A system that could get the best out of Seamus Coleman, Robbie Brady, James McCarthy, and Robbie Keane? I’m listening.
Martin O’Neill looks to be flirting with the idea of adapting a 3-5-2 formation against Poland tomorrow night as the Republic of Ireland look to get their European Championships qualifying campaign back on track.
In their last competitive game, the Irish went down to Scotland in Glasgow but, at training this morning in Malahide, there looked to be a noticeable change of tact from O’Neill’s men as they prepare for a flurry of home fixtures.
The side went through an in-house game and appeared to be trialling a 3-5-2 shape that saw John O’Shea, Marc Wilson and Paul McShane at the back together.
It meant that Coleman and Hull’s Robbie Brady were free to explore the flanks with Jon Walters and Keane partnering up top.
With Ireland three points adrift of this weekend’s visitors and tied with both Germany and Scotland in second place, both O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane have made no secret of the fact that they’re looking to play on the front foot and take the game to the Poles.
And the new system could just be a solution to that.
“I think I have a fair idea of what the side will be but when I say that there is competition for places, I think that is always the case,” O’Neill spoke from the Grand Hotel in Malahide after training.
“I think you always have to see if there are possibilities happening and maybe even somebody doing well in training might change your mind but, overall, I think I have a fairly decent idea about things.
“I think, genuinely, everything is [is a possibility]. We have to be aware that, if we change the system, the players will know. Some players here have played that system [3-5-2] at club level so it is something that they’re used to. Other players just take a wee bit more adapting.
“But I think they’re pretty comfortable anyway regardless of what system they’re going to do.”
The idea that the new formation is designed to help Robbie Brady flourish – the same man who bagged two from left back in the last international against USA – was played down by O’Neill.
“I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that,” the manager said. “I think that, nowadays, players can become adaptable and they can become adaptable pretty quickly. If you’re talking about Robbie, he’s been used to a number of systems there at Hull. Hull vary. I know he didn’t participate last Sunday but they started off against Chelsea with three at the back, they found themselves a couple of goals behind and changed it to a four.
“For instance, Paul McShane started playing left-side centre back in the first 15 minutes in the game and then changed to playing right back in the match. He felt pretty comfortable, speaking to him. So the players, particularly at Hull, have been used to changing around the system so I don’t think it’s a major problem.”
The Derry man doesn’t accept though that a simple switch of positions automatically creates results but he does know that his players need to be adaptable and a 3-5-2 formation that brought him so much success at Leicester and Celtic could be as good a starting point as any.
“I think if some particular system in the game solved every problem, everybody would be using it,” he said. “I think, like everything else, there are advantages of whatever system you want to play but, of course, there are very obvious flaws as well. I think adapting to it is the most important thing.”
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