Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane take charge of their second, and slightly more difficult, game as the Republic of Ireland management team.
MONKeano, as they have become known thanks to the internet, have started their reign in charge with a great deal of success and we’ve taken a look at three things to look out for on what should be a far more testing night for the Boys in Green.
Passing accuracy
One thing we never expected to see under Trapattoni was Ireland dominating the possession game and getting a high pass completion rate but on Friday night (admittedly against Latvia, who are a muscular 117th in the world rankings, just behind Tajikistan) we still mustered 66% possession, and had pass accuracy stats of over 90%, so things are looking a damn sight brighter than they did before. However, the opposition was not of the highest standard. It was almost as if they managed to find an opponent who was the exact specifications and dimensions of Spain or Brazil, you know a real quality side.
Ultimately, the only stat that really matters was on the scoreboard, as they say, but it’s still evidence that there have been changes to the game, and the team looked to play a different brand of football, with some really nice moves being strung together along the way. Poland will present a much sterner test, but if Ireland can get close to those numbers again, then that would be a pretty good achievement.
The calibre of opposition
To quote the Après Match version of Ronnie Whelan, “I’ve been very impressed with Poland, Bill”. Robert Lewandowski is certainly no mug; in fact he’s one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, and he showed last season that if you give him four chances to score in one game, he will score four times, even if you’re Real Madrid. When we last played Poland we won 2-0, but there’s not much that can be read in to the results of a friendly game, which will be the same thing said at the end of this game.
Poland too are getting to grips with a new system and a new manager under Adam Nawalka, and having lost his first game in charge against Slovakia 2-0, he’ll want a good strong performance from his side, and a win in front of a home crowd in the football-mad town of Poznan.
The full backs probably won’t push up too far (even Marc Wilson, who was spotted on the right wing with about five minutes to go against Latvia) given the fact that Poland can break quickly with the likes of Jakub Błaszczykowski in their ranks. They are short Łukasz Piszczek, who is one of their best defenders, however, but it will be a strong starting XI nonetheless.
Goals and confidence
Poland have not scored in their last few games, and Ireland have not been used to scoring…well, at all while Trap was in charge, so we’re not predicting a flood of goals. Artur Boruc is in fantastic form for Southampton between the sticks, and if he doesn’t start then Wojciech Szczęsny will be more than happy to deputise for him. Westwood didn’t have much to do on Friday, but he was commanding when he needed to be, while Forde has been impressive in an Ireland shirt so far.
What we’re trying to say is that this game could be a very low scoring affair, and we’re not expecting a similar result to Friday night. However, one notable thing was the sense of freedom that the players played with, in particular Wes Hoolahan, who put in a great performance and James McCarthy’s distribution seemed to be a lot more effective when he had options looking to move and create in front of him. With Andy Reid out injured, Hoolahan might have a long shift ahead of him.
With our new-found sense of flair and the fact that there seems to be a whole lot of pressure lifted off the shoulders of the players, we may well turn on the style a bit and push a Poland side that, truth be told, have little about them that should make us too fearful. On Friday night the crowd was in great form and the intensity was there from the players right to the final minute, something which Roy Keane will surely be happy about.
Don’t expect the foot to come off the gas tonight, or there will be words had from the man himself.
