Pulling off Italian job ain’t easy
Stephen Ward insists it’s impossible for the Republic Ireland to play the way they did against Italy at Euro 2016 in every game.
The Burnley full- back admitted his frustration with their display at home to Georgia in Thursday night’s World Cup qualifier.
Martin O’Neill’s side should have been behind at half-time and needed a scrappy Seamus Coleman goal to claim the three points.
It came on the back of another mixed night in Serbia last month where they earned a 2-2 draw.
The performances are a far cry from the swashbuckl ing show against Italy in the group stages of Euro 2016.
But Ward said: “They’re different type of games. Georgia came here and when we had the ball, they sat off.
“Sometimes that can make it difficult and as you’ve seen when we’re playing against so- called bigger nations, it’s up to them to come out at us and when we break it’s at a much higher intensity.
“Sometimes it’s hard to do that when you’ve got two banks of four and five so we need to do more to break down teams.
“There’s room for improvement but, most importantly, we’ve come away with three points.”
Ireland coughed up possession often and easily against Georgia, something they will hope to scrub up on in Moldova today.
But Ward says they will continue to take risks in possession – particularly in the final third.
He said: “The manager gives us the freedom to do that. Nothing silly on the edge of your box or in your own half where they can break – but going into their half and the final third, he wants us to try and express ourselves.
“There was a couple of times we did that and it puts teams on the back foot and causes them problems. The more you try, the more chance you have of it coming off.”
O’Nei l l admitted his troops hadn’t performed to their best on Thursday night.
Ward added: “We know we have to improve but the most important thing is we know we can improve.
“We’ll recover quickly and prepare right. The likes of Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick might miss the game due to injury so there’s a chance for fresh legs to come in.
“We’ve got a strong squad, we’ve got players waiting in the wings to come in. The manager might decide to freshen things up as well.
“We’re confident we can go there and win and if we can do that we’ll be in a really healthy position for the big game in November in Austria.”