“Some players still have a lot of work to do. Just because somebody does alright in some game, doesn’t mean they’re an international player.”
Martin O’Neill’s dealings with the media show how fatalistic and intransigent the Republic of Ireland manager is. He has pre-determined views on football and does not like to be challenged.
His opinions of footballers, in public at least, appears to be based on the club that they are playing for, rather than their ability and their suitability for a tactical plan to win a match. As Ireland aren’t blessed with a squad full of world class players, this is a shortsighted and counter-productive approach to the job.
We need to look at what players can do, rather than their shortcomings.
Attitude towards Stephen Kenny becoming Ireland manager shows what is holding Irish football back | @RobRedmond10 https://t.co/Jy1IbtxKK0
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 22, 2018
This was hammered home with his comments about the League of Ireland.
“I think more than any other Irish international manager, I’ve incorporated the League of Ireland,” O’Neill told reporters. “I go to a lot of matches too.”
O’Neill has called-up more domestic-based players, such as Daryl Horgan, Andy Boyle and Graham Burke, than previous managers.
It could be argued that this is due to the fact that, each year, there are fewer and fewer Irish players featuring in the Premier League and the Championship.
O’Neill called up League of Ireland players who were in-form and on the verge of completing a move to English football. But he isn’t wrong with his comments so far.
However, he then gave an insight into his outlook and why Ireland will continue to flounder under the current management team, regardless of the players available to him.
“Young Burke, was the first one in I don’t know how many years that actually participated and scored a goal. On the strength of that, he got a move to Preston. Now it’s up to him,” O’Neill said.
The “it’s up to him” remark sums up O’Neill. He places the emphasis wholly on the players. As far as he is concerned, it is up to them to prove their talent.
When he names his team an hour before the kick-off, it is up to the players to figure out where what position they are playing in. When he throws on three strikers near the end of a match, it is up to the players to make sense of it.
It is up to the players, not the manager, to win games. This view is why the team are going no-where under him. This is how he views football. This approach has been long bypassed.
Something I wrote after the match last night. O'Neill's time has passed and Stephen Kenny should be his replacement.#IREWALhttps://t.co/jFyR8qBw21
— Robert Redmond (@RobRedmond10) October 17, 2018
“I’m not an agent for all of these players. My job is to be impressed by players at the end of it all. Some players have gone over to England and for one reason or another have not come through,” he continued.
“It’s not that they haven’t come through to the Premier League, they haven’t come through at some of the lower levels. So then you have to ask the question, what is it? When somebody goes over early and comes back quickly, it’s not the perfect recipe for international football and trying to win games.”
These comments show how O’Neill’s outlook is entirely framed by English football. He is judging players based on the clubs they feature for, rather than their ability and suitability for the national team.
Would it not be a better approach to judge a player based on how they can help the national team by fitting into a tactical plan that will get the better of the opposition?
It would, but there is no evidence of any tactical plan with the Ireland team. They have been a shambles at set-pieces since O’Neill was appointed and have shown no sign of improvement. There is no discernible pattern of play. There is no defensive structure. The players look confused and lost.
Do they work on set-pieces or team shape in training? Do they work on a plan to stop the opposition? Almost certainly not.
"There'll never be another Robbie Keane and there wasn't one before he came along. What other small European country has such a player or ever did? He was an outlier" | @RobRedmond10 https://t.co/MSn8At2PGy
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 9, 2018
Instead, you have a manager building his team based on the club each player is employed by. This type of thinking – an overreliance on English football and an adherence to the merits of English football as a whole – has held Irish football back and is now utterly redundant.
If we are to base our opinions of players solely on the clubs they play for in England, then Irish football is about to be consigned to the wilderness. Because the chances of a young Irish player breaking into a Premier League team is now extremely remote.
Over 30 years ago, when Irish players featured for the biggest clubs in England, it was maybe possible to take this approach. In 2018, it is hopelessly out of date. The national team needs a coach, someone who can make the most of the players available to him.
O’Neill is also basing his team selection on the work of others. He is effectively saying that he picks his team according to external factors. That a player isn’t good enough for Ireland until the moment that another manager decides he is good enough for his team in the Premier League and the Championship.
What type of way is this to select a team?
The Ireland manager spoke about Patrick McEleney, the Dundalk midfielder who has been one of the best players in Ireland over the past couple of years. He had a brief spell with Oldham in League One earlier this year, but returned to Dundalk.
His manager Stephen Kenny rightly pointed out that it is unfair to judge McEleney unfavourably because it didn’t work out with Oldham, The conditions and style of football between that team and Dundalk are vastly different. Kenny also urged Irish football to look beyond English football and to look at what our players can do, rather than focusing on their shortcomings.
Meanwhile, O’Neill is still framed by British football logic from the 1970s and 80s.
“It’s nice to see him (McEleney) doing well. He’s got a bit of something. But you have to step up and that’s a case with a lot of players here,” he said.
The “step-up” remark is another puzzling comment. Would it really be a step-up for McEleney to go from the passing, progressive football of Dundalk, where the players know their roles and the team are coached, to the turgid, blob of nothingness that is Ireland under the current management team?
It would be a step-up in terms of the players McEleney would play with and against, but that’s it.
"The Ireland players desperately need some basic organisation and a tactical plan to make them greater than the sum of their parts.
"Instead, they have their manager telling them to "just deal with it" as they're left exposed and overrun again" https://t.co/L8NXUeyseH
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 8, 2018
“If your career is playing at the highest level, the highest level is the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga or Serie A. Some players still have a lot of work to do,” he continued.
“Just because somebody does alright in some game, doesn’t mean they’re an international player.”
O’Neill selected Cyrus Christie, a full-back, to play in central midfield in two competitive games. It could be argued that his opinion of what makes “an international player” is questionable.
Contrast O’Neill’s comments with those of Kenny in recent weeks and it is clear who should be the Ireland manager. Kenny has a positive view of Irish footballers and works to bring out their best qualities.
"I really can't stomach that idea. I can't tell you how much I really dislike it" https://t.co/w5KQu0p2pL
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 4, 2018
O’Neill speaks like a pundit on British TV talking about the Irish team, basing his opinion of players according to the club they feature for, rather than their ability and how they can fit into a tactical plan.
Irish football desperately needs to move past this fatalistic and bankrupt approach.
Martin O'Neill says he can't continually call up League of Ireland players as he needs a squad operating at a high standard. He explained his reasoning why some players were left out. pic.twitter.com/doWZ5LWXXj
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 6, 2018
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