Gavin Cooney

1) How to replace Robbie Brady? 

Brady won the FAI’s player of the year award for 2024, his short acceptance speech before his team-mates consisting a couple of bromides after asking, “If I’ve won, how shit must youse have been?” 

That was self-deprecatory, because Brady has emerged as a vital player under Heimir Hallgrimsson and his loss through injury for these games is significant on a number of levels. 

Ireland are not exactly heaving with experience, and Brady, Matt Doherty and Seamus Coleman are the only thirty-somethings in contention for Irish senior selection these days. With Coleman not fit enough to be involved either, that leaves Doherty as the sole player in that cohort this week. 

But of more relevance are Brady’s more tangible qualities. For one, Ireland strive to be the best at set-pieces, but much of that is based on the quality of Brady’s deliveries. Replacing that quality is vital. 

Brady is also crucial to Ireland’s build-up. While Ireland set up in a 4-4-2 without the ball – with Brady at left-back – they morph into a 3-4-2-1 in possession, in which Brady pushes up to left wing-back. 

This is a generalisation and it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but given Ireland’s limitations in the middle of the pitch, they generally use the right side of the pitch for quick and pacy transitions while they reserve most of their more patient build-up play for the left side of the pitch. Brady is therefore a playmaker in these situations, dovetailing smartly with those around him.

Mix in the fact he’s a solid one v one defender and Brady’s a huge loss. 

Ryan Manning has been used further forward by Hallgrimsson thus far, but he has been listed as a defender in the squad so perhaps he will slot in. Manning brings Brady’s quality on set pieces and in Ireland’s build up, but he is less defensively robust, so there’s an element of risk to that selection. 

“Playing a bit further forward in the last few camps, I’ve really enjoyed”, said Manning this week. “It just gives another option for me to get up the pitch and gives the manager something else that he can do with me. Obviously missing Robbie is a big miss for us because he’s done so well over the last few years. But I’m just ready to be in contention and hopefully play.”

The alternate options are to keep Manning further forward and instead play either Matt Doherty or Liam Scales at left-back. Doherty has played there for Ireland before but being right-footed makes him a slightly awkward fit for build-up, while Scales would be the more conservative option. Given it’s a home game against Ireland’s main rivals for second spot in the group, do Ireland need to be more bold? 

The identity of the starting left-back on Saturday will tell us a lot as to how much Hallgrimsson is willing to gamble for a win. 

2) How to stop Dominik Szoboszlai? 

Hungary have plenty of high-level players but their game-changer is Szoboszlai and their tactical approach on Saturday will be chiefly, ‘Find Dom and give him the ball.’

Hence Szoboszlai starts as one of the two number 10s in their 3-box-3 system, but he has the freedom to roam about the pitch. He has the ability to dictate play but he also has the ability to finish it, which anyone familiar with the sole highlight of Liverpool/Arsenal instinctively knows. 

“We saw it last year in a sense”, said Ireland assistant John O’Shea in reference to last year’s friendly win at the Aviva Stadium. “The freedom he’s given in the Hungary team to be that playmaker and to show his quality. So you have to have an awareness of it.” 

Ireland have to be more than simply aware of Szoboszlai – they have to manage him. Given his free role, there’s little point in designating a single man-marker, which would merely pull Ireland out of their own shape and potentially do more harm than good.

Instead they have to mitigate against Szoboszlai, allowing him have the ball in less dangerous areas while closing him down rapidly when he comes within view of the Irish penalty area. He does have an occasional habit of giving the ball away cheaply in advanced areas, however, and so he may give up a couple of chances for Ireland to counter attack quickly. They should take them. 

3) What to ask from Evan Ferguson?

Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott both started Ireland’s most recent competitive game, the 2-1 home win over Bulgaria. The curiosity was in seeing how they lined out, with Parrott leading the line and Ferguson playing in a deeper position. Pre-game convention had dictated otherwise. 

Speaking after that game in March, John O’Shea explained they wanted to play Ferguson in a role with which he was familiar from his time at Brighton under Roberto de Zerbi. But with Parrott out injured, Ferguson is Ireland’s most reliable source of goals against Hungary and so the question is whether the team would be best served by having Ferguson closer to the opposition goal, as opposed to dropping deep to link play, where he has arguably done his best work for Roma so far. 

O’Shea was non-committal on this question when we asked him yesterday, starting off with a standard, “I don’t know the team yet” before hinting that Ferguson would be at number nine if he plays. 

“We just want any striker to lead the line”, said O’Shea, “be a nuisance for the defence, show your physicality when needed, show your skill in your finishing, link up the team when needed. I think that’s a big thing for any striker, being that focal point. Link up the team, get other players in play and be a threat and get your shots off and hit the target. They’ll be the main things you’ll be looking for from the striker.” 

4) Without Parrott, how to construct the attack around Ferguson?

O’Shea didn’t confirm Ferguson would start yesterday, but it would be bonkers if they left him out, especially given they continued to play him when he was on the bench at West Ham. 

The bigger questions regard who plays around him. If Ferguson plays as the main striker, then there are two number 10 positions up for grabs behind him. (We’re not including Chiedozie Ogbene in our thinking here as we are assuming that he will start off the right.) 

Sammie Szmodics has not made a particularly impressive start to the season at Ipswich, but he is fit again and has the intelligence to dovetail with those around him along with the dynamism to stretch Hungary in behind whenever Ferguson drops deep. Finn Azaz and Ryan Manning provide more creative, cerebral options, where Kasey McAteer and Mikey Johnston offer more direct dribbling qualities. Adam Idah and Johnny Kenny, meanwhile, will bring pace in behind the Hungarian defence. 

Szmodics’ all-round game might swing him a starting spot, and given the game is likely to be cagey for at least the opening hour, the other spot will probably go to Azaz or Manning, if he isn’t picked at left-back. 

The directness of McAteer and Johnston along with the pace of Idah and Kenny means they are probably best suited as bench options.