“Help, I need somebody” said Martin O’Neill.
But not just anybody.
O’Neill wants a man who’s faced Bosnia twice in competitive games in the last two years and he intends sticking close to home for that advice.
The Ireland manager is counting down to our Euro 2016 play-off clash with the Eastern Europeans next month, and he thinks that Wales manager Chris Coleman can offer him some key advice ahead of the two legs.
Wales secured just a single point in their two encounters with Edin Dzeko’s side in the group stages, and speaking at the 39-man squad announcement for the games next month, O’Neill admits he’s been in touch with the former Fulham boss looking for some advice,
“I have spoken to Chris and I’m going to meet up with him early next week. Any information that he can give me about Bosnia is absolutely welcome. I called him a few days ago and he was very helpful.”
“We will definitely meet up and it would be nice to see what his thoughts are on Bosnia in terms of the change of attitude from the first game they played to the one where Bosnia beat them over there when they needed to win. That information would be great.”
O Neill admits that he has seen a subtle change in the Bosnian team from the side that lined out early in its qualifying group to the side that booked their place in the play -offs.
“I think their group was a difficult one but what you have now is a resurgent Bosnia. It’s not the side that opened up the campaign and were kind of all over the place.”
“They’ve sorted out a bonus system and they’ll be ready for the game; they’ve got their top players available to play but particularly I think the difference is in the attitude now of the Bosnian players compared to at the start of the group. I think it would be interesting to hear Chris’s view on that.”
