Return to old system could restore morale

IT ONLY takes a momentary glance at the Group Eight table to see just how desperate our World Cup qualifying plight has become. After all the talk about how Romania were a team in decline and would be vulnerable to our sort of approach they appear to be charging towards automatic qualification. We, however, have allowed ourselves to become embroiled in a battle for second place and a play-off spot.

It is certainly a disappointing position to be in as we head towards the toughest game of our campaign. Mick McCarthy has clearly signalled just how alarmed he has become by the whole situation with his announcement that he intends to depart from his beloved 3-5-2 formation.

Time and again the Irish manager has said that he would never give in to the pressure to alter his tactics, that this was the way he wanted to play and that the players would have to become accustomed to it.

Now, it seems, things have changed and we find ourselves talking about the prospect of a more defensive formation with either four at the back and just one striker or a return to the formation so closely associated with McCarthy's predecessor. Can McCarthy really swallow so much of what he has said publicly since taking over from Jack Charlton by playing 4-4-2?

It wouldn't appear so yet - although personally I wouldn't be at all disappointed to see him do it for there have been clear problems with the system he has been using so far. Despite playing numerous different players in different positions in the hope of finding a combination that works, in the last couple of competitive matches matters have only seemed to be growing worse.

Central to the team's difficulties, of course, is not so much the system as the way the players are putting it into practice. The cost of its adoption seems to have been a loss of the sort of cutting edge that made other teams, teams that on paper were often considerably stronger than us, worry about how they were going to cope.

If a return to the formation more traditionally associated with the team over the past decade helped to restore that missing spirit, then on those grounds alone it would be well justified.

The other point is that it is important for big games to have our best players employed in their best positions and that can happen to a greater extent when we play in the way that most of the players have grown used to.

In this game it would have the advantage of allowing our two strikers to hinder the forward movement of three or even four defenders. They would, of course, have to work hard to do it but that is what our teams were famed for.

At the same time there is no need to revert to the long ball tactics, for there is nothing about playing 4-4-2 that necessarily rules out playing a flowing, passing game. With players like Denis Irwin and Gary Kelly as full backs and a midfield comprising Mark Kennedy, Andy Townsend, Keane and Ray Houghton there is no reason why we shouldn't play some pretty stuff while also causing teams some problems.

On this occasion, though, it seems that McCarthy will persist with playing five men across the middle He has said that it will allow him to employ three attackers when we are in possession but, in reality, what it means is that we will have a broad defensive shield in front of our back four with a lone striker hoping to snatch something against a team that has yet to concede a goal in the group.

In those circumstances it would seem that Jon Goodman is the only real option up front for only he shows anything approaching the combination of strength, speed and touch that the role requires.

Sending out Tony Cascarino and David Connolly together in a two-man strike force might have some impact. Individually, however, neither would be capable of troubling a talented Romanian team who would relish the opportunity to pick up so much possession at the back.

In midfield the return of Houghton is particularly welcome for the perceptiveness of his passing gives us something a little special that no other Irish player possesses at the moment. He is, it must be admitted, running out of legs at this stage in his career but even now his strengths at this level far outweigh his weaknesses. It is worth assigning those around him additional responsibilities in order to allow him to play the way that suits him.

Playing just one attacker still seems to be asking a great deal of him and his fellow midfielders, however, and it will be the most industrious display from any Irish team in quite some time if this evening's game leads to any more than a single point.

Even that would not be too disastrous for any sort of result here might give McCarthy and his players the sort of platform they need to rebuild their confidence. The presence of his most experienced players, including Steve Staunton, in the dressing room will help to achieve it and the fact that there are so many games against weak sides to be played will give the players a sense that there is still something to be salvaged out of this group.

Whether we can salvage it remains to be seen but second place is still very much there for the taking over the coming months. Starting this evening, if we can produce a bit of form to win a play-off spot then McCarthy will lead a far more confident team into a situation in which anything is possible.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)