Roy Keane downplays ‘must win’ chatter ahead Poland tie

It might just have something to do with the ill will that marked the closing stages of his last press conference but sit-down privileges with Ireland’s assistant manager have, it seems, been suspended. And whether there will be a resumption of what the press corps would fondly regard as “normal service” remains to be seen.

Yesterday’s encounter took place at the Aviva Stadium which, of course, boasts a fairly decent room intended for just this type of occasion.

However, despite the heightened interest that always accompanies one of Roy Keane’s media engagements, the former Manchester United skipper fielded questions in what is commonly, though slightly kindly, known as the “mixed zone”, which, as it happens, was not designed for any such purpose at all.

The location, combined with Keane’s uncharacteristic determination to knock back any question not directly related to the matter in hand – Sunday’s game against Poland – ensured it never took off in anything like the way his events can.

Painfully pedestrian

If most press conferences connected with the game today are painfully pedestrian, Keane’s almost always come with a good deal more intensity. There is little room for doubt with regard to his estimation of those asking the questions, but the odd scathing facial expression aside, he takes what is actually asked seriously, as is evidenced by his consistently considered responses.

He seemed to do his best within the limitations of yesterday’s encounter, but when confining himself to the likes of injury news, the need for players to learn from last time and the atmosphere inside the Aviva, even Keano sounds very much like any other number two.

Darron Gibson, he said, hadn’t trained and within a few hours the Everton midfielder had returned to his club in order to focus on getting his groin problem sorted out in time for the game against Southampton on Saturday week.

Touch and go

Stephen Ward

, he admitted, “will be touch and go”, while

Glenn Whelan

and

Robbie Brady

again played a full part in training, with Keane sounding at this stage like he does not have too much doubt about their ability to be involved against Poland.

“If Robbie and Glenn start the game on Sunday, I wouldn’t be worried about their lack of football – you’ve got to trust the players to a certain degree. The argument sometimes is that players play too much football, so you can’t win.

“Either they’re playing too much or not enough, start of the season they’re not fit or end of the season they’re tired – so I wouldn’t over-analyse all that side of it. All we can gauge is when they’re here with us and, as usual, they’ve trained no problem.”

A few metres away, Wes Hoolahan wandered past, on the way in from training, limping a little it seemed, which prompted some concern. "I think he's okay," said Keane, a little dismissively. "There are places up for grabs and players will get knocks in training, it's not chess we're playing. He'll be okay."

The Norwich player, O’Neill once suggested, was the sort he was more likely to use at home and the need to take three points on Sunday would appear to lend a bit of weight to his cause but Keane is reluctant, he says, to get into talking about having to win any particular game.

Manager’s attitude

“I’m always wary of that ‘must win’ stuff. Your attitude before you go into any game of football, I don’t care what part of the season it is, you want to win the game. Nobody ever goes in saying they want a draw but afterwards you might think, ‘listen, a draw wasn’t that bad’, so we can’t afford to lose it but our mindset is, trust me, the manager’s attitude is that we’re going to try to win every game of football, of course, that’s in our DNA.”

Sadly, we have been searching for some time for the “beating big teams in a competitive game” gene which last manifested itself back in the days when Keane himself was playing.

Amongst the team’s supporters, only a handful of really diehard McCarthyites, perhaps, wouldn’t swap any of the current crew to have him back out there again, running the midfield show again and the 43-year-old suggested that he’d jump at the opportunity to be more centrally involved if only it could somehow be presented.

It is, he said, the sort of game he would like to play in rather than watch from the sidelines. “I can’t tackle anyone, can I?” he said with a smile.

Retain the ball

In response to one question, he mentions set-pieces as an area for possible improvement, then seems surprised when somebody asks if there are others. “Where do I start?” he asks. “You’d want to be more of a goal threat. To retain the ball a bit better. Every aspect of the game; you’re always trying to improve.

“I would say that after most games. That’s not just focussing on the Scotland game. [Although] when you look at the goal that we gave away, there has to be lessons to be learned.

“But the reason we’re in the game is that you’re always learning, you’re always trying to improve. And we’ll have to improve on our last few performances to get a result on Sunday.”