Heimir Hallgrímsson

[Eirambler]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...

[seanfhear]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...

LOL = = HH has a great sense of humour.

[Diggs246]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...

Hahaha
Thanks I needed that

[CraftyToePoke]

some info from a knowledgeable poster on Jamaica on bigsoccer forum

Yes, he's a quality contributior consistently.
He's back on there today after a few questions, going into more detail on HH tactically & set up wise.

Probably thinks our midfield is better than it is maybe.

Hallgrimson brought 2 or 3 guys, main ones being John Wall as assistant (and for a short time, also our U20 coach) and Gudmundur Hreidarsson as GK coach. He basically functioned as the nation's technical director himself.

I would say he didn't run our forwards into the ground too badly - plenty of examples of them getting close to the full 90. Not too set piece focused.,

Now, your questions on systems, style, midfield preference, etc are a bit harder to answer in a way that might help get an idea of how he'd be for Ireland, because of Jamaica's specific limitations.

To keep it simple, we played a direct style that relied more on defensive-minded, less creative midfielders working with pacy wingers on either side. He favored a 4-4-2 with us although we started to see 3 at the back toward the end of his tenure.

The issue here is some of that wasn't really optional. There's a longer post quoted below that can explain the limits in more detail, but the long story short is that Jamaica's player pool simply doesn't produce creative midfielders who can play competently at a high level, certainly not the level an Irish fan would consider standard (nevermind the level required to seriously compete in Europe). Hallgrimson was forced to rely on more defensive minded players in midfield because, put simply, the best midfielders Jamaica are more defensive minded destroyers, not creative.

He also had to rely on wingers, because that is one type of player that Jamaica can consistently produce at a decent level. We ran a relatively simple 4-4-2 because that's what we had the personnel to work most effectively with.

Ireland has a much deeper player pool and many fewer limitations than Jamaica, so Hallgrimson may try different things there. But I think it's safe to say he'll be a bit more direct than not, you'll see a lot of the 4-4-2, at least initially (he did this with Iceland as well). It won't be flashy - he never scored a ton as coach of Iceland or Jamaica, and there were a lot of grind-it-out low margin wins, even against weaker teams, so that's something to think about. But he's a competent coach who knows how to adapt to the particularities and limitations of the player pool he has in front of him and give his team the best chance to win, even if it doesn't always come off.

[Eirambler]

It's useful info alright. Will be interesting to see how it translates. Could be similar to Trap's 4-4-2 setup, or if someone like Azaz kicks on this season he could maybe swap out one of the two forwards for someone like him. But it doesn't sound great at this point for anyone who particularly likes passing football through the middle or creative number 10s playing behind two forwards, it doesn't sound like that will be happening - pragmatism is back and that's probably no harm.

[JR89]

It's useful info alright. Will be interesting to see how it translates. Could be similar to Trap's 4-4-2 setup, or if someone like Azaz kicks on this season he could maybe swap out one of the two forwards for someone like him. But it doesn't sound great at this point for anyone who particularly likes passing football through the middle or creative number 10s playing behind two forwards, it doesn't sound like that will be happening - pragmatism is back and that's probably no harm.

With Iceland Sigurdsson often played as one of the midfield two in a 442. Might see similar with Ireland. When fit I'd say Ferguson and Szmodics would be his preferred front two and in Szmodics he's got someone that can also play in the hole like Sigurdsson if he's setting up 4411.

[Razors left peg]

With Iceland Sigurdsson often played as one of the midfield two in a 442. Might see similar with Ireland. When fit I'd say Ferguson and Szmodics would be his preferred front two and in Szmodics he's got someone that can also play in the hole like Sigurdsson if he's setting up 4411.

Parrott would also be perfect for that role dropping a bit deeper. I could even see Ferguson being the one coming deeper in that shape with Idah being the "target man" further up. We have good options there now

[CraftyToePoke]

Athlone, the Jamaican poster compares their midfield unfavourably with ours and how that may change his approach with us but at the Copa America their midfielders clubs were, Fulham, Real Salt Lake, Portmore Utd, Coventry City, Charlton Athletic and Coventry City. Overall we are stronger, yes, but relative to trying to challenge third & second seed countries in Europe, he may see it the same way for us as for Jamaica.

That said, in his first interview he said it would be a progression brief & you'll never get anywhere if you keep resetting to square one & not building on previous work done.

You'd imagine its no coincidence a guy with his previous in working around midfield weaknesses got the job & will have a fair bit of leeway in how he chooses to go about it. Equally, too direct will have its critics as well & a short honeymoon.

[Razors left peg]

Athlone, the Jamaican poster compares their midfield unfavourably with ours and how that may change his approach with us but at the Copa America their midfielders clubs were, Fulham, Real Salt Lake, Portmore Utd, Coventry City, Charlton Athletic and Coventry City. Overall we are stronger, yes, but relative to trying to challenge third & second seed countries in Europe, he may see it the same way for us as for Jamaica.

That said, in his first interview he said it would be a progression brief & you'll never get anywhere if you keep resetting to square one & not building on previous work done.

You'd imagine its no coincidence a guy with his previous in working around midfield weaknesses got the job & will have a fair bit of leeway in how he chooses to go about it. Equally, too direct will have its critics as well & a short honeymoon.

The litmus test for HH is not the England game but the Greek game on the 10th of September. If we are crap in that and don't really look much better than the recent games his honeymoon period will be very short. By being a relative unknown he needs a couple of good early results AND performances to get the majority on board

[Eirambler]

Seems a bit harsh to judge him after a week or 10 days with the squad. Especially when his predecessor got three years before the die hards finally gave up on him!

Let's at least give him the full Nations League before we start to make judgements.

[SkStu]

Seems a bit harsh to judge him after a week or 10 days with the squad. Especially when his predecessor got three years before the die hards finally gave up on him!

Let's at least give him the full Nations League before we start to make judgements.

Totally agree. He deserves the same grace that was given to Kenny. His team was crap against England early on and he got another few years. Hopefully HH can exceed some pretty reasonable expectations and continue to build.

[Razors left peg]

You misunderstood me. Im not talking about the likes of us on here giving up on him after 2 games. Its the Ole Ole brigade on social media Im on about. The fellas who go to games but until about 4 or 5 months ago couldnt have told you who Sammie Szmodics was and if you mentioned Bosun Lawal to them today they'd give you a blank stare. These are the people who were saying sure give it to O'Shea cos theres no one else. I had one lad text me saying O'Shea was shafted!

Most of us on here wouldnt give up on HH after 2 games, but a good performance against Greece and a big improvement on the previous 2 games against them would certainly generate a bit of excitement on here

[JR89]

Stephan Bradley not a fan of the January camp for home based players.

[Eirambler]

Bradley just sounds bitter about not getting a look in for the job to be honest. Has thrown a few digs at the new man since he came in.

Given where his team are in the league in spite of their relative budget and the hard work they made of beating their unseeded Icelandic opponents this week he might be better served focusing on his own job rather than taking much interest in another one that appears to be well beyond his capabilities.

[backstothewall]

Stephan Bradley not a fan of the January camp for home based players.

What an utterly pathetic response.

This guy comes into Irish football having previously taken a country with a population smaller than Cork through European qualifying to the finals of major tournaments on 2 occassions. HH offers an idea about something we might do differently, and he goes in front of a TV camera with the sort of arguement Id expect from the teenager.

"I don't understand the whole January concept"

"Having a camp in January doesn't make sense to me"

Those 2 quotes are, in a nutshell, everything that's wrong with the western world. I don't understand something, therefore instead of trying to better inform myself, I'm just going to write it off. Intellectually incurious Trumpian ******** and lazy to boot.

Given he's spending the biggest budget in the League of Ireland and his side are sitting in mid-table I'd say there's quite a few concepts used in elite international managment he wouldn't understand.

It's becoming clear to me how Stephen Kenny enjoyed such success in the League of Ireland and was found out as a bluffer in Scotland and the International game.

[SkStu]

You misunderstood me. Im not talking about the likes of us on here giving up on him after 2 games. Its the Ole Ole brigade on social media Im on about. The fellas who go to games but until about 4 or 5 months ago couldnt have told you who Sammie Szmodics was and if you mentioned Bosun Lawal to them today they'd give you a blank stare. These are the people who were saying sure give it to O'Shea cos theres no one else. I had one lad text me saying O'Shea was shafted!

Most of us on here wouldnt give up on HH after 2 games, but a good performance against Greece and a big improvement on the previous 2 games against them would certainly generate a bit of excitement on here

I wasn't actually responding to ER in the sense that i thought it was about you - more so reinforcing ER's point that he needs and deserves time; just like his predecessor. And anyone of the Ole Ole brigade who want him gone because we're missing another party can GTF.

Although it wouldnt surprise me if you had sent your knife in for a spit and polish.

[liamoo11]

Yes, he's a quality contributior consistently.
He's back on there today after a few questions, going into more detail on HH tactically & set up wise.

Probably thinks our midfield is better than it is maybe.

Yeah that athlone poster is quality. He posts a good bit on the dual national thread on big soccer and his knowledge of Jamaican eligible youngsters in English clubs is ioff the charts. It's very rare that we feature in terms of competing for dual qualified english players compared to the likes of Jamaica or even Portugal or Germany

[Razors left peg]

Although it wouldnt surprise me if you had sent your knife in for a spit and polish.

If he veers too far from the gospel according to Stephen Kenny and instead worships at the altar of Big Fat Sam then the whetstone will be ready for my knives

Joking aside though his personality seems great so far and you can't help like him. Type of guy that will probably get more leeway because he will interview well in the media

[CraftyToePoke]

The drive to Waterford bore fruit. O'Shea said yes in the least surprising and worst choreographed shimmozle so far.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/...-41444653.html

[JR89]

Would have preferred Hallgrimsson to bring his own staff in but if he feels that the interim staff are worth keeping on then let's get cracking on. Particularly happy to see Paddy McCarthy kept on. Not surprised to see them kept on either as all bar McCarthy might be based in Ireland already.