ireland could have been down to the row, but disputed the detail of the account provided by Ward – who was not there at the time – and launched a stout defence of his No 2.

He said: “If you’re asking about Roy’s criticism of players, let me tell you this is my responsibility, totally my responsibility, absolutely and utterly.

“Every single kick players make, every save that is made, every corner that is conceded, every goal that is scored is my responsibility, so I’ll take full responsibility for what has happened in this camp.

“At the end of it all I’m actually the manager. In my time as a manager, I’ve chosen two brilliant, brilliant assistant managers, two characters, two worldclass players: John Robertson and the young man himself, Roy Keane.

“They’re different, but none of them have ever let me down. John Robertson criticised players; Roy has a different way.

“I take the responsibility for it at the end of the day because that’s my job.”

While he admitted that football has changed since the days when he was regularly berated by Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough, he said there was still a place for a heated exchange in the game.

“You know what?” he said. “I will be astonished if there is not a confrontation between now and November time.” He added with a smile: “If there is not, I’ll start it myself.”