Former St Patrick’s Athletic, Shelbourne and Drogheda United manager Johnny McDonnell says new Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson has plenty of work to do on the shape and structure of the team and recommends sticking with the switch to a back four.
In the aftermath of Ireland’s latest defeat to Greece, the manager identified a lack of ‘confidence’ and ‘connection’ within the team, with players hesitant as a result of not being in-tune on the pitch.
“Confidence comes with knowing your team-mate, confidence comes from knowing if you do something your team-mate will cover you, if you are in a position, you know exactly what your team-mate is doing,” Hallgrimsson told the media after the game.
“That kind of connection is lacking. The solution is to find that connection, that understanding, between the players.”
McDonnell stresses that kind of connection and confidence has to be established on the training pitch, through careful, monotonous work on the shape of the team in 11v11 games.
And within the limited confines of each international window, that has to be the laser focus of the manager if he’s to build that confidence and cohesion in the team’s play, ironing out the errors that undermined them.
“You’ve got so little time you need to work with your 11v11,” McDonnell said on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast. “You’ve 22 players, you need to work systems.
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“He (Heimir) talks about structure at the very end. The structure of the team. From the first minute that you come in, he needs to be able to say, we’re on the training pitch, we’re doing our warm-up and we’re going straight into 11v11.
“This is the way we’re going to play in possession. This is the way we play out from the back, this is the way we play into midfield, this is the way we play up to the front, this is the way we play it out to the wide players.
“It doesn’t have to be high-intensity. You can walk through this. It can be quite boring. But it’s clear and concise.
“And this is the way you need to spend your time. You don’t need to spend time doing lovely, fancy drills. The players can do that (themselves). The structure is about your 11v11, when you’re in possession, when the transition happens, when you lose possession.
“That builds confidence, that builds relationships. Because it’s clear. He’s talking about lads not knowing when to go in, when to go out, when they should drop off, when should they push up… you do that on the training pitch.
“It’s not nice, players don’t like doing it because it’s boring. But it’s so, so important that you do it. And then when it happens on the pitch, they go ‘oh, I did this in training.’ It’s a rehearsal.
“Fellas are kinda, like, oh here we go again, here we go again. And I know (as a coach) I’m sounding a bit boring but that’s the way it has to be.
“And then everyone knows, that’s what happens we lose it there, that’s what happens when we win it there, that’s what happens when we win it back there. And we don’t play it blindly up the pitch because the centre-forward knows that when the centre-halves win it, I need to be in that position.”
By common consensus, Ireland were somewhat improved in the first half on Tuesday night, having switched to four instead of five at the back, allowing for a more aggressive press which occasionally made things uncomfortable for the Greeks.
McDonnell feels that the five at the back experiment has probably run its course and Ireland should adopt their formation from the start last night as the default.
“Looking at games over the last few days, I just find the best teams play with four at the back,” he said.
“They can step a centre-half into midfield if they need to. They can drop one of the front two back into midfield, to make a 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 mostly.
“But most of the teams, in whatever shape they play, the best teams are structured to play four at the back.
“Two centre halves who don’t care if they’re 2v2 or 2v1 (defenders v attackers) and a holding midfielder that can pick up the second phase of an attack or protect the back-two or back-four.
“You just get pinned back (in a back five), because your two wing backs are in a (defensive) five and when you win it back, your holding midfielders are right in front of you and you might have one player up front. And the distances are too big, when you get the ball to the front player, to get up and support him.”
With midfield still a glaring, devastating weakness in the side, McDonnell was open to the theory that Nathan Collins potentially has the attributes to move into an anchor midfielder role, given that the side have reasonable alternatives at centre-half. However, it would depend on how confidently he could adapt to the role.
“John Stones does it sometimes for Man City, he goes from centre-half to midfield and he can play that role.
“It’s an option. He can defend, he can get on the ball, his range of passing can be decent enough. And that allows the other two midfielders to get up the pitch and support the attack.
“So, it’s an option but it has to be worked on the training pitch. He has to be confident to do that (role). If it’s your plan, and the player is not 100% confident, it’s not going to work.”
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