What do you make of Eden Hazard’s poor form at Chelsea?
“It can happen but you’ve got to be careful because I don’t know what’s going on at club level with the guy. He’s a talented boy but it does happen; players have dips in form. But he’s still an absolutely dangerous player and he showed a bit of better form before the end of the season for Chelsea. We’ll have to keep an eye on him.”
What about Fellaini?
"I like him. I thought the criticism he had when he went to United was a bit over the top. I think it was just because he came in at the last minute when David Moyes was there and fans were maybe quick to jump on his back. I saw him a few times live when United weren't great and thought he did okay. But he seemed to be the scapegoat for the fans. But we saw him recently scoring some important goals. I like him. I liked him at Everton and I think he's a good player for Man United. The criticism he's had... I think he's more of a scapegoat than anything else, which can happen when a new manager brings in certain players and the new signings get criticism. If anything, they should have been criticising the experienced players at United who weren't helping him out or who weren't helping out the new manager. But that's another story."
To what extent do you allow a player of Hazard’s attacking ability to influence Ireland’s gameplan?
“We’ve got to keep an eye on him. If he’s getting it off their goalkeeper then we’re probably not too worried. But if Hazard’s getting it 30/40 yards from goal…the Italians defended pretty well the other day and we’ll have to defend as well. He’s a quality player. I think ye all know that whatever the criticism the guy’s had... he’d have a chance of getting in our team, I think. He’s a talented boy.”
Is the fairly effective containment of Ibrahimovic a good reference point for dealing with Hazard?
“Nah, nah, he’s a different type of player. I think Hazard is probably more capable of going by people easily, particularly in wide positions, coming in off the wing. Nah, he’s a different animal.”
Man mark him?
“I don’t know; somebody asked me that question. I think those days are over. People don’t even seem to man-mark Ronaldo. Like I said, if he’s going back and getting it off his goalkeeper, you maybe relax a little bit. But like any good player with football intelligence, if you see Hazard getting the ball 30/40 yards from your goal then you’d better get to him.”
Should Belgium be worried about us?
“I’m sure they are.”
Are they on the back foot after the loss to Italy?
“What we’ve said before: if you don’t get anything from your first match, the pressure follows on. But obviously that’s where their manager has to trust the quality he’s got. We can’t spend the next 10/15 minutes worrying about the Belgian camp. We’ve got to look after ourselves. We have to try and get the lads recovered enough. Obviously there will be a change because of the fact we’ve got a player injured. So we’ve enough on our plate without worrying about what Belgium are doing or getting bogged down about how the Italians played. Because the Italians played a lot different to the way we’ll probably play against Belgium.”
Are you worried about battle fatigue?
“No. I think we’ll be okay. There were a lot of things going into the game – a massive build up, you could say six months of build up and lads who haven’t played for a while. It’s the same for all the countries, don’t get me wrong, but particularly for us we’d a lot of lads who hadn’t played for a long time and we were coming off the back of a few injuries in the last few weeks. So I think the game will do us the world of good. It’ll be the same for Belgium.
“Once you’ve got that game under your belt, ask any player, I think mentally when you’ve not played for four, five, six weeks, it’s nice to get that proper, competitive match under your belt. And I think we’ll be better for it. I’m not going the other way thinking we’ll be more tired. If anything, I think we’ll be sharper and better, but the same goes for Belgium.”
What were your emotions at the final whistle the other night?
“Mixed. The usual after a football match. Mixed. I wasn’t down in the dumps, but we weren’t jumping up hugging each other. I think the game panned out the way we thought it would. I felt we played well. Even before the game I had a good feeling; maybe people underestimated us and built Sweden up to be better than what they were. What I enjoyed was that the players looked like they enjoyed being out there; confident in their surroundings, the atmosphere was fantastic, the stadium, the dressing-room; there was just a really good feel to it. And credit to Sweden too and their fans. I think the tournament so far has been fantastic. I know there’s been trouble but from a football point of view it’s been really enjoyable. People are talking about the pressure on Belgium, but there’s huge pressure on us to get a result. That’s what we’re in the game for. It’s great. I’d rather have this pressure than be sitting in the studio.”
Have Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick stepped up to the mark?
“Yes. And they should do. They should enjoy it. It doesn’t always happen, but there’s a good feeling in the group, a good buzz to our preparation. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game of football, but I always felt we had a good chance. And after the game and the days go by you think, ‘yeah, we could have won it, we had the chances’, but then you don’t want to lose the game, you want to have something on the board, you want to have a point going into the next game. So we’re in there fighting and hopefully we’ll be fighting continuing into the game after that.”
Do you like the format of the tournament? Our last game was a dead rubber four years ago.
“Possibly so. But even if it wasn’t the case we’d like to think we’d be in there fighting anyway. You’re not looking for an easy way out, but the way it’s panned out, it’s great to think you’ve got a chance, that you’re in there fighting. It’s not writing the games off. I think that’s great for the supporters as well...and the media and the TV.”
Does it take a little of the early pressure off?
“No, no, no, no, I don’t think so. No. It’s a league table and you want to get your points on board.”
Ciaran Clark has responded well to the setback the other night, have you spoken to him?
“It’s not even crossed my mind. Have you just spoken to him, yeah? Is he okay? Yeah. He didn’t kill anybody. These things happen. Defenders get into positions, a good delivery; you’ve seen that happen in the tournament. But if you hadn’t mentioned him, it wouldn’t even have crossed my mind. He’s a good lad, Clarky. He’s done well for us.”
What areas have room for improvement?
"If you want to look back over the game, there are loads of parts that you can break down and say you need to do better. But that's the game of football; football is about mistakes and how you cope with them. We generally feel that when you're watching the game, your eyes don't lie to you. We had chances and again the players played with a bit of freedom. People are on about Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick. These are hopefully players for the future for Ireland, for the next 10 years, and it's important that when they do come to these tournaments that they embrace it, that they enjoy it. You speak to them and they seem quite happy go lucky guys. Not just them but Seamus Coleman. It's great. I keep saying young Seamus, but he's 27. But you know what I mean - in terms of experience of big occasions. The goalkeeper, Sheasy has done well for all his experience, Glenn Whelan. I thought they have all done well."
Is that lack of experience why we conceded a goal?
“You can analyse that until the cows come home after every game. Could we have done this, could we have changed that earlier, you have to be self critical, that’s why we’re in the game. Or you can sit back and say we did a great job, but if you haven’t actually won the game...”
Was that the greatest frustration, you couldn’t take control of the game at 1-0?
“You have to give credit to Sweden because the momentum changed. We couldn’t quite get the ball back, they had some set pieces and built some pressure. No international team dominates another one for 90 minutes.”
If you had played that game...
“That doesn’t matter. We had experience and when we looked back at the game, we managed a bit better than we though. It’s different when you are watching it live, when you watch the video, the players did well despite the scoreline. I thought the players did well. I don’t think there is an area where we can be critical of anybody. Are there areas we can improve? Of course, but if you speak to any team at the tournament, that’s the name of the game. You have to be self-critical.”
Wes Hoolahan, his late emergence seems to have caught the attention of Europe?
“Maybe so. If you look at Wes’s career, and I wouldn’t say he’s a late developer as such, he hasn’t played that many games at the top level, but he’s always been a talented boy. When Wes scored and played well, we’re not sat on the sidelines scratching our heads. We know what he is capable of doing.”
When did you first become aware of him?
“His goal the other day (laughs). No, probably the last few years at Norwich when he had a bit of success and Paul Lambert was his manager. They had a couple of promotions on the spin. His name might have been mentioned to me before then, but no it was at Norwich under Paul at Norwich. He’s a late developer, 33, 34 but it’s brilliant; he’s coming into a tournament and having a big impact. He’s matured nicely.”
If there is a question mark about Wes it’s playing two games in a few days?
“That might always be something with Wes. When you’re looking at teams during the season, Wes wasn’t always in the starting XI at Norwich and managers know what players they want for a system. They might have some big strong boys and set-pieces comes into it, but if you’re a player like Wes and you’re getting on the ball, that’s what you want.”
And off the ball?
“You can talk all day about what he does off the ball - you can do that with a lots players. “If Wes is giving you that bit of trickery, a bit of composure and obviously his goal was fantastic going forward then, trust me, you don’t talk about the other stuff.”
What have you made of the England hooligans?
“I was watching it and it’s not nice to watch. It’s shocking. The headlines talk about the hooligans, but what about all the people having a great time? I don’t just mean the Ireland fans, you see it with the Swedish fans, Northern Ireland, Wales… I think there has been a lot of positives. It was shocking about the young kid dying from the North. That was shocking. But the Irish fans; everywhere they go they seem to be having a good time and sometimes you wish you were with them.”
Belgium are number two in the world, they were number one. Does that flatter them?
“Put it this way - we don’t discuss that before we go into any game.”
There seems to be teams at this tournament with very high rankings?
“It strange how the Uefa and Fifa rankings pan out but when you walk onto the pitch you don’t think in terms of rankings, you just think of your own performance. We believe if we can play well there’s a good chance we can get a result; if we’re not at it there’s a good chance we’ll get beaten. I think I said exactly the same last week. Rankings? Trust me, over the next day or two we won’t be talking about rankings.”
The players have come against the Belgians before so is there no fear factor?
“There won’t be any fear factor. It’s our job to make sure there’s not.”
