“I thought that the two of them were combining excellently.”
The Republic of Ireland suffered a crushing defeat on Thursday night in Cardiff. In their first game of the new Uefa Nations League tournament, Martin O’Neill’s side were pummelled by Wales, losing 4-1, a scoreline that ultimately flattered the visitors.
Wales, in Ryan Giggs’ first competitive match as manager, were excellent. They played with purpose and attacking verve and should have won by more. Ireland were passive, disoriented and hopeless, incapable of getting close to their opponents or constructing anything when on the ball.
It was arguably more depressing than the Denmark defeat last November. At least on that occasion, Ireland took the lead. From the opening kick of the night against Wales, they were on the backfoot.
“Just deal with it” no longer working for Martin O’Neill and Ireland
Everything went wrong for Ireland, and very few players did themselves justice on a difficult evening. Some of Martin O’Neill’s decisions were also widely questioned following the final whistle.
One selection in particular that didn’t seem to work was the decision to play Cyrus Christie on the right-hand side of midfield ahead of Seamus Coleman. It appeared that O’Neill picked Christie, a right-back, on the right wing in order to give Ireland more defensive cover on that flank. However, it didn’t work.
Ben Davies bombed forward from left-back at every available opportunity and Coleman was often left in two v one situations. With Ireland playing a flat four-man midfield, there was always space behind Christie and Callum O’Dowda which Wales exploited all night. The midfield was completely overrun and looked in desperate need of another body in the centre to try to break Wales’ control of the game.
Martin O’Neill’s bizarre tactical gamble has been slated by Ireland fans
O’Neill said following the match that the plan was for Callum Robinson or Jonathan Walters to drop back into midfield and help the team when they didn’t have the ball. Yet, that failed to come to fruition and Wales’ classy midfield of Joe Allen and Ethan Ampadu had an easy night.
Following the match, O’Neill defended his decision to play Christie and praised the player.
“I’m not so sure should that I really should be going into all those of those things. That’s my prerogative,” O’Neill replied when asked about the thought process behind selecting Christie to play ahead of Coleman on Ireland’s right flank.
“I thought Cyrus Christie was one of our best players. I thought he played exceptionally well in a position that he has played before, but he’s normally a right-back. And I thought that the two of them were combining excellently.
“I thought that Cyrus Christie, considering he hasn’t been playing too much for Fulham, did very, very well for us. (He had) Some lung-busting runs and, of course, fitness was a wee bit of a problem towards the end. But that game will bring him on immensely. So, I thought he did really well.”
O’Neill shouldn’t be criticised for his defence of Christie, as he is right to try focus on the positives from his player’s performance. And the Fulham full-back wasn’t Ireland’s worst performer on the night.
However, there are as many holes in his argument as there were in the Ireland midfield against Wales.
Firstly, there was very little evidence of Coleman and Christie linking up or having an understanding. This was the case for Ireland’s players all over the pitch.
The most common passing combination appeared to be between Darren Randolph in goal and Walters up front.
Seamus Coleman speaks for a frustrated nation after Irish humiliation
O’Neill’s comments about Christie’s lack of playing time at club level were also puzzling. There were other options available to Ireland than someone who has played 95 minutes for his club this season.
Matt Doherty has started every game for Wolves in the Premier League this season, yet he sat on the bench for Ireland on Thursday night. He could have been deployed as a wing-back, which would have enabled Ireland to play an extra player in midfield, rather than go with a four-man midfield which left the team exposed.
Of course, O’Neill would dismiss this, and that’s fair enough. After all, he won two European Cups as a player with Nottingham Forest.
However, his comments about his selection choices were as puzzling as the selections themselves. They reflect the muddled display on a night of no positives for Irish football.
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