Looking at the remainder of our programme in this group, there's little doubt that we have to win this evening's game against Yugoslavia. Even taking that into account, though, I'm not so sure that I would have been as adventurous in my team selection as Mick McCarthy has been against a team with so many talented individuals.
There are not many places in the line-up where there is what you might describe as a genuine dilemma for the Ireland coach. In defence, he could have played Steve Carr on the right side, Denis Irwin on the left and started with Steve Staunton on the bench, but against such strong opposition it is hard to fault him for going with his more experienced combination.
Wide in midfield, though, McCarthy hasn't been nearly so cautious and while there are obviously players missing and others whose fitness he may not be able to rely on, the selection of Kevin Kilbane to play on the left and Mark Kennedy on the right looks like a bold gamble.
The problem isn't really with the individuals at all. Kennedy is having a wonderful start to the new season with Manchester City and Kevin Kilbane has also performed well for West Bromwich Albion since the summer. The problem is simply that neither player is genuinely a midfielder, they are both wingers and, these days, I can't think of a single other European national team that plays with two wingers.
Up front, we have the potential to cause even some very good Yugoslav defenders considerable problems. Robbie Keane is in the sort of form at the moment which will have him thinking that he can score against anybody from anywhere. If you are a striker playing as well as he has been since moving to Coventry a couple of weeks ago, you get the feeling that every time you get the ball inside the box, you are likely to stick it in the net and that is a wonderful feeling to go into an important game with.
Beside him Niall Quinn is a player with the experience and know-how to threaten the visiting goalkeeper and send plenty of decent ball in the direction of his striking partner. In the past, we have all too often settled into hammering the ball upfield to Quinn and, when he is being marked by quality centre halves, that simply isn't fair to him or good enough for the team generally, but if players can get into good, deep, wide positions and float crosses in then Quinn will be a constant thorn in the side of Vujadin Boskov's back four and goalkeeper.
All of which, of course, would tend to support the decision to play with two wide men. Unfortunately Yugoslavia are far from toothless themselves. They have strong players throughout the side, individuals capable of winning games with moments of brilliance, and a team with the potential to really turn it on for 15 minutes or so and, during that time, wrap the match up.
As a team they are not always the most unified and, talented as their many individuals are, I honestly believe that if we can dictate the game from early on they may well not have the will to pull hard together in order to get something out of it. But, particularly with two dedicated wingers, that is simply what we must do or we are likely to be in trouble from very early in the game.
Neither Kennedy nor Kilbane, even if playing as a wing back in the English first division has taught him something about his duties in this department, can be expected to contribute much defensively and the two strikers are hardly going to win much ball for the team.
That means that there is going to be a considerable amount of pressure on the back four and the central midfield unit to hold off the counter attacks and feed the ball out wide. On the face of it, most of the players in question may well be up to the task but the fact is that, with this line-up, McCarthy is going to need several of the young players who he has invested so much in over the last couple of years to play at least as well as they ever have done before in an Irish jersey.
Things aren't helped either by the fact that Kilbane and Kennedy are both, for my money, a little too quick to give possession away. Losing the ball cheaply at this level can be very costly. In the circumstances, I would have thought that an extra midfielder would have been a wise precaution. McCarthy is not exactly spoilt for choice just now with Jason McAteer, the most obvious choice, unavailable and both Gary Kelly and Jeff Kenna only just back from injury.
Still, he does have a couple of options, most notably Lee Carsley, whose presence might have gone a good way towards steadying the ship in the centre. With three more rounded midfielders, Kennedy could have been played on the left where he would not have had to cut inside nearly so much in order to get his crosses in.
Virtually untapped at club level over the past few years, Kennedy is probably on the sort of high just now that will allow him to contribute for at least an hour or so flat out before he really starts to feel the effects of his recent schedule. If not the Manchester City player, then Kilbane could also have contributed a good deal as the only winger in a slightly more cautious approach.
As it is, McCarthy has decided to gamble and for that, I suppose, we must applaud him and simply hope that it all works out for him.
If we win this game then we are in quite a strong position with three away games to come, but a defeat immediately before Saturday's clash with the best team in the group in Zagreb and we would then appear to be in a scrap for second place.
A draw, though, would keep us in the hunt, even if it would require us to perform very well in those three remaining games. It's clearly not what McCarthy is sending his men out there to play for this evening, but it may well be what he ends up having to settle for.
(In an interview with Emmet Malone)
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