Roy Keane believes that the Republic of Ireland need to maintain their momentum going into Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Austria in Vienna.
The Boys in Green have enjoyed a remarkable 2016, following up their summer success at Euro 2016 by maintaining an unbeaten start to their World Cup campaign with seven points from three games, including a tricky visit to table-toppers Serbia, where Ireland earned a 2-2 draw.
But the Ireland assistant manager was not drawing on the recent successes in France, but rather concentrating on the current campaign with World Cup qualification the only goal.
Speaking at this afternoon’s press conference at Abbottstown, Keane said: “We want to keep the momentum going. We've said all along it's going to be tight with the group, with Wales, Serbia, Austria and ourselves, with Georgia picking up one or two results.
“There's not a game for a number of months, but we just want to keep picking up points to try and qualify. We know it won't be easy.”
Keane had plenty to say about James McCarthy’s absence as his war of words continued with the midfielder’s manager at Everton, Ronald Koeman.
And while the Ireland assistant was not questioning the midfielder’s current injury, Keane is confident that Ireland can cope without the senior players who are missing for the trip to Austria, with Shane Long, Stephen Ward and Daryl Murphy also ruled out, alongside McCarthy, through injury.
“Long and Murphy, they are big losses,” he admitted.
“But when we do get together, we find a bit of spirit and a bit of energy and the players, generally speaking, keep going.
“I keep saying it, we need to be at our best to try and get a result. It's a tough game, they are a good team, they have got good players playing at a very good level. It will be a tough game, but it will be a tough game for them as well.
“Every time we turn up for international matches, there are players missing. It's unfair to say Wardy has been solid; he's more than solid. He's been excellent for his club and for Ireland and he is a loss to us, just as much as Murph and the other lads.”
“He gives us a good option, absolutely, and we know if he starts on Saturday, he certainly has the quality to deal with the game" - Roy Keane on Harry Arter
McCarthy’s absence could pave the way for Harry Arter to finally get to play a competitive match for Ireland, as the Bournemouth man has missed several key international fixtures, as well as Euro 2016, through injury.
“Harry's had a frustrating time, not from a club point of view – he's playing really well – but at international level, he's missed a few games with injuries,” said Keane.
“We're glad he's over. He's fit, he seems to be in a good run of form, he's playing week in, week out in the Premier League, so he certainly would be an option for us, and I think he will be chomping at the bit to be involved.
“He gives us a good option, absolutely, and we know if he starts on Saturday, he certainly has the quality to deal with the game. Because he is playing week in, week out in the Premier League, it wouldn't be a problem for him and we'll see how that goes in the next few days.”
And as Ireland’s match with Austria was scheduled as a Saturday fixture, Keane believes that the extra two days will help preparations going into the final clash of the year.
“We have got the extra one or two days to get ready, whereas the last time some of our lads played on the Sunday before we went into a game on the Thursday night.
“We're always disappointed to lose players, but as the week goes on, you just get on with it and you work around it. The strange thing is we end up talking a lot about the players that aren't here. We have to talk about and work on the players that are here and available and fit for Saturday.
“We have got the extra 48 hours to play with and the lads who are carrying knocks, James [McClean], [Eunan] O'Kane, hopefully they will settle down and we can get a couple of good days' training under our belt, not that we can do loads of work, but at last we will have lads out on the training pitch.”
