Ambition undermined by crushing fear of defeat
AS the Irish players emerged from the basement dressing room at the St Jakob stadium on Wednesday night, one player went his own way. While the usual players stopped to talk to the Press and the equally predictable growled and snarled as they headed for the bus, Roy Keane stayed alone with his thoughts.
Apart from a press conference on his return to the squad in May, Keane has stayed quiet each time he has joined up with the Ireland squad. Four years ago, it was different. Ireland walked out of the Amsterdam ArenA with a 2-2 draw after taking a two-goal lead. While Mick McCarthy celebrated, Keane upped the stakes with his famous comments that it was time for the Irish side to be looking for more than a party and a moral victory.
There are fewer parties thrown within the Irish squad these days and perhaps that pleases Keane. He also has a relationship of trust and respect with Brian Kerr that he never had with McCarthy. Kerr was known to have asked Keane when he came out of retirement not to say anything that could undermine the manager. It is a sign of the change in Keane - and an indication of his working relationship with the Irish manager - that so far he has complied with that request.
Four years ago, Keane didn't find it so easy and while the side that drew in Switzerland may be less developed than the experienced team which played in Amsterdam, there was as much reason for suggesting last Wednesday that this was two points dropped rather than the point gained that quickly became the party line for players and staff.
Given the events of 11 months ago, there was every reason for the Irish squad to believe that line. The defeat of October 2003 appears to be seared into the souls of Brian Kerr and his staff. The Swiss side that Ireland played last Wednesday was worse than the poor side that beat Ireland last October.
The Irish side has improved, but a failure to control things in midfield, along with some poor use of the ball from the full-backs, Steven Carr in particular, created some chaotic moments last Wednesday. Ireland had to rely heavily on Shay Given as the Swiss attacked on the back of Ireland's mistakes but, critically, when Ireland attacked they found time and space around the Swiss goal which could and should have led to more away goals.
"There's a feeling that we could have won it," Damien Duff, Ireland's most impressive attacking player said later. "In the dressing-room, the lads were saying that the three points were there for the taking."
Like the rest of the players, Duff went on to express himself happy with the point as Ireland achieved their target for the two matches of four points.
There are fewer parties thrown within the Irish squad these days and perhaps that pleases Keane
But the group already shows no indication of working along pre-planned, formulaic lines. Israel's draw last Saturday with France indicates that there may be more than just three teams playing for the top two places. Kerr is characteristically aware of the progress in Israeli football and he will not be under-estimating them.
"When the draw was made I felt that Israel had been making improvements in the last few years. They've become much more competitive, they've heavily invested in their own football and their teams in the European club competitions have done very well, getting to the later rounds of the Champions League. Their players have become more valuable now around Europe and clubs are interested in signing their players. There is a great passion for football there, a great pride in their country. I'm not surprised, but we can only do our own stuff, get our own points and when we play the other teams try to do damage to them."
Ireland had the potential on the pitch to do more damage to the Swiss than they did last Wednesday. A draw may have been the objective, but once it became clear that the Swiss were at their weakest when Ireland attacked; their strongest when they had the ball, Ireland should have been given the courageous direction to go and win the game, shake the group up. If Israel were to beat Switzerland in Basle, suddenly the point gained last Wednesday would become two lost.
But the errors of the first half, added to the fear of another failure in Basle, resulted in a conservative message being drilled into the players at half-time. Ireland, Kerr said later, had been cavalier. The players were told to tighten up in midfield where Hakan Yakin was finding room in the danger area in front of the defenders. The Swiss would be pushed out wide where they would find less room as the full-backs were told not to get forward.
In effect this mainly applied to Steve Finnan, who had linked effectively with Damien Duff on a couple of occasions, not so well on a few others when Ireland were caught on the counter-attack.
On the other side of the field, one would imagine the directions to Carr were simple: stay on the pitch. Carr had another poor game - uncomfortable on the ball, he showed no understanding with the inexperienced Reid and instead spent his evening picking fights with team-mates and opponents. While Kilbane was guilty of hesitancy in midfield in the build-up to the Swiss goal, he was presented with a horror pass from Carr who could see what was ahead of him and should have knocked the ball away.
Having been booked early in the first-half, he was lucky that the poor referee didn't choose to make things easier for the Swiss by sending him off in the second. If John O'Shea is fit, Carr will struggle to keep Finnan out of the side for the trip to Paris. Ireland are likely to be cautious (if they defended deep on Wednesday, how far back will they go to combat the pace of Henry and Cisse?) but they will have to play a lot better if they are to take the point they would be entitled to be satisfied with.
Kerr is hopeful that Keane's return and a series of matches before the October date will give the former captain a greater sharpness in Paris.
Keane follows no establishment line so maybe he felt it was better to head for the bus rather than face the media and be tempted to say Ireland could do better. Maybe he was disappointed in himself.
On the other side of the field, one would imagine the directions to Carr were simple: stay on the pitch
For the first 45 minutes on Wednesday night, the player's lack of match practice manifested itself in a rookie's inability to keep the ball. All that Keane had learned over more than a decade at the highest level seemed to be abandoned as he put Carr and then Andy O'Brien under pressure with sloppy passes.
The second half was better as he took it upon himself to lead the more conservative Irish midfield away from goal on occasion, but there must be a worry that when the game is ragged, Keane will find himself off the pace.
Kerr, however, felt the game was progress. "Roy's had a good spell out of it, he's played a couple of friendly games which were quite decent and now he came back into the real heat. It was a hard game for him, it was a hard game for everybody but I think he contributed very well. His passing sharpened as the game went on and he made some important tackles."
It remains to be seen what drama will be produced from Old Trafford before the next game, but Kerr insists there is an amicable relationship. "Roy badly wanted to play. It was his own desire combined with the fact that his injury made progress. United are aware of how professional we are and the quality of our own medical back-up. They know we haven't risked any players and we have ensured that their players get the best possible treatment and protection when they are with us. I think that was part of it, but the main part was that Roy wanted it so badly."
The desire and the leadership Keane offers will remain essential if Ireland are to keep their discipline and prosper in Paris. He may not have been able to make himself heard on Wednesday night, but Steve Finnan was not alone in noticing that if a player cannot hear Keane, he can still see his "look". It is a glance which encourages nearly all to raise their game.
Stories abounded in Basle of Keane's new nature. He was among the jokers on the plane that flew out from Dublin and upon arrival in Basle he stood at the luggage carousel in long conversation with Graham Barrett. Moments like those cannot be under-estimated as Kerr goes about shaping the young team.
Perhaps when they are wiser, Kerr will be bolder. Maybe the dangers of defeat were far greater than the rewards from victory last Wednesday.
Ireland have an ambitious manager who can achieve great things, but he must not let those ambitions be undermined by the forces of conservatism.
Dion Fanning,
Quote
Originally Posted by thejollyrodger
I think I would have voted him MOM
it
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