We were solid – but never a threat up top
WHAT a horrible messy game. I know we didn’t lose, and Denmark weren’t much better than us, but that was a tough one to watch, especially for those at Lansdowne Road. It’s one of the quietest competitive home games I can remember.
Ireland did make a good start to the game, and the three central defenders allowed the wing-backs James McClean and Matt Doherty to get forward and at least provide some ammunition for Shane Long.
But I am not 100 per cent convinced by Christie’s role in midfield. He is a natural full-back and consequently it is perhaps inevitable that the game bypasses him in the central areas, just as it did in Cardiff last month. Neither Conor Hourihane, David Meyler nor Shaun WIlliams will have been happy with him playing in their position.
The 5-3-1-1 system was fine with the players available to Martin O’Neill but the downside was that it takes something away from McClean when he plays as a wing-back, certainly as an attacking threat.
The good news is that we looked considerably more solid and difficult to break down than we did in the defeat against Wales last month but we did not really press them in the secondhalf and they kept the ball too easily. The downside was the lack of opportunities and an attacking threat.
Not that Denmark were much better. As I have said in the column before, without Christian Eriksen they are an average team and there is no doubt they missed the Tottenham playmaker last night.
It’s just a shame he played with such devastating consequences when it really mattered last year. One shot on target, three shots in total in a bad game. It was terrible