Ireland have the ability to play football and Martin O’Neill wants them to prove it against Georgia

Martin O'Neill wants his Ireland players to be more confident on the ball when they play Georgia at the Aviva on Thursday evening.

Ireland were criticised for their performance in Belgrade last month and O'Neill encouraged his side to be more expressive in their first home qualifier.

"I think that the players feel should feel more confidence in themselves to deal with the ball. Dealing with the ball when you’ve got space is not what I’m talking about, but dealing with the ball in tighter situations which the players are capable of doing. But sometimes you go through maybe a ten-minute spell when you’ve given it away needlessly two or three times and then you find it a heck of a job getting it back and dealing with it."

O'Neill insisted that his team were capable of playing a lot better than they had in Serbia, pointing out that a number of players had played very little football before that game.

"I believe we can retain the ball and I think that we proved it in a lot of the matches we played in the Euros and big matches here where we needed the ball to score goals."

O’Neill says he isn’t concerned about the rising expectations in Ireland after the European Championships in the summer.

The manager says he won’t lose sight of Ireland’s objectives at the opening stages of another arduous campaign.

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O'Neill, once again, highlighted the defeat of Germany last October as the defining moment of his tenure so far, saying it had “reawakened the nation”. 

The performances that followed in the summer had given his side a boost in confidence and led to high hopes for the side. "I don't mind people having rising expectations, that's what it's all about".

O'Neill hopes that Jeff Hendrick can continue his goalscoring start to the season and help Ireland overcome the retirement of Robbie Keane, even if Keane was a peripheral figure in the last campaign. More worrying for Ireland is Shane Long's lack of goals and O'Neill will want players like Hendrick and Robbie Brady to contribute.