O’NEILL’S PROBLEMS ARE ALL OF HIS OWN MAKING
MARTIN O’NEILL has a tougher job today than he did 10 days ago. Losing to Scotland in Glasgow has made Group D too tight for further mistakes, but it was not just defeat in Celtic Park that has made his life difficult.
Most of the blame for his trying circumstances is, in fact, his own. He should not have conducted his press conference before the USA game without having read the details of Roy Keane’s outburst the previous day. His assistant should be reminded of his responsibilities, presumably prominent among them being the need to keep relations with clubs on a civil footing.
And O’Neill also has work to do with his captain and most reliable goalscorer, Robbie Keane, before Ireland play Poland at the end of March in what will be the first in a number of critical matches for the team and management. It’s a lot to ponder for a man regarded for his quick wits, but O’Neill created unnecessary difficulties for himself during this international window.
First, inevitably, is his No 2. If the row that distracted from the Scotland game petered out to nothing, Roy Keane’s furious reaction to a question about it showed him in an unrepentant light.
His inability to accept that he will be asked about his actions creates problems for O’Neill, because an assistant who is one question away from combustion is a recurring distraction. However, the manager’s claim the following day that he did not know what had transpired at Keane’s contentious press conference was either misguided loyalty or it was complacency.
Nobody expects the manager to contradict his assistant in public, but when asked about Keane’s comments regarding Everton, O’Neill said he had not read them. He should have done; he must know by now that being fully briefed is necessary where his right-hand man is involved. Relations with Everton, the club where three of Ireland’s best players make a living, appear stretched and damaged now.
O’Neill sought to mollify Roberto Martinez by saying he understands the concerns of club management, but it was not enough to prevent a tart response from Merseyside. Keane’s crude intervention has created tension where none need exist.
There is a theory that a concern shared about Everton’s attitude to players on international duty was left to the Corkman to make, but this is unconvincing: he is too divisive a figure, guaranteed to draw a reaction as he did from Martinez and from the club’s chairman, Bill Kenwright.
O’Neill is more considered and his reputation over decades in the English game would allow him to make his point in a less combative manner. Rather, it looks like Keane’s plainness – so admirable in some contexts, and what made his latest book so interesting – was unplanned and damaging.
Robbie Keane’s reaction to being dropped for the Glasgow defeat, meanwhile, was robust enough to be worthy of his namesake. It is often misunderstood how competitive the Ireland captain is. His critics appear to assume he is interested in gathering goals and caps as if that’s a hobby anyone could pursue.
To play 138 matches and score 65 goals takes courage as well as talent, and it is no shock to suppose he was sore about missing out on the starting 11. However, it is the nature of his demotion that leaves O’Neill with some explaining to do.
Had the manager opted for Shane Long or Jon Walters to play as a solitary striker, the decision would have made sense given their greater speed and strength. If he wanted a more conventional partnership, though, Robbie had to start. He is Ireland’s most reliable and talented scorer, and is at his best when complemented by a bigger and quicker forward.
Instead, O’Neill went for power on the double with Long and Walters, but this left Ireland with no instinctive scorer – and it must have left the LA Galaxy striker bamboozled. It was obvious with 30 minutes gone that Ireland’s attempt to trouble Scotland with muscle was not working, and the home defence would have been thrown a more diminutive challenge by the Dubliner.
Yet it was the 78th minute before he came on, as Ireland trusted collisions over craft. It did not work, and it resulted in sour talk about not being Niall Quinn. What he still is, however, is vital to the Euro 2016 qualifying effort and O’Neill should be reminding him of that regularly between now and the spring.
In a long campaign setbacks are inevitable. There were no cries of doom after the loss to the Scots, even if O’Neill did not help himself with his line-up. However, Ireland have managed to create trouble for themselves since that defeat, and he must now concern himself with repairing damage that was avoidable.
HIS ASSISTANT’S comment about the father of Jack Grealish did appear humorous, but why risk upsetting a family that appear to be agonising over what country their son represents? This is a reportedly gifted player who could add to a group not noted for its abundance of attacking alternatives, and one who is being flattered by the more glamorous England. O’Neill is committed to a hands-off approach with Grealish, but that delicate tactic is not compatible with a quip about his family.
Qualification for Euro 2016 is Ireland’s to claim. Two matches against Poland and home tests against Scotland and Georgia are vital, and the Germans also have to visit Dublin. Hope should not be abandoned, but Martin O’Neill’s life became more complicated since last weekend.
What should frustrate him is that many of the headaches were avoidable, and that should also embolden him. He has it in his power to correct the damage of his most miserable week as Ireland manager.
It just requires quietening his assistant, sweetening his captain and capturing the country’s latest great hope.
Easy as that.