Everything about the performance against Armenia on Tuesday night was unfamiliar. I cannot remember an Ireland team being so “passive”, so “nervy” – the manager’s words – and so defensively minded when faced by a minnow of world football in a must-win World Cup qualifier.
Ireland sat in against Armenia and invited them to attack us, at home.
I’ve never known an Irish side, even at its lowest point, to collectively agree that it was a good idea to start with a back five and two defensive midfielders against such poor opposition.
Despite the noise coming from the Ireland camp, Armenia are ranked 103rd in the world for good reason. They would be ranked lower, only they beat Ireland in Yerevan last month.
READ MORE
What was the point of the past 13 months?
The Ireland manager has abandoned his own formation. Since Heimir Hallgrímsson took over after the 2-0 loss to England at the Aviva in September 2024, when he admitted to not knowing the players well enough to pick the team or formation, he reintroduced a back four with two attacking midfielders playing off Evan Ferguson.
It worked well enough to beat Finland and Bulgaria before everything unravelled in Yerevan.
Hallgrímsson, by what he did next, only deepened the fear and passivity that has gripped a young squad.
The decision to overlook Séamus Coleman in September, with Matt Doherty, Jake O’Brien and Jimmy Dunne called up to cover right back, was a disastrous miscalculation that proves the manager does not know his players well enough to be in charge.
The selection of Killian Philips over Jayson Molumby last month only re-enforces my view.
Festy Ebosele was arguably Ireland’s most effective attacking weapon this past year. He can be unplayable down the right wing. But Hallgrímsson said that Ebosele’s lack of game time for Istanbul Başakşehir and Coleman being benched at Everton behind O’Brien were valid reasons to leave them out of the group.
These decisions severely damaged the campaign from the off. The fact that Coleman, Ebosele and Molumby came straight back into the team last weekend, ahead of players such as Kasey McAteer and Jack Taylor, is further evidence that the manager’s judgement is unreliable.
Coleman, when fit, plays for Ireland. I trusted the Irish coaches had more information to hand. But now Séamus is openly saying he was fit and ready to go in September.
I’d believe Coleman.
Honestly, and I don’t say this lightly or with any satisfaction, but this has not worked out. We’re trying to survive games rather than going out to compete in them.
I am continually frustrated by Hallgrímsson trying to frame the 2-2 draw with Hungary last month as a positive performance. It was worse than what we witnessed against Armenia.
It set the tone.
Ireland only picked up their four points in the campaign after Hungary’s Rolland Salai and Armenian captain Tigran Barseghyan completely lost their heads and got sent off.
That is why Ireland are not rooted to the bottom of Group F without a single point – the unprofessional behaviour of opposing players.
The 5-4-1 approach was revived for Portugal on Saturday. We’ve seen it employed before when John O’Shea was interim manager and under Stephen Kenny.
At Crystal Palace, the Ireland assistant coach Paddy McCarthy coaches a back five every day.
The plan to secure a 0-0 result in Lisbon fell just short after Coleman was replaced by John Egan and Ruben Neves scored Portugal’s late winner.
Inexplicably, Hallgrímsson retained the same cautious approach for a game against a country that Ireland should never fear. By sticking to a back five with two defensive midfielders against Armenia, Ireland raised the white flag in this World Cup campaign. We should never sit back and defend in a must-win game at home.
This is a dangerous road for the Ireland team to go down. If fans and players accept these tactics from the head coach we are moving in the wrong direction.
I’m hearing excuses such as “passive” and “nervy” for over a year now. Hallgrímsson was brought in to fix these established problems.
Most of us know that the people who recruited him were the wrong crowd to be running Irish football. And we all know how long it took and how many people were interviewed before they settled upon an Icelander coaching in Jamaica.
Scrambling for results when Hungary and Armenia have been reduced to 10 men is not an “Irish performance” – the latest catchphrase being offered by the camp.
Far from it.
The Ireland men’s football team have become passive observers of their own descent into mediocrity. My fear is it could get worse.
Confidence is approaching an all-time low. Portugal come next in Dublin, needing a result to win the group. Batten down the hatches to secure a scoreless draw? Fine. But then what? Go to Budapest needing to beat Hungary having not played any attacking football for the entire campaign?
I was an Ireland player for plenty of tough days, but I have never known the team to be too afraid to play a country such as Armenia off the pitch. Our pitch. Lansdowne Road.
It was an incredibly tough watch. The players need to take control of their own destiny.
