Nov 17,2024
Heimir Hallgrimsson will have his side primed for battle from the opening exchanges as Ireland take on England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening, (kick-off 5pm).
Ireland's Nations League campaign comes to a close with third place locked in, while their opponents will be gunning for a victory that would see them promoted back to the top tier of the competition.
The manager had bemoaned the fact that Ireland have been slow to start certain games, citing the away game in Greece last month as an example, where his side only got going after conceding to the hosts early in the second half.
And Hallgrimsson knows that such is the quality of the England outfit that a similar scenario could prove fatal in terms of extracting a result from the final fixture.
The manager is wary of lightning striking twice against Lee Carsley’s side after an early goal in the return game in September proved too tough a task for Ireland, with England soon adding another and easing through the second half for a very comfortable victory.
But this time, he is hopeful that his team can remain competitive and eventually exploit some of the weaknesses that he has identified in his opponents' armour.
"Of course, we know what kind of threat England gives us and if we are not ready from the first minute, they will punish us," said Hallgrimsson, when asked how vital it was that his team are immediately comfortable, both tactically and in formation.
"It kind of happened in Dublin; they made a pass through the centre of our team, easy goal.
"It’s a team that if we give them a chance they will probably take it. They have such an attacking quality in that team, but there are weaknesses as well, so we are going to try to exploit them."
Ireland opted to train in Dublin this morning before flying out to London on Saturday afternoon, arriving at the stadium to walk the pitch earlier this evening.
And Hallgrimsson reported a clean bill of health ahead of the game, with Jason Knight the only absentee, as the midfielder was ruled out through suspension.
Charlton’s Conor Coventry has been drafted into the squad and offers options in the engine room in Knight’s absence.
"Everyone trained today in Dublin, and Conor is a like-for-like player to Jason. We talked about him in earlier press conferences that he was close, and he is playing well," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the pre-match press conference at Wembley.
"We know it is League One, but he is playing really well, and I think he’s ready to play at a higher stage. He’s a really consistent performer, really good on the ball. Little more of a defensive midfielder compared to Jason."
Hallgrimsson believes his side could play with a little more freedom in a game that England must win, and as a result he feels that the pressure is on the home side.
"We go like all our games to try to win, but it is of course a little relief knowing we’re not playing for a position, so I think the pressure on England in this game, they need to win game to win the group.
"Obviously, they don’t belong in Group B, as one of the best teams in the world. Of course, they should be in Group A."
Harry Kane is expected to start, having been left out of the starting XI for Thursday’s 3-0 victory over Greece, but it comes as no great shock to the Ireland manager.
"We kind of expected him to play this game because he played less in the previous one," said Hallgrimsson.
"He plays in certain way, likes to link up, come deep, a little bit of different striker than some of the others."
Going into the game the manager feels that his side have made progress since the last time the two sides met in September, and he sees this game as a dress rehearsal ahead of the vital World Cup campaign where it will be essential to take points from the higher-ranked nations.
"I’m quite happy, the second camp was really good even though we didn’t win the game against Greece, we played well, especially in the second half. And even though they had domination in the first half, we didn’t concede, and that is something we need to build on.
"So good progress, I would say. Of course I’m biased. Hopefully, we can show that tomorrow, that we will play better, more organised, more compact than we were in Dublin.
"If we want to qualify, we know we will have two nations above us in the FIFA rankings, two seeded teams above us, and if we want to qualify we need points against the big nations at home or away," he added.
"So this is a good dress rehearsal for that campaign that starts in September."
