A chance for redemption then. After our defeat at Celtic Park back in November, I questioned whether our midfielder players – Jeff Hendrick and Darron Gibson – had clarity over who they should be marking in the Scottish side.
Steven Naismith, consistently outstanding for Scotland and Everton, was given scant respect and duly prospered. He played as a deep-lying striker, and our centre backs Richard Keogh and John O'Shea were tasked with dealing with his clever movement between the attacking lines.
Despite Naismith being a key figure in impressive Scotland performances away to Germany and Scotland, the Irish team seemed bereft of a plan to deal with his or Shaun Maloney’s positioning.
I remembered all this when reading Aiden McGeady’s comments last Tuesday. He believed Ireland had the better players that night but Scotland were the better team – they looked more comfortable in possession and knew what they were doing.
Surely after more than two weeks together and two matches against similar types of football teams, this Ireland squad, under Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, will have a plan to avoid a similar situation. And the players will know the game plan inside out. Put simply, this plan must have a structure and shape and correct personnel to nullify Scotland's best attacking options.
More importantly our dominant figures must impose their will on the game.
Unfortunately for O’Neill his selections and plans have scarcely worked apart from periods against weak Georgia and awful Gibraltar. It cannot be ignored that only very late goals against Georgia, Germany and Poland have rescued five points. So, no more confusion please.
We don’t want to hear about McGeady asking coach Steve Guppy in the dressing room what position he was playing, as happened against Germany in October, only to discover it was an unfamiliar central role against the world champions. That wasn’t the only problem but it is a serious concern
Set-piece responsibilities
Once again, it seems, the starting XI for will be held back until the players are sitting under the Aviva stand. That’s too late in my opinion. Precise set-piece responsibilities should not be happening a few minutes before kick-off.
Repetition must be the cornerstone of preparation if an international side is to attain the familiarity of club teams. I haven’t seen this yet in O’Neill’s Ireland.
Pattern and organisation is not going to win this match, it could lose it. No, it’s the pace and tempo that will have that same frantic life of its own, as we saw in Glasgow. Scotland won that battle hands down. Aggressive tackling, crisp passing and greater presence than your direct opponent – and you know who he is – will decide this meeting.
Simple, feral stuff.
If O'Shea and Marc Wilson are joined by Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady in the Irish back four then the main Scottish focus will be to expose Brady's lack of experience. Brady did fine against Phil Jones and Raheem Stirling last week, so while it's a risk his other qualities make it worth the risk.
Still, O’Shea and Wilson cannot allow any slackness through the middle. Wilson makes a mistake in every game. Even against Gibraltar he almost gifted them a goal. Wayne Rooney let him off the hook the other day but against Poland his failure to deal with Brady’s short pass allowed Maciej Rybus dispossess him and set up Slawomir Peszko for the goal.
Scotland rattled our back four eight months ago.
Battering rams
Whether it’s long balls forward with O’Neill opting for the battering rams of
Shane Long
and
Jon Walters
or the subtlety of
Wes Hoolahan
behind one of them, the service offered to Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick last Sunday must be greatly improved.
Either way it’s imperative our attacking play has the variety we saw in the second half against Poland. Decent link play between Hoolahan, Glenn Whelan and James McCarthy or long balls testing the Scottish back four. This should also allow Coleman and Brady to get forward.
That’s how Long’s equaliser came against the Poles.
Hoolahan staying on the pitch, switching to three different positions, indicates that O’Neill is starting to believe in him. That it was his header to set up Long’s goal may have surprised some but it was all about the intelligence of his run to the back post off Brady’s corner.
I feel Wes's ability to bring others into the game should see him start – and finish – this game. Yes, his lack of physicality remains an issue. It's why he sometimes gets left out of teams. He does get knocked off the ball but the smallest players on the Scotland team were their most effective in our last meeting. Hoolahan starting leaves no room for Robbie Keane in the team.
Walters can and has functioned productively on the right, while helping Coleman with Ikechi Anya, which means Long starts up front leaving room for either James McClean or McGeady.
I felt McGeady was courageous in the face of some vicious abuse at Celtic Park. He had Ireland’s best attempt on goal. He overplayed the ball at times but I felt he did well that night. Still, tough call. McClean made a genuine impact off the bench against Poland and England.
Who knows what Martin comes up with? Let’s just hope he gets it right.
We are not playing an exceptional team. Gordon Strachan has fielded teams with a coherent shape that get results. They play with a familiar spirit. The first meeting was decided by a well rehearsed set-piece goal. That would do nicely for us.
