Heimir Hallgrimsson opens up on what Ireland ‘wants to be' as he warns against ‘basketball game' in Luxembourg friendly

The Irish Sun

4 days ago

MANY watched the Nations League final thinking it was football at its finest.
Advertisement
3
Heimir Hallgrimsson revealed the kind of team he wants Ireland to be
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
3
Ireland beat Senegal last Friday
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
3
They face Luxembourg four years after losing to them in Dublin
Credit: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Just days after each had served up an impressive semi-final victory,
While most people simply enjoyed the show, it served as a reminder of what Ireland must overcome if they want to qualify directly for their first
As if he was not convinced of it already, it reinforced the point for Hallgrimsson that his side cannot allow themselves to get sucked into trying to go toe-to-toe with
And he takes some confidence from how he felt his side nullified
Advertisement
Read More on Ireland MNT
Hallgrimsson said of Senegal: 'First of all, they didn't create the chances they normally create.
'They got their chances from getting on the flanks and crosses and we didn't deal with them. I said after the game that maybe attacking the crosses a little bit better is a tiny detail.
'Tactically, we defended well, we had the numbers always back so the mentality was there. It was a test against a world-class attacking team.
''Can we do it quicker?' was the mantra before this camp. 'Can we do what we are doing quicker? Can we press quicker? Can we shift quicker?'
Advertisement
Most read in Football
Live Blog
Hallgrimsson continued: 'I hope you watched the Nations League final. Both teams were really comfortable that the game was like this, it was like a
'With all the individual quality, you would like the game to be like this but we would like to control the game, and don't get attacked and counter-attacked, having many attacks against us. I think we prevented that against Senegal and we will grow from there.
RTE viewers hail Killian Phillips as emotional Republic of Ireland star reflects on 'proudest moment' of his life
'That is the team we want to be — hard to beat.'
That robustness is unlikely to be tested tonight.
Advertisement
Although it is only four years since
lightning
striking twice, despite Hallgrimsson talking up his side's opponents.
The Icelander said: 'They have had the same coach for a long time, really consistent in team selection, so it's more like playing a club team.
'Their knowledge of the team and each other is really at a high level, and I watched the
'They beat
Advertisement
'I know a little bit about them, and the strength of Sweden.
'So I wouldn't look at it as a shock to the nation if we were not to get a good result here.
'It's that good a team that a win here would be really good for us at this stage. I hope nobody is taking them lightly, if that is the right word.'
'For every team, it's always important to win, just to get that winning feeling and make it a habit to do everything correct, to win the matches."
But, on paper at least, they are the worst team Ireland will have faced in what will be the manager's tenth game in charge. They lie 91st in the world rankings
Advertisement
Bulgaria — in 85th — and 69th-placed
And Luxembourg's win over Sweden, which Hallgrimsson referenced, is their only victory in 11 matches.
The manager and the
football
federation are under
fire
for the
Aviva
Stadium in March 2021 — despite being found guilty of three separate assaults, one of them against his former partner.
If Ireland cannot overcome Luc Holtz's side then rumours of the team's rise may have been greatly exaggerated.
Advertisement
NO EXCUSES
In theory, a friendly at home to Senegal followed by one here is to prepare Ireland for what lies ahead in September when they host
travel
to Armenia in their opening two World Cup
qualifiers
. You can see the point but, in three months' time, they will have to negotiate a much longer journey and bigger adjustments in terms of heat and time zone — with one less day to do so.
Given a win and a draw will be the bare minimum then, Ireland could do with achieving that in this window.
There are no excuses for them not to achieve it.
The flight here was shorter in duration than a football match. The atmosphere is not exactly going to be febrile, with yesterday's public holiday for Whit Monday adding another layer of drowsiness to this sleepy place.
Advertisement
More than anything, Hallgrimsson would like to see evidence that the progress to date continues, although he corrected himself when he realised he had come close to saying the result did not matter.
He said: 'The purpose of this camp was to look at new faces and we will make some changes, even though we were really happy with the performance.
'Hopefully everyone will have their time to shine, but we'd like to keep some consistency too and build on what we've been doing well. I think we probably played one of our best games as a team and we don't want to miss that against Luxembourg
'For every team, it's always important to win, just to get that winning feeling and make it a habit to do everything correct, to win the matches.
Advertisement
'For all of us, it is important to win even though we would say in a friendly, I would pick performance above winning.
'If we have a good performance, continue to improve in what we are doing — even though we are unlucky and lose the game — I would probably
take that
more than a win, if we are continuing to develop the team.
'It was the wrong way of saying that, don't make that a headline.
'Hopefully we can have the same performance against Luxembourg so it shouldn't be up-and-down performances.
Advertisement
'We should be consistent in what we are doing.
'That's the main thing if you want to qualify, you need to get performances every game and play in a similar way in every game and develop a style of play.'