HEIMIR HALLGRIMSSON HAS given some insight into the changes he wants to implement with the Republic of Ireland ahead of the Nations League campaign against England next month.
Speaking at a fan forum for FAI season ticket holders at Aviva Stadium, the new international boss was candid in his assessment as he prepares to name his first squad next Thursday.
Hallgrimsson feels some of the Ireland players are “maybe a little bit too nice” and insists that “sometimes you need a bastard in your team.”
He explained how assistant boss John O’Shea and first-team coach Paddy McCarthy will have most of the say in choosing the squad for the double header with England and Greece as he is still getting to grips with those available for selection.
“I’m not going to even try to lie about being an expert on Irish players, so that is why it is so important to have Paddy and John with me. This selection of the squad will probably be more or less based on their opinion,” he said.
“They know the character of the players and as time goes on I will definitely know more and more, so I can take over more of the selection or have more to say. I promise you he (O’Shea) is going to be as much of an influence as me on selection or what we are doing.
“I will use him for advice as much as I need to. I am not afraid, if somebody knows more than me or is more intelligent than me. So I am really lucky having him with me.”
Hallgrimsson was adamant that the success he had with Iceland – reaching the knockout stages of Euro 2016 and qualifying for the 2018 World Cup – can be replicated now.
“I think in many ways, Ireland is similar to Iceland in the sense that we don’t have many players playing at the highest level in the Champions League. So there is no high, high, high profile player.
“It’s going to be down to the group, to the squad to win the games, not the individuals.
“I think the first impression of the players is really good team players, really good characters, maybe a little bit too nice. Sometimes you need a bastard in your team. I am looking for him. Maybe we can develop him.”
Captain Seamus Coleman spoke along a similar theme earlier this summer when he stressed the importance of young players finding consistency to help deliver success.
“Maybe they have started to realise that it’s not just coming in to get a cap and play well [for] one in every three games. Hopefully some of the senior lads are letting them know that there is a bigger picture to it. It’s about qualifying,” Coleman said.
“There have been too many tournaments that have passed us by now.”
“I’ll do what I can in terms of on the pitch and around [the squad] to make sure that we have lads who really want to get there.”
Speaking in Dublin tonight, Hallgrimsson confirmed that he was hoping to add a Spanish fitness coach, who he worked with in Qatar, to the Ireland set up, and also explained the parallels between Iceland and Ireland and qualifying for tournaments.
“You need so many stars to align for this to happen, especially for a nation like Iceland.
“First of all you need the players, and we had a special group of players that were a similar age.
“Then, we had many leaders in different areas. It was this kind of mentality that all national teams need to have, we have some superpowers that we will always focus on and try to improve every time we meet, every time we have a meeting.
“We try to improve these things. For us, it was be the best defensive team in the world, we’re going to be the best set-piece team in the world and we are going to have the best team spirit of all the teams.
“Every time we met we tried to improve these things. We analysed a lot of set pieces of attacking actions from the opponents to make these superpowers even stronger.
“In my opinion it is better, especially when you are an underdog team, to be really good at five things out of 10, rather than being semi good at 10. Focus on your strengths and try to win the games on your strengths.
“Don’t try to be good in all areas because, probably, if you are an underdog team you can’t be [good in all areas]. If you are an underdog team you need to be pragmatic. You need to know where you can hurt the opponent, where your strength is. That is how I see it, at least, and now it is for us to find out what our strengths are and try to work on them and improve them.”
