Paul Fennessy reports from Bordeaux
MARTIN O’NEILL SUGGESTED Ireland’s players let the occasion get to them to a degree today, as he believes “nerves” were to blame for the side’s failure to keep the ball.
Asked if Ireland were in a situation where no amount of training or preparation could deal with the opposition they faced today — a team with several players in top teams across Europe — O’Neill played down the gulf in class between the two sides.
“That cannot be my attitude going into the game and it shouldn’t be the players,” the Ireland manager said.
“Individually, Belgium are as talented a team as anyone in the competition.
“But the goals we gave away were not great from our viewpoint.
The (first) goal we conceded was poor — we should have dealt with it on two or three occasions
“We then had a good spell but had to score — the second goal has knocked the stuffing out of us completely.”
O’Neill also lamented Ireland’s players’ inability to emulate the type of positivity they displayed against Sweden, saying that their lack of composure in possession was down to players being “nervous”.
“A few days ago against Sweden, we played exceptionally well with the ball, which is the most important thing.
“Today, when we had it, we were a bit nervous, gave it away too readily, and it was coming back too quickly. We hoped to rectify that at half-time.
The disappointment was down to the fact that the ball was bouncing around their penalty area in the first place from a free kick that we had.
“Then you start to chase the game a little bit, get stretched and very fine players punish you.”
On the controversial penalty, O’Neill was reluctant to comment but admitted Ireland deserved to be beaten regardless.
I haven’t seen it back yet,” he said. “The players were saying it was (a penalty)
“That is doubly disappointing if that was the case… Naturally it would have (changed the course of the game) if we’d been given the penalty.
“But overall, we were beaten by a better team. We have to try to rectify that in a few days.”
James McCarthy has been criticised for his performance, with O’Neill substituting the Everton man on 62 minutes, citing tiredness as one of the reasons as to why he took off the 26-year-old midfielder.
“It’s a combination of everything — James was getting tired, as were a number of players,” O’Neill explained.
Now Ireland face a must-win game against Italy and while O’Neill was remaining optimistic about his team’s chances, he was unwilling to entertain suggestions that Italy could be considerably weaker given that they are guaranteed to finish top of Group E regardless of what happens on Wednesday.
“I’m not responsible for anything Italy might think or do.
“We’ve a game to win and we’ll just throw absolutely everything in to try to win.
You have to take some confidence about the way we played three or four days ago (against Sweden). You can’t dismiss it like that.
“The most important thing is to reappraise (the Belgium game) and focus on the next game. It’s not as hard as maybe it looks.
“We are capable of breaking Italy down, and we might only have to take the one chance, because that might be enough.”
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