Having been a bit part player in Derby County's faltering start to the new Championship campaign when he arrived for international duty a month ago, Cyrus Christie
is on something of a high as he prepares for Ireland’s games against Germany and Poland.
Since he scored on his competitive international debut against Gibraltar, Christie has become a County regular again, as they have hit an impressive run of form – played five, won four, drawn one and conceded just two.
Germany, will provide an altogether different test but if the 23-year-old is concerned by the scale of the challenge potentially in store for him, he doesn’t let it show.
“They’ve got an impressive squad,” he said with somewhat laid-back understatement. “They didn’t win the World Cup for nothing.
“So it’s going to be a tough test but in those games, there is no pressure on you. There is more pressure on them.”
His manager might, at this point, want to sit down and show him the Group D table but, then again, he might not, for Christie’s quiet confidence regarding prospects is probably a good thing in a player that has rediscovered the knack of winning games of late.
“If we defend well and play well anything can happen,” he insists. “You saw what happened last time when John O’Shea popped up with the equaliser. On any given day anything can happen and hopefully we can come away with a win.”
Christie is well placed to play on Thursday given Séamus Coleman’s hamstring problem and the likely need to deploy David Meyler elsewhere. It is clearly a prospect he is taken with although he admits that there is a balance to be struck.
Play with confidence
“You can’t enjoy it too much,” he said, “you have to go out there, relax and play with confidence; that’s what the lads will go out there and do.
“You need to prove that you can go out there and play against the best, that’s where you want to be.
“You look at the teams they [the Germans] are playing at, they’re at the highest level and that’s where you want to get to.
“So you have to go out and prove . . . you can play at the highest level but the lads are more than capable of going out there and proving themselves.”
Christie’s preparations have been disrupted by an injury of his own with a minor hip problem that reoccurred at the weekend threatening his availability slightly although the bigger issue, he said, is Coleman.
“I just take it day by day really,” he said. “You never know. His injury could progress well and he could be back in. But we’re all professionals.
“You prepare for the worst and [accept that] anything could happen. He might not be fit and if the gaffer wants me to play I’ll have to be ready. . .”
