THERE IS a case to be made that it did not matter who Ireland’s manager was or what formation they played last night.
You could have had Pep Guardiola as manager. You could have reversed the two coaches and had Lee Carsley in the Irish dugout (in which he mistakenly sat initially).
Ireland could have tried a tiki-taka style or sat back and played long balls to Adam Idah (which is often what they did).
The gap in quality between the two sets of players was so wide that the outcome was perhaps inevitable.
The Boys in Green also arguably played England at the worst possible time.
Had Gareth Southgate stayed on after the Euros, there was a possibility of a flat performance — a hangover following their run to the final in Germany.
Instead, there was a spark and freshness to England under Lee Carsley that was seldom seen in the last days of his predecessor’s reign.
The 2-0 outcome if anything did not fully reflect the visitors’ sheer dominance.
The hosts completed just 54 passes in the first half compared to 352 by their rivals.
Stephen Kenny’s detractors often criticised his emphasis on playing out from the back and employing an attractive brand of football supposedly at the expense of positive results.
But Ireland reverting to an uglier version of their past selves is no guarantee of success either, as Saturday evening emphasised.
By contrast, England looked like a side learning to evolve from the Southgate era in an impressively short time.
Yet notwithstanding all those factors, there is no doubt Ireland made it all too easy for their opponents.
The first goal in particular was avoidable. To get caught out by a long ball over the top is poor from the Irish defence’s perspective.
🇮🇪 0-1 🏴
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 7, 2024
Chance for Ireland but England go straight down the other end and score, eventually, through Declan Rice, who doesn't celebrate against the country he represented three times
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The space England were afforded in midfield was a big factor in ensuring the game was so one-sided.
It is easy in hindsight, of course, but Ireland clearly weren’t effectively set up to combat the English attack.
They have persisted with the three-at-the-back system for over three years now.
Stephen Kenny actually began his reign with a four-man defence.
It was not until 24 March 2021, a 3-2 defeat away in Serbia, that the team first employed wing-backs — perhaps tellingly, it was also former assistant boss Anthony Barry’s first game in the dugout.
There have been a couple of exceptions since then, but Kenny mainly stuck with a three-man defence, with interim boss John O’Shea and now Heimir Hallgrímsson doing likewise.
The logic is clear. Centre-back is by far the position in which Ireland have the most strength in depth. So the coaches presumably have the aim of trying to get as many of these talented players on the pitch as possible.
There was a time too when Seamus Coleman and Matt Doherty were widely regarded as Ireland’s best players — so wing-backs made sense, particularly as Doherty is capable of playing on the left.
The problem is that Coleman, Doherty and Robbie Brady, who started at left wing-back, are now in their 30s.
For the wing-back system to be truly effective, you need players with excessive pace, dynamism and energy.
That is not to denigrate the above three players — they have been terrific servants to Ireland — but on the evidence of yesterday’s game and others, they are ill-suited to what is being asked of them.
Playing a three-man defence that often essentially became a five and the coaching staff’s desire to get three attackers on the pitch — Adam Idah, Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene — meant the two-man midfield of Will Smallbone and Jason Molumby often were overrun and England exploited the alarmingly wide spaces at will.
As a result, Ireland looked like a team caught between two conflicting philosophies. The starting lineup was bold yet their play lacked ambition and cohesion, as indicated by how rarely they passed the ball to one another.
If Ireland decided they would merely be difficult to beat, why not flood the midfield?
A four-man defence would leave Seamus Coleman in his more natural position at right-back and lessen the chances of his lack of pace being exposed by Anthony Gordon.
At left-back, rather than an instinctive attacker like Robbie Brady, someone with the defensive nous of Liam Scales — who appears set for another terrific season at Celtic — could be accommodated.
An extra hard-working midfielder like Alan Browne or Jason Knight would also have been welcome and Ogbene could still play out wide.
It would similarly make room for another winger like Kasey McAteer. And while Idah or Szmodics would need to be sacrificed, neither delivered the kind of exceptional performance on Saturday that suggests they are indispensable.
Tuesday’s opponents Greece might not be on the same level as England. However, based on the two still-quite-recent Euro 2024 qualifiers between the sides (less than a year has elapsed since their last meeting at the Aviva), they are better technically and tactically than Ireland.
It is that game, in addition to the upcoming Nations League encounters with Finland, where Hallgrímsson will be truly judged.
Therefore the Icelandic boss may have to consider this alternative approach to avoid a similar fate to Kenny once the current 18-month contract expires.
