Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Paul O'Hehir

Ireland must tighten up after conceding a run of goals from distance

Roberts Uldrikis, Arturs Zjuzins, Gerson Rodrigues, Emin Makhmudov, Mohammed Muntari, Viktor Tsyhankov, Artak Dashyan and Eduard Spertsyan (twice).

None of those players are household names but add Serbia’s better known striker Aleksandar Mitrović into the mix and they all have one thing in common.

Representing Latvia, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Ukraine, Armenia and Serbia, they have all scored goals against Ireland from distance.

Some Irish fans stood to applaud Uldrikis when he unleashed a 30-yard piledriver to Caoimhin Kelleher’s net in Wednesday’s scrambled friendly win over Latvia.

Zjuzins’s swift follow-up - to remarkably tie the game at 2-2 at half-time - was met with a more mooted response as the mangled nature of the defending hit home.

Tsyhankov’s goal for Ukraine in their narrow win in Dublin was, admittedly, a hopeful free-kick into the box that crept all the way in.

But still, Ireland’s failure to deal with it at the time is in keeping with a worrying trend going into Monday’s big Euro clash with powerhouses France.

In 23 games since the start of 2021, Ireland have shipped 10 goals from outside the box, with many of them preventable with sharper reactions and decision making.

Ireland's Michael Obafemi with Arturs Zjuzins of Latvia (©INPHO/Evan Treacy)

On Wednesday night, Latvia boss Dainis Kazakevičs suggested his team were aware that pulling the trigger from distance against Ireland could pay dividends.

So, needless to say, it’s a concern when star turns Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann will be looking to torture and torment at every opportunity on Monday.

Asked about it, Stephen Kenny claimed teams were not carving Ireland open on a regular basis but accepted that aspects of play needed tightening up.

Particularly those where opponents are handed have-a-go opportunities when they haven’t had to work hard for them.

The Ireland boss is confident that his team can improve in that regard, but has no intention of sacrificing their attacking intent for it.

Kenny said: “(Latvia’s first) was a brilliant goal. Matt (Doherty) played a pass inside, it was intercepted and they broke.

“We could set up defensively with two screeners and a back five and maybe not concede, but maybe not score.

“We scored three against Scotland here, three against Armenia, three again on Wednesday night.

“I said to the players before the game that there are goals in our team. You look at Evan Ferguson and Michael Obafemi, they are capable of scoring.

“Will Smallbone gets goals breaking into the box, Alan Browne gets goals breaking into the box, both wing-backs are capable of scoring and the centre-backs from set plays.

“So there are goals in our team and that’s what I feel. Obviously, sometimes when you play like that you concede goals but we want to get better in that (regard).

“But we have changes (to come in for France) and John Egan brings a lot to us, Josh Cullen brings a lot to us in defensive stability, and Seamus Coleman.

“We'll see how we go. No one is cutting us open and scoring goals, you know.”

Ireland's Evan Ferguson celebrated with Callum O'Dowda (©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo)

Still, Latvia’s second goal - on the half volley from the edge of the area - was gift-wrapped for the visitors after some awful defending.

Nathan Collins, Andrew Omobamidele, Callum O’Dowda and Dara O’Shea all attempted to clear the danger but fluffed their lines.

“You have to compete in the air regardless if you're giving away height advantage,” said Kenny.

“When I was picking markers on Wednesday, we were giving away inches all over the park but you still have to compete and win your headers.

“It’s important to clear your lines in that area, from a wide free-kick a minute before half-time. I was livid at conceding that goal.”

Ireland keep making life difficult for themselves from promising positions in games and, with France looming, Kenny admits the team were complacent against Latvia.

“We maybe played a few passes with the outside of our foot when we were 2-0 up, little chip passes that we weren't playing earlier,” he continued.

“We were more precise with our passing early on and we had cutting edge passing, playing forward. We had raids on both flanks.

“Will Smallbone and Alan Browne were underlapping, particularly Will in good positions and in the set, with that cross that we worked on - you get it played back and set.”

While Evan Ferguson nabbed the headlines on Wednesday with his first goal on his first start, Smallbone also played himself into contention for France.

He was named man-of-the-match on his debut after providing one assist and playing a key role in another goal.

Kenny now has food for thought on whether the Southampton playmaker - on loan at Stoke City - can play his way into the team for the key game of this window.

But he cautioned: “It's a different game. I'm not saying we're going to throw him in. We have to review and have a look at everything.

“He's a good player in that he's versatile and has played as a higher 10 in a 3-4-2-1 for the U21s and played as a 10 for Stoke recently.

“He also plays as a right or left 8, and I ended up playing him in the middle 2 in the second-half on Wednesday.

“He's tactically flexible, he can do a few positions and we're looking at it. But he has added other parts of his game and he has improved.”

READ NEXT:

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.