HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON SAYS it is “magical” to have Troy Parrott in a Republic of Ireland jersey as he reflected on the disappointment of seeing his side throw away a two-goal lead against Austria.
The Irish manager hailed Parrott’s opening goal and insisted it was the right thing to do to take him off on 75 minutes as he was feeling the effects of the previous two games as well as taking a few knocks against the Austrians.
Parrott was substituted on 75 minutes, in between the away side’s two goals which earned them a point to remain top of this Nations League group.
When asked if he should have left the Dubliner on to try and complete his hat-trick and keep Ireland on the front foot, the Icelander was emphatic in his response.
“Absolutely not, no, absolutely not. He had a knock, I think he had a few knocks. Plus, he was getting tired and we needed him in three days.
“I’ve always said about Troy, I know he has a special gift going forward, scoring goals, but I always say that what I see in him, what I don’t see in many other attackers, is defensive discipline and hard work for the defensive structure as well.
“Set plays, really good defensive set plays and attacking set plays. So, yeah, I hope he’ll just continue to improve. It’s magical for Irish football to have him in the green shirt.
“I think he showed that on the pitch, there’s not many players that can do what he did, and you probably will look at this ball again and again for many years to come, and that’s why we love this game, it can create moments like this.
“It was just a shame that it’s not a goal that gave us a win, But anyway, I think you will be watching it anyway for years to come.”
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Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson during the game. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Hallgrímsson also hailed the “cleverness” of Finn Azaz, pointing to his “quick thinking and problem solving” as crucial for Ireland to gain that early advantage.
However, Ireland surrendered that two-goal lead in the second half after the manager replaced Adam Idah with Jayson Molumby and brought on Liam Kitching for Liam Scales in a double sub on 62 minutes.
The Ireland boss explained his understandable reasons for the changes with a fourth game of this two-week window to come against Israel in Serbia on Sunday.
“I felt before they scored we were losing control, we were losing the organisation. So we obviously planned to do some changes, given everything, and we always planned to rotate, but we needed to do them earlier.
“We felt, obviously, you gain fresh feet but you kind of lose maybe organisation with many new players coming at the same time, but that was our thinking behind the changes, both we were planning them beforehand, plus we saw that we were losing energy. and understandably, because of everything that’s been going on.
“Obviously happy to be 2-0 up at half-time. We knew, and I told you before the game, this team is high-energy. And we knew we needed to do some rotation and changes.
“I felt like we just lost organisation due to tiredness and then you start to do mistakes. That was something that we are obviously not happy with. But the first-half was good, the organisation was good, we know we can do this.
“But I kind of expected us to get out of gas at some point. Maybe not so quickly. But this week has been not only physically difficult but it has been mentally difficult and that takes energy as well.”
Hallgrímsson said it was nice to “feel the love” of the Irish fans and that he respected the reasons and actions of the Stop The Game protesters who made their feelings known before and during the game.
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Heimir Hallgrímsson says it's 'magical' to have Troy Parrott and stands by substitutions
HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON SAYS it is “magical” to have Troy Parrott in a Republic of Ireland jersey as he reflected on the disappointment of seeing his side throw away a two-goal lead against Austria.
The Irish manager hailed Parrott’s opening goal and insisted it was the right thing to do to take him off on 75 minutes as he was feeling the effects of the previous two games as well as taking a few knocks against the Austrians.
Parrott was substituted on 75 minutes, in between the away side’s two goals which earned them a point to remain top of this Nations League group.
When asked if he should have left the Dubliner on to try and complete his hat-trick and keep Ireland on the front foot, the Icelander was emphatic in his response.
“Absolutely not, no, absolutely not. He had a knock, I think he had a few knocks. Plus, he was getting tired and we needed him in three days.
“I’ve always said about Troy, I know he has a special gift going forward, scoring goals, but I always say that what I see in him, what I don’t see in many other attackers, is defensive discipline and hard work for the defensive structure as well.
“Set plays, really good defensive set plays and attacking set plays. So, yeah, I hope he’ll just continue to improve. It’s magical for Irish football to have him in the green shirt.
“I think he showed that on the pitch, there’s not many players that can do what he did, and you probably will look at this ball again and again for many years to come, and that’s why we love this game, it can create moments like this.
“It was just a shame that it’s not a goal that gave us a win, But anyway, I think you will be watching it anyway for years to come.”
Hallgrímsson also hailed the “cleverness” of Finn Azaz, pointing to his “quick thinking and problem solving” as crucial for Ireland to gain that early advantage.
However, Ireland surrendered that two-goal lead in the second half after the manager replaced Adam Idah with Jayson Molumby and brought on Liam Kitching for Liam Scales in a double sub on 62 minutes.
The Ireland boss explained his understandable reasons for the changes with a fourth game of this two-week window to come against Israel in Serbia on Sunday.
“I felt before they scored we were losing control, we were losing the organisation. So we obviously planned to do some changes, given everything, and we always planned to rotate, but we needed to do them earlier.
“We felt, obviously, you gain fresh feet but you kind of lose maybe organisation with many new players coming at the same time, but that was our thinking behind the changes, both we were planning them beforehand, plus we saw that we were losing energy. and understandably, because of everything that’s been going on.
“Obviously happy to be 2-0 up at half-time. We knew, and I told you before the game, this team is high-energy. And we knew we needed to do some rotation and changes.
“I felt like we just lost organisation due to tiredness and then you start to do mistakes. That was something that we are obviously not happy with. But the first-half was good, the organisation was good, we know we can do this.
“But I kind of expected us to get out of gas at some point. Maybe not so quickly. But this week has been not only physically difficult but it has been mentally difficult and that takes energy as well.”
Hallgrímsson said it was nice to “feel the love” of the Irish fans and that he respected the reasons and actions of the Stop The Game protesters who made their feelings known before and during the game.
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