Panic.
It’s a little hard not to sympathise with Martin O’Neill in some sense.
The diamond formation he deployed worked. McClean and Murphy were hounding the Danish backline, there was a high press all over the field and the ball was being worked through the lines better than Ireland have done in some time.
We went ahead early and we carved out more chances after that. For a while, it was as good and as convincing a performance as we’ve produced since that perfect 2-0 win over Bosnia this time two years ago.
Ireland slicing through Denmark like pic.twitter.com/KkkJT0JeyZ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 14, 2017
Then a clusterfuck beyond the manager’s control kicked in.
Harry Arter got nutmegged, Cyrus Christie bundled the ball into his own net then Ward tried to take on a Dane with no-one behind him – and no real skill behind him either – and, in the space of three minutes, Ireland required two goals from nothing the manager could really legislate for.
But the boss reacted all wrong.
Yes, it was a big ask then to go and hit three goals in total when that feat has only been managed against Gibraltar and Moldova in the last 28 competitive games but you’ve a better chance of winning 2-0 in a second half when you have midfielders on the pitch.
- O’Neill brought on Wes Hoolahan which was definitely required.
- He brought on Aiden McGeady which was definitely not required.
To get both of them on, he brought off the two midfielders in Meyler and Arter and it meant that Brady and Hendrick were left holding the fort and that meant you lost the best those two can offer and you also lost shape.
It meant that Ireland panicked and left themselves wide open for Christian Eriksen to curl in unchallenged at the edge of the box with 30 minutes to go and put the game to bed.
This tells you the story better than any scoreboard could 😔 pic.twitter.com/PQUiR9wAov
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 14, 2017
The time to panic was not at half time with the scoreboard reading 1-2. Panic all you want with 10 minutes to go and nothing left to lose but one goal at any stage in that second period for Ireland would’ve changed everything and brought them right back into it. One goal for Denmark would’ve ended the game and that’s what happened. As it was, we put ourselves in a position to concede three more.
And, frankly, the introduction of Aiden McGeady with 45 whole minutes to go gave us less of an option to attack as effectively. He hasn’t produced for Ireland since Georgia in 2014. None of his crosses beat the first man, none of his take-ons were successful, and his inclusion meant O’Dowda could never come on.
It wasn’t the time for a Hail Mary like that and it wasn’t even the time for panic.
O’Neill said afterwards that there was “no point in dying wondering”. He might be wondering right now though if taking out the midfielder was really the drastic action that was required.
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