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Ireland manager Martin O'Neill at the Municipal Staadium last night. INPHO/Donall Farmer
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Martin O'Neill hoping for more eastern promise in tough Polish assignment

The new Ireland boss is preparing for Poznan friendly tonight.

NEWLY-INSTALLED IRELAND boss Martin O’Neill will hope to head home tomorrow knowing a little bit more about his squad and the journey he faces to Euro 2016 qualification.

The former Celtic and Aston Villa manager will send his side out to play Poland in Poznan this evening, days after an impressive 3-0 win over Latvia at home on Friday in his first outing.

Asked what his side can work on however, O’Neill told reporters last night: “Genuinely, there’s loads of things. Robbie and I would totally agree, we’ve got things to do.

“We won a game on Friday night, I thought we played very well. The first goal was very important and he got it and it settled us down a little bit in that sense. You always want to do well. A wee bit of anxiety disappeared then for a while.

“We’ve got loads of things to work on and I think [tonight] will show that. We’ve got things to work on and that’s not me putting a dampener on things. It was great to win the game but this was one match and it was game that, certainly at friendly level, we would have expected to win.

“We did it in a fine manner and it was great and that’s gone. Now pass on to Poland [tonight], a totally different thing.

He added: “This will be a big test for us. Poland will have the ball. They went to Wembley a couple of weeks ago and had loads of possession of the ball away from home so you can imagine here at home that they will do. They will be disappointed and probably spurred by losing there the other evening and we will naturally make a few changes in the team. That might — I must admit, please no excuses here early on, it’s nothing to do with it — might disrupt our rhythm a little bit.

“I have to find out what players are capable of doing and that’s why some changes will be made.”

O’Neill confirmed last night that skipper Robbie Keane faces surgery on a chronic Achilles problem and will miss tonight’s friendly. He did not name his starting XI but revealed he will make several changes particularly in defence with his former Sunderland player John O’Shea likely to skipper the side if he starts.

Pundits were impressed with the high-tempo, pressing game employed by O’Neill and Keane last Friday night. Can Irish fans expect the same tonight?

“It’ll be different, the home game was one to get everybody up and get a bit of enthusiasm early on,” he says.

“Of course, the players responded well and the crowd did as well but this is different. Poland are a very fine side, we’re away from home, we’ll just have to adjust accordingly. That said I still want us to be positive when we have the ball. To really go and play, those players get on the ball as much as possible and try and perform to the same kind of standard as they did the other night.”

Italian lesson

O’Neill said he hasn’t yet talked to predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni but hopes to do so ‘in due course’. After the Italian’s reign ended in disappointment after the worst Irish qualification campaign in decades, did the new boss inherit a side low in confidence?

“That’s a difficult one for me to answer because I couldn’t detect that during the course of time. A bit of time has passed since. Definitely there would have been a bit of disappointment on Friday afternoon when the lads were aware that they could have been involved in the playoffs with a little bit of luck.

“As you look back over the DVDs you see a great save from the Austrian goalkeeper, might have made it 3-1 at the time in the match and then Austria get a late equaliser which I keep referring to. There might be other moments, Robbie would be a better judge than me.

“Other than Friday afternoon when the lads were looking at the first play-offs and there was maybe a tinge of disappointment there, time has passed and I didn’t detect a low morale at all.”

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