Still angry about Yerevan? Anger is better than disinterest. That could come next. The FAI should fear an apathetic public above everything else.
It should force them into action.
Ruthless steps will be needed to stop the downward spiral under Heimir Hallgrímsson if Ireland suffer a heavy defeat in Portugal and fail to soundly beat Armenia at the Aviva on Tuesday.
If three points cannot be secured from these World Cup qualifiers, the manager should go. On the spot. If not, he should be pushed. Let John O’Shea see out the campaign. Start again.
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At least this time Marc Canham will be nowhere near the recruitment process of the next manager.
Plans should be in motion to make sure Ireland qualify for Euro 2028. The squad deserve a head coach who does not need three months to get up to speed with the players as Hallgrímsson required last year.
Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Stephen Bradley are the obvious candidates. But that’s a conversation for next week or next month, unless the team pulls a result from the fire in Lisbon.
The stakes remain high – reputations are on the line for the coaches and the players.
It feels like all the problems Irish football has experienced over the past six or seven years are manifesting themselves in the men’s senior team.
The players are struggling to cope. Fear gripped them in early September, well before the flight to Armenia.
It’s their calling card now. Overwhelming nervousness that disguises their ability, stymies their talent.
They seem frozen by realistic expectations. From Nathan Collins the skipper to his centre-half partner Dara O’Shea, fear seeped through the group. What other reason can explain all the individual errors last month?
I swear I could see it in the players eyes before kick-off against Hungary. Especially the leaders.
The anger being directed at the team since losing in Armenia is definitely better than disinterest. They should know that. And there is plenty of anger reserved for what now looks like Hallgrímsson’s short stint in Irish football.
Gallingly, he tried to sell the Hungary result as a positive. The 2-2 draw was a lucky point. The first half display was worse than anything that followed in Yerevan.
One-nil down inside two minutes. Two-nil after 15 minutes. It should have been 3-0 by half-time only Barnabas Varga missed a sitter.
Ireland only salvaged a point after Hungary were reduced to 10 men, with hit-and-hope balls into the box from their most creative players – Ryan Manning and Jake O’Brien.
Unless something completely unexpected happens against Portugal, Hallgrímsson is a lame duck for the rest of the campaign.
He talked a good game, overpromising to an embarrassing extent by saying Ireland can become the best set piece side in Europe and that we were going to qualify for the World Cup. His efforts at manifestation have left morale on the floor. After 14 months in charge, his team failed to perform when it mattered.
I also read his comments about the importance of throw-ins to create chances against Portugal. There was no evidence in Armenia that the players had practised throw-ins. There was no evidence that Ireland were the better team.
Clearly, the players need a sports psychologist. The fact that Hallgrímsson was given a budgetary choice of a fitness expert or a psychologist, and he choose the former, tells us everything we need to know about the people running Irish football in between Canham – who was out of his depth – and his newly appointed successor John Martin.
This is a ridiculous debate to be having. Over the past 20 years, no serious sports team or individual athlete in Ireland has operated without psychological support.
My career would’ve been better served by access to one from a young age. My ceiling as a player would’ve had a sky light to climb through.
Instead, right now, a frazzled Ireland must white knuckle through Portugal’s first match at home since Diogo Jota’s tragic death and avoid abject humiliation when Armenia come to Dublin.
The FAI are so out of touch I worry that the men’s team will never recover from the current slump. They have turned to Shamrock Rovers – the actual flag bearers of Irish football – by hiring their former CEO as the director of football.
The latest PR gaffe was calmed by Martin telling Hallgrímsson that a sports psychologist is imminent. Do you trust them to identify and hire the correct person?
Another issue with Hallgrímsson is the narrative he pushed last month after naming a squad packed with club captains like Josh Cullen and Dara O’Shea, yet now he is trying to sell the importance of recalling veteran leaders in Séamus Coleman and John Egan. He is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
I do think Séamus and John were worth selecting as, along with Troy Parrott, they will enhance the mood in camp. They are unbroken by Yerevan. Still, the hotel must be a grim place at the moment.
Coleman’s words will carry weight even if O’Brien keeps him out of the team.
I’d start them both. There is no way the 10 outfield players who failed to perform in Yerevan deserve another chance as Hallgrímsson has suggested.
I’ve been down this road in a green shirt. Similar to the draw with the Czech Republic in 2006, a few days after the humiliating 5-2 loss in Cyprus, we’ll see the players who are desperate to atone for Armenia.
Note the absentees. Parrott and Evan Ferguson turned up even though they are carrying knocks. Other players will not be up for this fight. I imagine that’s why John O’Shea pushed for the return of Séamus. Ireland don’t need leaders in Lisbon, they need warriors like Coleman.
Remarkably, the fans have not abandoned the team. The FAI have sold 40,000 tickets for the Aviva on Tuesday. The players should know that this sort of loyalty is highly unusual. It won’t last forever.
