WELCOME TO THE age of the ‘growth mindset’ under Heimir Hallgrímsson. Could it be an evolutionary phase for the Republic of Ireland?
When he was about to be confirmed as manager in July 2024, a couple of different messages were sent by FAI employees teasing his appointment.
One was an emoji of a tooth.
Another was a GIF of a puppy gleaming with a new pair of dentures.
Once the Icelander was announced, the reason for the choice of those messages became clearer as people scrambled to learn more about the man who used to be a dentist.
Never mind that he was an accomplished coach that was part of his country’s historic rise to Euro 2016 and the World Cup in 2018. Dentistry formed a key part of his identity.
Hallgrímsson leaned into the character of a simple, uncomplicated man. Perhaps he understood the benefit in making himself appear as far removed from his predecessor as possible.
Early on, Hallgrímsson made it clear that his philosophy was straightforward. He called them his six pillars.
To be the best organised, unrivalled at set-plays, focused on discipline, the hardest working, winning duels, and the strongest team spirit. Dara O’Shea, captain for the last window, said during the week that togetherness was their “superpower.”
Heimir Hallgrímsson on Friday. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Hallgrímsson touched on every single one of those aspects in his pre-match press conference on Friday. Other language also began to creep into his lexicon on the eve of this Nations League clash with Austria in Linz.
If you were the producer of the High Performance podcast, your ears might just have pricked up with a left field suggestion for a guest down the line when Hallgrímsson began to talk about “growth environment” and “growth mindset” now forming cornerstones of his thinking.
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He has long since advocated for a sports psychologist to be part of the FAI’s staff and one was provided after the testing events of that last international window. The events of Debrecen and the player votes to fulfil the Israel fixture do not require further examination here, but it is clear that for the Ireland manager how things unfolded has made him reassess how matters move forward.
“Everyone in every department was challenged to make something different, whether it was the medical team or the kit man or whoever,” Hallgrímsson said.
“We want to be in an environment that is a ‘growth environment’. We want to produce a ‘growth environment’. You felt it as well here. We did little changes as well in the media (reducing access to players and changing the usual format of press conferences).”
If players feel more focused and less pressurised then they should understandably be able to perform to a consistent level. Nathan Collins was alongside the manager on Friday and admitted he couldn’t believe how his teammates dealt with scrutiny and were still able to produce such coherent displays.
Hallgrímsson spoke at the squad announcement for these Nations League games (Kosovo are to come in Dublin on Tuesday) that he had got things off his chest about how operations were run during the last window.
“So it’s just changes everywhere that we want to improve. We want to step up. We want to challenge everyone in the camp to think ‘growth mindset’. How can I not only check my boxes but improve my box that I’m checking in every time I come in. So that’s the things that we are looking for,” Hallgrímsson said.
“It should be all the time, not [because of] last camp. But like I said, after that one, we tested our systems and we saw a lot of things last camp that we probably wouldn’t have in a quiet camp.
“So no, it’s just every time we should always challenge ourselves to improve our working environment. These guys deserve that the FAI and their environment is improving. That gets them to improve as well. So that’s how everyone should think, players, staff, coaches, media.”
Austria in Linz is a perfect way to test the early signs of these new systems. The hosts are unbeaten at home in three years, a run of 10 competitive games, and have threats for all angles.
Ralf Rangnick at Austria's pre-match press conference. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
All nine of their goals in this group have been scored by different players while five were netted by substitutes making an impact. Ireland felt the effects of that in Dublin when they lost the initiative and a two-goal lead.
Alexander Prass got Austria back in it on 71 minutes before Michael Gregoritsch’s tame free kick found a way past Caoimhín Kelleher six minutes later. Ireland’s growth mindset will hopefully extend to not losing composure during such a spell again.
Prass is not available for Austria tonight and is one of eight absentees. Their head coach, Ralf Rangnick, expressed some dismay at the “mystery” of the injury which has ruled out captain Xaver Schlager.
His midfield partner in Dublin, Carney Chukwuemeka, is also absent, along with Patrick Wimmer.
Hallgrímsson said on Friday he has a clean bill of health, he spoke of Ireland being “courageous” in their approach and not fearing defeat. Ireland are in third place in the group, level with Kosovo on five points.
Should Austria triumph they will secure automatic promotion to League A. If Kosovo also beat Israel tonight, Ireland will then have to get the better of Kosovo by more than one goal in Dublin to get a play-off spot.
“We said we wanted to be number one or number two [in the group],” Hallgrímsson said. “So even losing would give us a chance to be number two.”
Some of his instructions to players have focused on not dwelling on the ball, about limiting touches and moving the ball faster.
“We see opportunities in attacking them. We just need to grab them and take them. It’s not going to be a lot of them, but when they come, we need to grab them,” Hallgrímsson said.
The first half in Dublin shows that Ireland can outclass and overpower Austria. The concern is that they were capable of taking back the initiative.
Ireland’s ‘growth mindset’ will be put to the test.
Possible teams
Austria: Alexander Schlager, Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart, Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene; Nicolas Seiwald, Konrad Laimer; Romano Schmid, Sasa Kalajdzic, Christoph Baumgartner; Michael Gregoritsch
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Dara O’Shea, Nathan Collins (captain), Liam Scales; James Abankwah, Conor Coventry, Finn Azaz, Jack Moylan, Ryan Manning; Adam Idah, Troy Parrott.
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Ireland enter the age of the 'growth mindset' under Heimir Hallgrímsson
WELCOME TO THE age of the ‘growth mindset’ under Heimir Hallgrímsson. Could it be an evolutionary phase for the Republic of Ireland?
When he was about to be confirmed as manager in July 2024, a couple of different messages were sent by FAI employees teasing his appointment.
One was an emoji of a tooth.
Another was a GIF of a puppy gleaming with a new pair of dentures.
Once the Icelander was announced, the reason for the choice of those messages became clearer as people scrambled to learn more about the man who used to be a dentist.
Never mind that he was an accomplished coach that was part of his country’s historic rise to Euro 2016 and the World Cup in 2018. Dentistry formed a key part of his identity.
Hallgrímsson leaned into the character of a simple, uncomplicated man. Perhaps he understood the benefit in making himself appear as far removed from his predecessor as possible.
Early on, Hallgrímsson made it clear that his philosophy was straightforward. He called them his six pillars.
To be the best organised, unrivalled at set-plays, focused on discipline, the hardest working, winning duels, and the strongest team spirit. Dara O’Shea, captain for the last window, said during the week that togetherness was their “superpower.”
Hallgrímsson touched on every single one of those aspects in his pre-match press conference on Friday. Other language also began to creep into his lexicon on the eve of this Nations League clash with Austria in Linz.
If you were the producer of the High Performance podcast, your ears might just have pricked up with a left field suggestion for a guest down the line when Hallgrímsson began to talk about “growth environment” and “growth mindset” now forming cornerstones of his thinking.
He has long since advocated for a sports psychologist to be part of the FAI’s staff and one was provided after the testing events of that last international window. The events of Debrecen and the player votes to fulfil the Israel fixture do not require further examination here, but it is clear that for the Ireland manager how things unfolded has made him reassess how matters move forward.
“Everyone in every department was challenged to make something different, whether it was the medical team or the kit man or whoever,” Hallgrímsson said.
“We want to be in an environment that is a ‘growth environment’. We want to produce a ‘growth environment’. You felt it as well here. We did little changes as well in the media (reducing access to players and changing the usual format of press conferences).”
If players feel more focused and less pressurised then they should understandably be able to perform to a consistent level. Nathan Collins was alongside the manager on Friday and admitted he couldn’t believe how his teammates dealt with scrutiny and were still able to produce such coherent displays.
Hallgrímsson spoke at the squad announcement for these Nations League games (Kosovo are to come in Dublin on Tuesday) that he had got things off his chest about how operations were run during the last window.
“So it’s just changes everywhere that we want to improve. We want to step up. We want to challenge everyone in the camp to think ‘growth mindset’. How can I not only check my boxes but improve my box that I’m checking in every time I come in. So that’s the things that we are looking for,” Hallgrímsson said.
“It should be all the time, not [because of] last camp. But like I said, after that one, we tested our systems and we saw a lot of things last camp that we probably wouldn’t have in a quiet camp.
“So no, it’s just every time we should always challenge ourselves to improve our working environment. These guys deserve that the FAI and their environment is improving. That gets them to improve as well. So that’s how everyone should think, players, staff, coaches, media.”
Austria in Linz is a perfect way to test the early signs of these new systems. The hosts are unbeaten at home in three years, a run of 10 competitive games, and have threats for all angles.
All nine of their goals in this group have been scored by different players while five were netted by substitutes making an impact. Ireland felt the effects of that in Dublin when they lost the initiative and a two-goal lead.
Alexander Prass got Austria back in it on 71 minutes before Michael Gregoritsch’s tame free kick found a way past Caoimhín Kelleher six minutes later. Ireland’s growth mindset will hopefully extend to not losing composure during such a spell again.
Prass is not available for Austria tonight and is one of eight absentees. Their head coach, Ralf Rangnick, expressed some dismay at the “mystery” of the injury which has ruled out captain Xaver Schlager.
His midfield partner in Dublin, Carney Chukwuemeka, is also absent, along with Patrick Wimmer.
Hallgrímsson said on Friday he has a clean bill of health, he spoke of Ireland being “courageous” in their approach and not fearing defeat. Ireland are in third place in the group, level with Kosovo on five points.
Should Austria triumph they will secure automatic promotion to League A. If Kosovo also beat Israel tonight, Ireland will then have to get the better of Kosovo by more than one goal in Dublin to get a play-off spot.
“We said we wanted to be number one or number two [in the group],” Hallgrímsson said. “So even losing would give us a chance to be number two.”
Some of his instructions to players have focused on not dwelling on the ball, about limiting touches and moving the ball faster.
“We see opportunities in attacking them. We just need to grab them and take them. It’s not going to be a lot of them, but when they come, we need to grab them,” Hallgrímsson said.
The first half in Dublin shows that Ireland can outclass and overpower Austria. The concern is that they were capable of taking back the initiative.
Ireland’s ‘growth mindset’ will be put to the test.
Possible teams
Austria: Alexander Schlager, Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart, Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene; Nicolas Seiwald, Konrad Laimer; Romano Schmid, Sasa Kalajdzic, Christoph Baumgartner; Michael Gregoritsch
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Dara O’Shea, Nathan Collins (captain), Liam Scales; James Abankwah, Conor Coventry, Finn Azaz, Jack Moylan, Ryan Manning; Adam Idah, Troy Parrott.
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