1. How cautious a style will the Irish team adopt?
WHILE PUBLICLY, MARTIN O’Neill will claim the Irish team are playing to win, privately he will probably consider a draw to be a good result.
If O’Neill’s side can get a point against all their main rivals for qualification away from home, they will surely then fancy their chances of picking up all three at the Aviva.
Consequently, the Irish team will likely adopt a relatively cautious strategy, more akin to the Germany game than the Georgia one.
With Celtic, O’Neill tended to be similarly pragmatic during big European fixtures, ostensibly imploring the team to sit back during away games, in addition to overseeing a famous near-flawless home record against sides of the calibre of Barcelona, Liverpool and Juventus.
2. Can the Irish contain Ikechi Anya?
Scotland’s main threat against Germany was obvious.
Time and again, Ikechi Anya exposed the German defence’s lack of pace and constantly caused them problems, with the 26-year-old eventually scoring the Scottish equaliser that almost earned his side what would have been a deserved point.
And although he was less effective in their other big game against Poland, Anya still played the decisive pass that led to Shaun Maloney’s goal and continued to pose a threat throughout the match.
Fortunately, in Seamus Coleman, Ireland boast a defender with pace to rival Anya’s, yet the back four must still be wary of being overzealous in challenges on the winger.
One mistimed tackle could easily result in a red card, given Anya’s tendency to produce explosive bursts in dangerous areas, so the visitors’ defenders must retain high levels of concentration and footballing intelligence to keep the Watford man quiet.
3. How much will the Roy Keane incident impact on morale?
The Roy Keane incident has inevitably dominated the build-up to this game, since news of the controversy broke yesterday.
The Ireland camp have, however, responded in an encouraging fashion, backing the assistant boss and suggesting that the gravity of the situation has been grossly exaggerated.
Furthermore, judging by the smiling faces at the team’s training camp this morning, it has done little to affect morale ahead of the game.
Of course, should Ireland deliver a flat performance and get beaten, questions will retrospectively be asked and Keane’s role will be under further scrutiny, but provided the Boys in Green play to their capabilities, this ostensible non-event will surely be quickly forgotten and get consigned to a footnote in the team’s history, rather than being in anyway remembered as a Saipan-style symbol of deeper, abiding problems within the set-up.
4. Can Aiden McGeady cope with the pressure and where will he play?
Particularly with fellow Scottish-born Ireland international James McCarthy out injured, much attention will be focused on Aiden McGeady on Friday night.
The winger is widely regarded as a confidence player who can be in equal parts brilliant and erratic depending on his mood, and he should certainly expect a hostile environment at Celtic Park tomorrow.
That said, McGeady has played in several Old Firm derbies before, so he has plenty of experience of being a figure of hatred among opposition fans. In addition, the 28-year-old has said the right things in the build-up, telling FAI TV.
“If you just break it down and think about it, it’s just another game isn’t it?”
Yet perhaps a more pertinent question is where McGeady will play — against Georgia, he spent the last few minutes of the game operating behind the striker and scored a magnificent goal (see above). He started in the same position against Germany and was relatively ineffectual, before operating to a more familiar position on the wing and subsequently becoming more of a threat.
Playing McGeady in the number 10 role is not as experimental and revolutionary as some have suggested, with the Everton man playing there a number of times under O’Neill at Celtic, so the manager may well revert to this tactic again tomorrow night.
5. How badly will James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan be missed?
Between them, James McCathy and Glenn Whelan have 85 caps for Ireland.
By contrast, their anticipated replacements, Jeff Hendrick and Darron Gibson, have a relatively modest tally of 33.
Of course, one of the two could yet be snubbed, with Aiden McGeady playing behind the frontman and Stephen Quinn dropping in to a deeper role, however in what is likely to be a highly physical encounter, the presence that Hendrick and Gibson offer is likely to be preferred.
And while Hendrick in particular may be quite inexperienced at this level, he is in fine form for Derby, scoring twice at the weekend, so there is nothing to suggest the occasion will overwhelm him.
Moreover, the two players showed no signs of being intimidated in the last qualifier, as they both had a positive impact after coming off the bench, ultimately helping the Irish team to secure an unlikely 1-1 draw with Germany.
