IRELAND’S MAN of the Match Chiedozie Ogbene lamented some costly errors in the 2-0 defeat to England on Saturday while explaining the different approach new boss Heimir Hallgrímsson is trying to implement.

The 27-year-old Ipswich player acknowledged deficiencies at both ends of the pitch contributed to the defeat.

“We had a poor start, two balls in behind and the boys punished us, I think it was an uphill battle from day one,” Ogbene told reporters. “The second half, we did come out and put pressure on them. We had small moments where I think the quality could be better, but the game was lost in the first half.”

The Irish team won’t face many tougher teams than the Three Lions — Lee Carsley’s side are ranked fourth in the world and made it to the final of Euro 2024.

By contrast, upcoming Nations League opponents Greece and Finland — both of whom failed to qualify for the Euros via the playoffs — are 54th and 63rd respectively, with Ireland between them in 58th.

“I would be naive to say that we’re coming out and we’re confidently saying we’re going to beat the likes of England, these guys go to the big competitions that we dream of going to regularly,” Ogbene said. “I think we have to respect the likes of England who have a lot of top-quality players that play at the highest level. 

“I don’t want to be disrespectful but I will look you in the eye and tell you that England, after losing in the Euro final, was always going to be a difficult game regardless but we also wanted to put in a good performance.

“But the likes of Greece and Finland — without being disrespectful — those are the ones we want to battle against and pick up points from. Yes, we wanted to pick up points against England and see what happens, but against Greece and Finland, we have to put pressure on ourselves to pick points up.”

Ogbene added that it was not easy adapting to the demands of Hallgrímsson with the squad having so little time together under the new manager.

“Everyone plays for different clubs, everyone has different philosophies, so we all have to leave that behind and come in and adapt. But we’re professional footballers, we’re all in a privileged position and [need to] adapt quickly.

“It’s different, it’s more of a solid compact shape and maybe we can press from that shape. I think with Stephen [Kenny] we were more aggressive. But we have to pick our moments because international football is not easy, players come from their club

“You see how England played against us — sometimes you sit off, it’s not easy to press all the time.

“So yeah his philosophy is quite different but we have to fine-tune it and let the players adapt because I know some players in their clubs play front foot and some players sit back so we all have to be in tune to maximise what the manager wants us to do.”

Another potential difference between Hallgrímsson and Kenny is in how they utilise Ogbene.

The ex-Ireland manager invariably picked the former Limerick player in attack. But Ogbene has often played as a wing-back at club level.

On Saturday, the Irish star began the game in a more advanced role but moved to wing-back in the second half. Ogbene says he has no preference between the two.

“When I was younger I would say I wanted to play as a forward. But I’m a grown man and professional footballer, it’s what I get paid for, I will play in any position the manager requires of me.

“Wing-back was a change of tactic, we wanted to stretch the game a bit more and see if we could have the width on the outside.

“I am blessed I can play both positions so when I am called upon I can modify my game and make sure I maximise myself for the team.” 

And despite the early teething problems, Ogbene is backing Ireland to come good under Hallgrímsson.

“We have a higher number of players now in the Premier League — we have to put pressure on ourselves, we can’t be learning, we want to be winning games for our country, we want to be going to big competitions. I’m not going to sit here anymore and say we need to learn, we learnt a lot in the past, so we need to get results. I believe the manager will set us up to get results.”