FOLLOWING WHAT WAS largely seen as credible performance in their heart-breaking defeat to Portugal, Stephen Kenny’s side headed into a very different challenge against Azerbaijan.

The plucky underdogs role is Ireland’s speciality, but when tasked with the onus of controlling a game and taking it to the opposition, they have rarely looked comfortable over the last decade or more.

Would it be different this time around?

Ireland manager Stephen Kenny passes the ball to James McClean. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Outside centre backs key to Ireland’s attacking intent

With Stephen Kenny sticking with the 3-4-3 system that worked well against Portugal, and Azerbaijan lining up in a 5-3-2, this meant the teams would generally match up man for man, with one free player on either side.

Azerbaijan’s free player would be their holding midfielder while for Ireland it would be whichever of their three centre backs they could free up.

This was something that Ireland did really well from the off. Inside the first 20 seconds of the match, having drawn the oppositions front two across to our right, John Egan stepped forward into the space on our left and almost managed to slide in Aaron Connolly but for an excellent covering run from Haghverdi.

The next 10 minutes though were all about Seamus Coleman on the opposite side of the back three. The Ireland captain continually managed to make himself the free man and in doing so caused big problems.

The first image below shows him playing a lofted ball in behind for Adam Idah who was denied by the proactive role being played by Azerbaijan’s sweeper-keeper Magomedaliyev.

Soon afterwards he played a similar pass, again for Idah, but this time angled it into the channel. Idah, picking the ball up wide right drove all the way to the end line before cutting back for Connolly who, with the goalmouth empty, was denied by a well-timed block by Madvedev.

But Coleman did much more than just sit back and distribute, also taking the opportunity to advance forward himself when the prospect presented itself. He continued his excellent 10-minute spell by this time stepping forward onto a pass from Jayson Molumby and, having rode a challenge, found himself with great opportunity to open the scoring but he steered his shot high and wide to the left.

Later in the half it was more of the same. This time picking up the pass from Cullen, Coleman thread a ball through to Connolly who set up Molumby to shoot narrowly wide of the bottom left-hand corner.

Just after the half-hour mark it Egan’s turn to get free and pick a pass. He played in Aaron Connolly down the left flank who in turn delivered a good cross to Idah but he got too much on it.

Sucker punched

As the clock ticked into injury time in the first half, Stephen Kenny would have been planning a team talk that would have largely encouraged more of the same, despite the absence of an all-important goal.

Ireland’s ‘build from the back’ approach was creating plenty of decent opportunities and it seemed as though it would only be a matter of time before Ireland got on the scoresheet in the second half.

Then came the bolt from the blue from Emin Makhmudov.

Azerbaijan’s entrances into the final third had been rare but on the few occasions where they had got forward they had already shown a willingness to shoot from distance. Bazuna twice saving comfortably from Alasgarov, both attempts coming from the inside left channel.

So when Makhmudov picked up a loose ball from a Shane Duffy headed clearance in that area, odds were he might try to get a shot off. Coleman approached him, though not at a frantic pace.

Makhmudov took 7 touches in total as he first considered crossing it and then thought about spraying it wide. Eventually, and almost reluctantly, he decided to push the ball into a shooting position with his 8th touch before hitting it with his 9th.

As the image below shows, by the time he did shoot, Coleman, and now Cullen too, were only a yard away but neither man managed to get a block in and the ball rocketed into the back of the net.

In truth, Ireland would probably have been happy enough to limit Azerbaijan to the odd pot shot from distance but equally it’s hard to get away from the fact that had the player been pressured quicker, the shooting opportunity probably would never have arisen.

The second half response – Kill them crosses

Kenny’s immediate response during the half-time break was to introduce Daryl Horgan for Connolly. This was a like for like change in terms of their position, though their interpretation of how they play it is very different.

While Connolly would see himself as somebody who prioritises scoring goals, Horgan’s primary strength lies in his crossing ability. This was to be a fitting change in a half where Ireland attempted no less than 30 deliveries.

Horgan showed his quality inside the first minute of his introduction. Making a run across to the right from his left-wing position, he collected a pass from Molumby before returning the favour by finding the Waterford man with a pinpoint cross, only to see him head over the bar.

Fifteen minutes later and it was Horgan again, this time picking up the ball wide on the left before putting in a fantastic delivery which Idah somehow steered wide. Amazingly, there were not one but two more Irish players, McClean and Duffy, just behind Idah who looked equally well positioned to head the ball home.

As the half wore on, the crosses continued to come. Following another good link up between Coleman and Idah down the right-hand side, substitute Callum Robinson whipped in a terrific ball which was powered over by Duffy.

When the equaliser finally came, the manner, and indeed the scorer, seemed inevitable. With four minutes remaining Ireland were awarded a free in a central area. With their centre backs again up on the edge of the 18-yard box, they decided to try to work the ball wide before attempting to deliver.

This very nearly backfired when Conor Hourihane overhit a diagonal ball out to the left wing but McClean just about managed to keep the ball in play and play it back to Josh Cullen.

Crucially for Ireland, as the ball was about to be delivered, Haghverdi allowed himself to drop 2 yards behind the rest of his backline, and in doing so kept Duffy on side.

Cullen, who had been impressive all evening and had already put in some testing deliveries arrowed in a ball that had just the right amount of dip on it to allow the Derry man to head home.

On a night where the standard of crossing had been hit-and-miss, this one was inch perfect, and allowed Ireland to rescue a point.

Conclusion

Let’s take a look at some of the stats.

Possession
Ireland 62% Azerbaijan 38%

Expected Goals
Ireland 2.05 Azerbaijan 0.28

Attempts from inside the 18-yard box
Ireland 14 Azerbaijan 4

Regardless of who the sides involved are, based on these metrics, the team getting the upper hand to this extent wins the game at least eight out of 10 times. Ireland didn’t. Why?

Is it because Stephen Kenny is not a good manager? Is it because the players are of a poor quality? Or was it down to bad luck?

The answer you will come up with will probably depend on what your perception of the players and management was before a ball was kicked in this game.