Martin O’Neill is expecting another tough test in Moldova tomorrow night and admitted that his side are not the type of team who can “wipe the floor” with opposition sides.
But the Ireland manager does expect his side to play better than they did on Thursday night as they scraped past Georgia, winning 1-0 at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland are looking for back-to-back wins against the perceived weakest teams in their World Cup qualifying group, but the manager believes that Moldova possess the players to cause a real threat to his side, as they proved for large periods against Serbia on Thursday, despite losing 3-0 on the night.
'We have to fight for everything' - Martin O'Neill expects nothing easy against Moldova #RTEsoccer https://t.co/LBL16j8Zh2
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 8, 2016
“We’re not the type of team who are going to wipe the floor with people,” said O’Neill, speaking at this afternoon’s press conference in Moldova.
“We have to fight for everything, we know that ourselves and tomorrow night will be a big test again for us.
“We have to try to raise ourselves, this is a big game for us and the result is the most important thing,
“We can play better, we know that. We did this in France. It’s only a couple of months ago since we played brilliantly against Sweden, brilliantly against Italy, beating Italy, should have beaten Sweden in the game, and for a long periods France were extremely concerned about us, and that was a team who went on to the final.
“So I think that we’ve played two games. We have drawn in Serbia against a top class side and we haven’t played very well at home in a game. And that can happen and I think these things are forgotten about during the course of a first half.”
The manager does accept that the Irish supporters expect more from the team following their heroics during the summer at Euro 2016, and O’Neill is delighted to have raised expectations.
"There has been a togetherness that we've had over the last few seasons. We did qualify for a competition and now the expectation is high - that's good, I'm pleased with it.
"I'm delighted with the expectation being high and we have to try to live up to that ourselves."
And while the Ireland manager must plan without two of his key players as Robbie Brady is ruled out with concussion and Jeff Hendrick is suspended, there was better news on the injury front as Shane Long has declared himself fit, having left the field injured late in the game on Thursday.
“Obviously Robbie Brady is missing through concussion, Jeff Hendrick is suspended but Shane [Long] is fine,” confirmed O’Neill.
“Shane had to come off near the end, which was a wee bit worrying but he has said that he is okay and considering our circumstances that is good news for us.”
James McCarthy is another who was a fitness concern going into the Georgia game but the Everton midfielder lasted the full ninety minutes and is available for selection to face Moldova.
However, the manager hinted that the Moldova game may have come too quickly for a player who had not played since August, which could result in a recall for Glenn Whelan in that holding midfield role.
And while it might be natural to assume that the manager will resort to the old guard of Whelan and Wes Hoolahan to fill the gaps in his side, the manager hinted that the young players in his squad were chomping at the bit to work their way into the starting XI.
“There might have been a stage where I thought that James might not get through the game, which would have been understandable, but he was able to do that and that was good.
“He has had no ill effects so that game should bring him on, although I do think that the second game is a probably a quick turnaround but he is not feeling too bad.
“Glenn has been excellent for us, so has Wes, and we have some of the younger lads in the squad who are itching to try and get a place in the team so I have got a few things to look at during the course of the next few hours.”
Despite Thursday’s poor performance, an Ireland victory would see O'Neill's side go into next month’s difficult away trip to Austria in good shape, with seven points out of nine available from the first three games.
And while O’Neill admits that he does play matches out in his head, he had never set a target of seven points from his first three games.
“It’s international football. You’re talking about top level football so it is going to be hard for us.
“I hadn’t targeted that at all. It’s not as if you don’t play the game over in your mind beforehand but the reality kicks in and these games are hard.
“We had a tough game out in Serbia, we had a tough at home and I expect the same tomorrow night.
“And judging from the way they played against Serbia, the players can play.”
