1. Set pieces look our best bet for glory
Strange as it may sound, Ireland’s European Championship qualification hopes may ultimately rest on what appears to be the side’s main attacking strength at the moment — set pieces.
Looking at the current squad, there is a worrying lack of genuine goal threats there. Leaving aside the current squad’s strikers, the highest scorer is Aiden McGeady with three goals. Below him, no one else has more than two goals.
Last night, the two goals came from set pieces, with Kevin Doyle and Alex Pearce respectively making the most of Robbie Brady’s well-executed set pieces.
This factor alone should consequently give Brady the edge in his ostensible fight with Anthony Pilkington for one of the two places on the wing in Sunday’s side.
If the Hull man continues to make such decisive deliveries, he may just develop into a key player in the side, provided of course he avoids a recurrence of the injuries that significantly hampered his season last year.
2. 4-4-2 vs 4-5-1
Perhaps largely due to Robbie Keane regularly being unavailable, Martin O’Neill has experimented with 4-5-1 for the vast majority of his reign thus far.
Last night, he opted with the by-now-familiar system for roughly an hour, before introducing Robbie Keane and Shane Long, and revisiting the tried-and-trusted formation that Giovanni Trapattoni stuck fairly rigidly to during his time as Ireland manager.
The Irish side accordingly looked a little more comfortable and threatening in the latter stages of the game, but that is arguably as much down to the introduction of more experienced personnel as well as the change in style.
All signs indicate O’Neill will go with Keane and Long as a two-man strike force against Georgia, with the main man to lose out being Wes Hoolahan, who has been played more or less exclusively behind the striker under O’Neill.
The decision would be harsh on the Norwich star, who was Ireland’s best player during their batch of games last summer, but he won’t necessarily be completely ostracised from the team now that the serious matches — after eight consecutive friendlies with O’Neill and Keane in charge — are finally set to begin.
The greater defensive solidity offered by 4-5-1 is still an important option for Ireland to have, and there is a strong case for it to be employed in some of the Irish team’s more difficult upcoming encounters — Germany away, for example.
3. Meyler at right-back could be an option
When fit, Seamus Coleman will presumably start at right-back in the Ireland team for the foreseeable future.
Yet should he pick up an injury, there is no obvious replacement for the Everton man currently.
Paul McShane, Joey O’Brien and Brian Lenihan are all potential options down the line, but the latter is too inexperienced right now, while O’Brien is quite injury-prone and McShane doesn’t seem to be fully trusted by the management given his failure to make Ireland’s latest final squad.
Last night, Meyler slotted into the position and did a reasonable job, as his acquisition of the man-of-the-match award indicated.
Whether the 25-year-old is totally competent in the role will only be discovered in more testing times, yet there were at least encouraging signs that he is capable of performing efficiently in the position last night.
4. Should Given have gotten the full 90?
Much has been made of Shay Given’s return to the Ireland set-up, yet perhaps unsurprisingly, the 38-year-old’s comeback was somewhat anti-climactic.
Aside from kick-outs, the Aston Villa man had virtually nothing to do in the 45 minutes in which he was on the field.
It begs the question as to whether there is any point in giving a goalkeeper just half a game when you are trying to ascertain their strengths — not that Oman considerably enhanced their attacking threat after the break though.
Ostensibly, Given is being lined up as Forde’s number two and especially in light of his lack of playing time at club level, the Donegal native surely needs as much playing time as possible in the international set-up when the Millwall star is out of the side.
5. The team for Georgia seems a lot clearer now
Generally speaking, players aiming for a starting spot against Georgia will have been relieved to avoid last night’s starting line-up.
The team to face Oman was, by all accounts, a second-string side, with players who are more or less nailed on to play against Georgia — Seamus Coleman, Shane Long, James McCarthy — absent from the starting XI last night.
There are seemingly one or two spots still up for grabs, with Robbie Brady staking a strong claim for a place in Sunday’s side with assists for each of the goals, while Stephen Ward should start at left-back, with last night an opportunity to give the Burnley defender some much-needed playing time.
Consequently, based on our reading of the situation, and presuming everyone is fit and raring to go in Tbilisi, the starting XI looks like being as follows: Forde; Coleman, O’Shea, Wilson, Ward; McGeady, McCarthy, Whelan, Brady; Keane, Long.
What were your thoughts on last night’s match? Let us know in the comments section below.
