STEPHEN KENNY’S IRELAND welcome Portugal to a sold-out Aviva Stadium tonight with a new sense of optimism in the air generated by recent performances and results.
Given that it’s only a little over two months since the sides last met both managers will have spent the last couple of weeks pouring over the video of their recent clash and deciding what to prioritise in the few sessions they would have to work with their teams.
Below I take a look at three aspects of the game plan that I believe will have been the primary focus this week on the training ground.
Striking the right balance in the front three
While some of the names in the starting XI have continued to chop and change over recent games, the shape has remained pretty much a constant.
Ireland’s foundation will be built on three centre-backs, two wing-backs and two centre midfielders. In front of that things are slightly more fluid but for now we will call them two attackers and a centre forward.
Striking the right balance amongst this trio will be crucial to Ireland’s chances.
In Faro, Kenny chose Adam Idah at centre forward with Jamie McGrath and Aaron Connolly just behind him, and while they did very well for most of that game, we will see at least one change to that set up for the home tie given Connolly’s absence.
In truth, Callum Robinson’s five goals in September’s double-header against Azerbaijan and Qatar had all but ensured that he would start this game even had Connolly been fit.
Robinson with the match ball, having scored a hat-trick against Qatar. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
But is at simple as Connolly out, Robinson in?
Robinson will play, that is a certainty, but this week Kenny will probably have had a look at whether the team is best served by using him as one of the two attackers or at centre forward. He performed superbly in both positions last month, first playing the deeper role against Azerbaijan before moving further forward against Qatar.
It’s worth remembering though that the main reason he flourished was down to the freedom he was granted by his manager to go wandering around the pitch in both games.
Can Ireland get away with giving him a similar level of autonomy against a team with the attacking quality that Portugal possess? What if he is caught out of position as Portugal attack in numbers?
I’ve thought about this a lot over the last couple of days and I’m coming around to the conclusion that Robinson may have to start at centre forward if we want to get the most out of him.
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Of the seven attempts at goal Ireland had in Faro, Connolly accounted for five of them. Without him in the side the attacking onus is going to fall on the in-form West Brom man so we have to keep him close to goal.
Jamie McGrath is an automatic for me as one of the two attackers. He can do everything that is required in that role, both in and out of possession. He will drop deep when Ireland need him in the build-up phase and will join the attack and contribute in the final third when Ireland get over the halfway line.
Defensively, he can help pack the middle of the field when required but also has the legs to get out wide and work with his wing-back to try and reduce their crosses opportunities.
Which leads me on to Ireland’s next challenge.
Dealing with crosses at source
In Faro, the Irish front three and centre midfield two set out in an extremely narrow shape as they attempted to stop Portugal playing through the middle. It worked.
Despite having Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the field, Fernando Santos’s side struggled to create any real patterns of play in central areas. The trouble was, when you overcompensate in one part of the field, you leave another area understaffed.
Kenny and his coaching staff knew they would be taking a chance in wide areas but would have seen this as the lesser of two evils. But surely even they couldn’t have predicted that the cross count would reach 52 before the final whistle.
Had Ireland hung on and won the game then this approach would still have been viewed as a masterplan. But when the goals did finally arrive, inevitably from two crosses, the questions start as to why we allowed them so many opportunities.
I have no doubt that Ireland will have spent a large part of their training week trying to get the balance right this time around as the cross count will have to be brought down.
The challenge is in trying to remain reasonably compact centrally while also providing better support to the wing-backs. This will require massive leg work from the two attackers who will need to get out to the sideline when the build-up is coming down their side but narrow in to create a midfield three when it is on the opposite side.
McGrath, as I mentioned above, is certainly capable of doing this. Robinson less so, another reason why I think he may be fielded higher up.
So that brings us back to who Kenny picks as his third attacker?
When Connolly came off in the 72nd minute in Faro it was James McClean who replaced him in the left-sided role. Could he play there again if Kenny opted to use any two from Matt Doherty, Seamus Coleman or Enda Stevens as his wing-backs?
Defensively he fits the bill. It would be hard to see Joao Cancelo repeating his 16 crosses in just 72 minutes if he were up against a pairing of McClean and Stevens down that flank. But would that be giving up too much of the initiative?
Given the extent to which the full-backs bomb forward for Portugal, Cancelo in particular, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kenny decides the best form of defence is attack.
If he does take this view and tries to get at the space left in behind by Manchester City full-back, then we could well see the bold selection of Chiedozie Ogbene from the start.
I’m sure they will have put him up against Doherty at some stage during training this week to see if he has the defensive discipline to track him and help curtail his crossing opportunities.
If he can do this while also offering enough of a counter-attacking threat to give him problems going the other way, then he may well have proved himself to be the man for the job.
Set piece success
During the 2016 League of Ireland season, my Wexford Youths side played Dundalk twice in a short period of time in the league and then the cup.
In the first of the two games they scored from a corner against us. They set up with three players in a line inside the box. As the ball was delivered, the player at the back of the three, Dane Massey, made a run to the front post while their middle player, Brian Gartland, stepped across and took out our player who was trying to track him. Massey headed home unmarked.
Two weeks later we set up to make sure this wouldn’t happen again, but this time Gartland spun from the middle around to the back post while Massey caught hold off his man. Another goal.
Kenny often gets portrayed as a football purist but as those who have faced his sides will attest, he has always prioritised extensive work on set pieces. The addition to the coaching set up of another specialist in Anthony Barry has taken this to another level.
John Egan’s goal from a corner in Faro came straight off the Chelsea training ground and Barry will have turned up this week with some fresh new routines for the players to run through.
Stephen Kenny chats to Anthony Barry during a session this week. Evan Treacy / INPHO
Evan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
In addition to corner kicks, there also been an emphasis on trying to get the most from throws in the final third in recent games. We are now well used to the sight of Shane Duffy heading into the box to make a nuisance of himself in this sense.
Initially the main approach seemed to be to launch the ball towards him to flick on into dangerous areas but more recently we have seen throws worked short to create crossing opportunities so that he can head directly at goal.
Practise makes perfect and I’m sure the players will head into this game confident in the knowledge that they all know their roles inside out.
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3 key aspects of the game Ireland need to get right against Portugal
STEPHEN KENNY’S IRELAND welcome Portugal to a sold-out Aviva Stadium tonight with a new sense of optimism in the air generated by recent performances and results.
Given that it’s only a little over two months since the sides last met both managers will have spent the last couple of weeks pouring over the video of their recent clash and deciding what to prioritise in the few sessions they would have to work with their teams.
Below I take a look at three aspects of the game plan that I believe will have been the primary focus this week on the training ground.
Striking the right balance in the front three
While some of the names in the starting XI have continued to chop and change over recent games, the shape has remained pretty much a constant.
Ireland’s foundation will be built on three centre-backs, two wing-backs and two centre midfielders. In front of that things are slightly more fluid but for now we will call them two attackers and a centre forward.
Striking the right balance amongst this trio will be crucial to Ireland’s chances.
In Faro, Kenny chose Adam Idah at centre forward with Jamie McGrath and Aaron Connolly just behind him, and while they did very well for most of that game, we will see at least one change to that set up for the home tie given Connolly’s absence.
In truth, Callum Robinson’s five goals in September’s double-header against Azerbaijan and Qatar had all but ensured that he would start this game even had Connolly been fit.
But is at simple as Connolly out, Robinson in?
Robinson will play, that is a certainty, but this week Kenny will probably have had a look at whether the team is best served by using him as one of the two attackers or at centre forward. He performed superbly in both positions last month, first playing the deeper role against Azerbaijan before moving further forward against Qatar.
It’s worth remembering though that the main reason he flourished was down to the freedom he was granted by his manager to go wandering around the pitch in both games.
Can Ireland get away with giving him a similar level of autonomy against a team with the attacking quality that Portugal possess? What if he is caught out of position as Portugal attack in numbers?
Of the seven attempts at goal Ireland had in Faro, Connolly accounted for five of them. Without him in the side the attacking onus is going to fall on the in-form West Brom man so we have to keep him close to goal.
Jamie McGrath is an automatic for me as one of the two attackers. He can do everything that is required in that role, both in and out of possession. He will drop deep when Ireland need him in the build-up phase and will join the attack and contribute in the final third when Ireland get over the halfway line.
Defensively, he can help pack the middle of the field when required but also has the legs to get out wide and work with his wing-back to try and reduce their crosses opportunities.
Which leads me on to Ireland’s next challenge.
Dealing with crosses at source
In Faro, the Irish front three and centre midfield two set out in an extremely narrow shape as they attempted to stop Portugal playing through the middle. It worked.
Despite having Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the field, Fernando Santos’s side struggled to create any real patterns of play in central areas. The trouble was, when you overcompensate in one part of the field, you leave another area understaffed.
Kenny and his coaching staff knew they would be taking a chance in wide areas but would have seen this as the lesser of two evils. But surely even they couldn’t have predicted that the cross count would reach 52 before the final whistle.
Had Ireland hung on and won the game then this approach would still have been viewed as a masterplan. But when the goals did finally arrive, inevitably from two crosses, the questions start as to why we allowed them so many opportunities.
I have no doubt that Ireland will have spent a large part of their training week trying to get the balance right this time around as the cross count will have to be brought down.
McGrath, as I mentioned above, is certainly capable of doing this. Robinson less so, another reason why I think he may be fielded higher up.
So that brings us back to who Kenny picks as his third attacker?
When Connolly came off in the 72nd minute in Faro it was James McClean who replaced him in the left-sided role. Could he play there again if Kenny opted to use any two from Matt Doherty, Seamus Coleman or Enda Stevens as his wing-backs?
Defensively he fits the bill. It would be hard to see Joao Cancelo repeating his 16 crosses in just 72 minutes if he were up against a pairing of McClean and Stevens down that flank. But would that be giving up too much of the initiative?
Given the extent to which the full-backs bomb forward for Portugal, Cancelo in particular, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kenny decides the best form of defence is attack.
If he does take this view and tries to get at the space left in behind by Manchester City full-back, then we could well see the bold selection of Chiedozie Ogbene from the start.
I’m sure they will have put him up against Doherty at some stage during training this week to see if he has the defensive discipline to track him and help curtail his crossing opportunities.
If he can do this while also offering enough of a counter-attacking threat to give him problems going the other way, then he may well have proved himself to be the man for the job.
Set piece success
During the 2016 League of Ireland season, my Wexford Youths side played Dundalk twice in a short period of time in the league and then the cup.
In the first of the two games they scored from a corner against us. They set up with three players in a line inside the box. As the ball was delivered, the player at the back of the three, Dane Massey, made a run to the front post while their middle player, Brian Gartland, stepped across and took out our player who was trying to track him. Massey headed home unmarked.
Two weeks later we set up to make sure this wouldn’t happen again, but this time Gartland spun from the middle around to the back post while Massey caught hold off his man. Another goal.
John Egan’s goal from a corner in Faro came straight off the Chelsea training ground and Barry will have turned up this week with some fresh new routines for the players to run through.
In addition to corner kicks, there also been an emphasis on trying to get the most from throws in the final third in recent games. We are now well used to the sight of Shane Duffy heading into the box to make a nuisance of himself in this sense.
Initially the main approach seemed to be to launch the ball towards him to flick on into dangerous areas but more recently we have seen throws worked short to create crossing opportunities so that he can head directly at goal.
Practise makes perfect and I’m sure the players will head into this game confident in the knowledge that they all know their roles inside out.
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from the training ground Shane Keegan Stephen Kenny Ireland Republic Portugal World Cup qualifier