Followers of the Republic of Ireland will get behind John O’Shea and his management team.
How could we not? John is one of the most accomplished athletes the country has ever produced. Next week the Irish players get to rub shoulders with him, Brian Kerr and Glenn Whelan.
Also, O’Shea’s number two Paddy McCarthy has been caretaker manager at Crystal Palace and seems ready for a sustained career in the dugout.
Like the back room set-up, it’s a cleverly selected squad with something old (Robbie Brady), something new (Finn Azaz) and something blue (Séamus Coleman). The FAI should sell out the Aviva for Belgium and Switzerland.
But these games cannot be framed as a new beginning. Nothing of the sort. The team will be familiar to anyone paying attention since Stephen Kenny started blooding kids in 2021.
In reality, the latest fresh start comes in June against Hungary and Portugal. The FAI can dress up these March friendlies any way they please but this period of our history finishes immediately after the Swiss game on Tuesday week.
What O’Shea can do is cap Sammie Szmodics, Azaz and Joe Hodge. That would do the state of Irish soccer some service. He might even set a standard for the Nations League window in September, especially if the new manager retains him as an assistant coach.
But, truth be told, John O’Shea will learn more about himself and his ability to make tactical changes from the sideline, than we will learn about his potential to last in the professional game.
Last year, he sat behind Kenny and Keith Andrews in Athens as the Euros dream slipped away and – as Gus Poyet helpfully pointed out – the Greeks tactically outmanoeuvred Ireland. He was also close enough to whisper in Kenny’s ear when Ronald Koeman changed up and removed any chance of a special result against the Dutch in Dublin.
So he knows what is expected of him when Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco starts devising plans for Lois Openda to bring his Bundesliga form for Leipzig to the Aviva.
O’Shea will need to react, change formation on the run just to avoid humiliation. Even without Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium operate on a different planet to Ireland.
Same goes for his head-to-head with Swiss manager Murat Yakin, who came through the Grasshoppers’ coaching ranks before gaining Champions League experience, most notably when his Basel side beat Chelsea home and away in 2013.
These are serious, seasoned opponents for O’Shea, who was rapidly promoted from being the number three Irish coach to the boss. He will have seen how isolated a manager becomes when things go wrong on the pitch. He could not save Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City. He could not save Kenny either.
McCarthy, Whelan and even Kerr will whisper some choice words but the final decision stops with my former team-mate. It’s a lonely, unforgiving job. And recent evidence suggests that the current squad – certainly without Coleman – cannot problem-solve in-game.
That is O’Shea’s brief and next Saturday night he will be doing it for the first time in his entire life against the fourth best team in the world. We should be worried.
Job one is to get the formation and line-up spot on. I imagine training begins with a 3-4-3 system that can switch to 3-4-2-1 and a back four.
I think, long term, Ireland will play with four across the back as the threat of Mikey Johnston and Chiedozie Ogbene can combine with our fullbacks to create overloads and get more balls into the opposition’s box.
I’d start Gavin Bazunu against Belgium. Caoimhín Kelleher has been incredible for Liverpool recently and there is an argument to give both goalkeepers a game but Kelleher could easily slip into the background at Anfield when Alisson returns.
Every decision I made as a player came down to starting week in, week out. Not sharing the position or being part of a big club’s rotation policy. Playing was all that mattered.
The back three should be Andrew Omobamidele, Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea as they are playing regularly in the Premier League. Collins and O’Shea have made mistakes under intense pressure for Brentford and Burnley but if this trio builds a strong relationship every team will find it difficult to score against Ireland.
That’s how we start winning again, with a solid defensive foundation. I’d love to drop Coleman into the starting XI but he has barely played for Everton. Same goes for Matt Doherty at Wolves and Brady at Preston while Festy Ebosele has half a Serie A campaign under his belt. Still, Coleman at right wing back and Doherty on the left, with Festy and Brady held for impact does make sense.
Whoever replaces O’Shea next month, they cannot do much about the midfield options. It’s been a problem for 15 years. Start Josh Cullen and Jason Knight as the holding pair and lean into our strengths elsewhere.
Cullen and Knight both aspire to the play at the highest level, with Cullen back in the Burnley side and Knight operating as a number 10 for Bristol City. Priority number one should be to take possession on the back foot and move it forward at pace. Mind the house but dictate the tempo.
Easier said than done but this is how Ogbene and Johnston will do damage, with Szmodics coming off the bench. It’s how overlapping fullbacks can pick out Evan Ferguson in the box. It’s how these games will yield positive results.
John O’Shea has named a decent squad with an impressive management to prepare them. But Belgium and Switzerland will poke plenty of holes in their best laid plans before moving swiftly on to the Euros.
