Terribly negative approach costs us dearly

A SAD day, a terrible result, and the real pity of it is that our opposition were not that good a team. They were simply an average side that came to Dublin with a target and an idea of how to achieve it, and we simply didn't have the tactical capabilities to break them down.

The omens were there in the team selection. With the standard of international teams in Europe rising all the time, there aren't too many opportunities to take risks with team selections. But, against weaker opposition at home, there surely should be some spirit of adventure in the way you approach the game.

Over the years Irish teams have managed to earn a reputation for Lansdowne Road as one of the most difficult places in international football to come and claim a result, a place where teams expect to have to really dig in and hope for the best. But yesterday we played into our opposition's hands by selecting two defensive players to take up the vital wing back roles and squandering the talent of Roy Keane in the centre of defence.

Keane is arguably one of the most talented players in Europe and has an ability to make things happen at any level of the game. His enthusiasm, running ability and his clear leadership qualities all combine to make him a central part of any side. Against a side like Iceland, he could surely have been more productively employed in a more aggressive role.

Had he been slotted into midfield, then a far more positive approach could have been taken with Jason McAteer freed up to play wide on the right - a position he has excelled in with Liverpool.

As it was, we had to rely on Jeff Kenna to create openings on the right and the problem was that, while both he and Denis Irwin are fine players, neither has shown any great gift for taking on and beating opponents. Neither is asked to do it on a week to week level by their clubs.

Generally, the whole approach was terribly negative which, against a side like Romania, would have been disappointing to see in Dublin. But against Iceland it was a costly tactical miscalculation.

Ian Harte, who is one of the most naturally left sided players that we possess these days, would have given the side more balance had he been included from the outset; Irwin could still have been accommodated in a role which would have suited him, at the heart of the defence where he could read the game and mop up whatever difficulties arose.

As it was, Roy Keane did everything in that role that could have been asked of him, but against an Icelandic side that hardly posed any real threat and rarely displayed much ambition to do so, it was all too easy for a player of his ability.

In Keane's absence, the midfield looked stale and devoid of ideas about how to get the better of a packed but hardly inspiring defence. Throughout virtually the whole game we enjoyed the lion's share of possession and yet we could only seem to think of one thing to do feed it through the centre for Tony Cascarino and David Kelly.

It didn't take long for our visitors to figure out what was happening and as soon as they started to pull everybody back to block that channel things started to dry up for our front runners.

Early on both of them looked full of running - and things, briefly, seemed promising, but they rarely saw any quality ball come their way and had to make do with whatever scraps reached them in a constantly packed penalty area.

On a better day perhaps one of them would have turned a half chance into a match winning goal, but yesterday it wasn't to be. There was virtually no threat of the required strike coming from the players behind them.

In normal circumstances it is possible for the bulk of a team to compensate for a couple of poor performances from individuals, but that didn't seem to happen yesterday.

More worrying for the long term, there was a marked absence of an identifiable plan as to how to play against a team made up of mediocre players who didn't really want to play with us and who must have been surprised at just how easily they were allowed to stick to their game plan.

There were, of course, problems for Mick McCarthy yesterday in that he didn't have a full squad of players to pick from. Particularly badly missed yesterday were Steve Staunton and Ray Houghton, whose perception and ability to run with the ball would have proven a valuable asset. The return of Houghton, whose passing and creativity in the face of packed defences was particularly noticeable by its absence, will be especially important for the games against Macedonia and Romania in the new year.

The decision to hand Houghton that more central role has given him a new lease of life, because there is less pressure on him to run at or beat players, while his passing ability is such that he is able to create a great deal for those around him. That aspect of his game was certainly missed yesterday.

Another man who will, we hope, be available in Macedonia is Jason McAteer, although he is somewhat fortunate not to be facing suspension after his performance in this game. The referee had just cause on several occasions to caution the Liverpool player.

For his manager, meanwhile, there is plenty of time for reflection on what went wrong in this game. Doubtless, Mick McCarthy will sit down and watch this game a few times between now and April and, when the time comes for him to name a side for the game in Macedonia, I would imagine we will see the results of that reflection in the form of personnel changes and perhaps a perceptible shift in the way he asks his men to approach their task.