Oct 13,2024
Heimir Hallgrimsson wants his side to pick up where they left off in Helsinki and start Sunday's game against Greece on the front foot.
A spirited finish in Finland resulted in Robbie Brady crashing home the winning goal following some excellent work from Festy Ebosele, and the manager believes that Ireland are at their best when they play on the front foot.
Moments of hesitation and indecision, coupled with low confidence levels, led to some tough times for Ireland to overcome in Thursday night’s match, however, they battled hard and took the three points to kickstart their Nations League campaign.
And now Hallgrimsson is hoping that his side can maintain that momentum as they look to overturn last month’s 2-0 home defeat to Greece when the sides meet at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
In team news, Mark McGuinness was unable to prove his fitness, having injured his ankle in training on Wednesday and the defender has returned to his club, but otherwise the manager said that everyone else was available for selection.
"Mark McGuinness is not ready to play so we decided with Luton just to send him home," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the pre-match press conference at the stadium.
"We expected him to be ready for this game and it’s not like a big injury, he will most definitely make it for Luton at the weekend. And just for the club’s sake as well, we decided to send him home and decided not to bring in a player at such short notice.
"Otherwise, everyone is fit and ready. Normally, a win will win recover you a bit quicker than not. Everyone is ready and wants to play this game.
"The players know themselves, it’s talking to the players, whether they are ready to go again, it’s the numbers as well, that we will look at," added the manager, when asked if he needed to make changes on the back of the tough game on Thursday.
"A mix of professional opinion, personal opinion and then the coaches will decide what is best for the team. It’s a mix of everything, just having a good, honest discussion with the players on what is best to play against Greece."
Looking back at the Finland clash, the manager wants to ensure that his side have learned from some periods of poor play and bring real conviction into the Athens encounter.
"There were some moments in the game where we didn’t play well and we need to reduce these moments where we don’t play on our front foot," said Hallgrimsson.
"Ireland play their best when we play on the front foot, when they are organised, when they can fight, when they can take duels, when they play forward, I feel that is our best moments.
"Our structure… you know hesitation is not the Irish team’s strength. You just need to find ways to improve those things, being organised, being more solid, or consistent in what we are doing.
"I feel like we are taking steps, coaches always like to take big steps, but in reality it’s small steps and being more focused on what we need to improve. And just take decisions quicker, and react quicker to the decisions."
The Icelander is also hoping that his side are starting to develop the trait of being difficult to play against, citing the Finland team as an example, who he felt were predictable, yet very tough to face.
"I really don’t care if we are easy to analyse, if we are difficult to play against," said the manager.
"I said that about Finland. Finland is a pretty easy team to analyse, they are consistent in what they are doing, they are just good at it and that is why they are difficult to play against.
"I would like us to be a team like that, that people hate to play against."
The team have only had one training session to prepare for this clash with the group leaders, after making the long trip south from Helsinki on Friday, however, Hallgrimsson said that the victory has helped to recharge the players’ batteries and is convinced that they will be ready to go on Sunday night.
"We’ve got a squad – staff included – full of people who want to win games," said the manager.
"That goes without saying, but the way you win games is in details and a lot of smaller parts that you have to make sure you get right to earn the right to win games.
"We did that on Thursday, we know we have to prepare right and be ready to go. Coming off the back of a win it’s always a bit easier to reboot the energy."
On a more sombre note, Hallgrimsson is expecting emotions to be high in Athens as the home side are still coming to terms with the death of defender George Baldock, who they paid tribute to after beating England at Wembley on Thursday, and the Irish manager also offered his condolences.
"I think it will increase their togetherness," said Hallgrimsson. "Moments like this just brings, not only them, people together and makes you realise life is more than football.
"I am a little bit connected to this because he played for my hometown club (IBV) back in Iceland when he was 18. He played a season there.
"We of course give condolences to his family and everyone around. I think they will be the same team, maybe more emotions. If that’s good or bad we will see tomorrow."
