O'Neill still hunting for NI's starting striker

BBC News

3 days ago

International Friendly: Northern Ireland v IcelandVenue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Tuesday, 10 June Kick-off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two NI, listen on BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill says he is waiting for one of the strikers in his squad to nail down the starting role, but added his team is "pretty settled" ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.Huddersfield Town striker Dion Charles started in the 2-1 defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen on Saturday, with fellow forwards Callum Marshall and Paul Smyth coming off the bench.Other strikers such as Lee Bonis, Dale Taylor and the uncapped Ronan Hale were all unused substitutes and O'Neill believes it is one of the problem areas in his squad before Tuesday's friendly against Iceland."We're still looking for maybe that striker to put their hand up and say, 'I'm the player that should be starting,'" he told BBC Sport NI."The lads we have those in positions are all playing at a similar level, sort of League One level in England and SPL level in Scotland. "They've all scored goals this season, a lot of them have got to double figures but the jump up to play against top international defenders is a big jump so that's probably one of the positions we maybe need to nail down, but I think across the team in other areas we're pretty settled."
NI must 'develop the team we have' against Iceland
O'Neill confirmed that goalkeeper Stephen McMullan, who is on loan at Waterford from Fleetwood Town, has been called up to replace the injured Conor Hazard ahead of the Iceland game. The NI boss said that he knows his "strongest team" but must strike a balance in team selection on Tuesday as he also wants to cast his eye over some fringe players in the squad.The friendly is NI's last game before September's away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany in 2026 World Cup qualifying. "Rarely do you get your strongest team on the pitch so it's important to utilise the squad," O'Neill continued."We still have players that need to make that step up, they've been good when they've come in, but they haven't had the exposure minutes wise we could have given them, but we also have to develop the team we have."The team we pick [against Iceland] will be picked to try and win the game and to look forward to the games when they start in September."Iceland beat Scotland 3-1 at Hampden Park on Friday and O'Neill hopes the fixture will allow NI to address their shortcomings in attack that were evident against Denmark."They have got a new coach [Arnar Gunnlaugsson] and he's only been in for three games and that Scotland game was a great result for him and they have some very good players who play at a good level across Europe so I think in terms of possession it will be a more evenly matched game," O'Neill said."We know we need to improve when we have the ball, so this is an opportunity for us to do that."