New Ireland manager Mick McCarthy must hit the ground running as he prepares the national football team for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
The photo shoots and formalities are over, and McCarthy showed his early enthusiasm and intent by speaking to Declan Rice’s father on Sunday.
It is going to be a whirlwind 12 months for the new man at the helm, so what next for McCarthy with Sunday’s Euro 2020 draw now just days away?
Get thee to Burnley Start as you mean to go on; McCarthy should be en route to Turf Moor tonight to watch the Premier League encounter as Sean Dyche’s side take on Newcastle.
The new Ireland manager has three months to plan for his first competitive encounter and stressed his desire to go and talk to the players to get their thoughts and discuss any issues that they might be harbouring.
The Lancashire club have provided a strong contingent to the Ireland senior side over the past five years with Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Stephen Ward, and Kevin Long currently at the club, while Jon Walters and Jimmy Dunne are out on loan at Mick’s former club, Ipswich, and Hearts respectively.
Long was the only one of the Irish quartet to start the last game for the Clarets, so while McCarthy may not get to see all of his potential players in action tonight, there will be time to talk to them after the game and give them a flavour of what to expect over the coming months.
Such an early show of intent will, no doubt, get the senior squad buzzing, while Stephen Ward’s WhatsApp can always spread the word amongst his fellow squad members.
Fitness role call The new manager made it clear at Sunday’s press conference that he is looking for players who will start his first game in March.
McCarthy’s first outing during this second spell with Ireland will be a competitive fixture, the first of the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
As a result, there will be no time for ‘having a look’ or ‘offering experience’, the players that McCarthy sends into battle for the March double header will need to be fully fit and playing regularly at their respective clubs.
James McCarthy will hopefully be back fit and playing regularly at Everton early in the New Year, which should offer the manager additional strength in the midfield area, while Callum Robinson was ruled out for three months following the weekend’s clash with a hamstring strain but should also have recovered in time for the international games.
McCarthy is likely to allow a small bit of leeway on that front for one or two who he believes will be integral to his selection, for example, if Brady is not playing week-in week-out at Burnley, but it should also throw a few peripheral players into contention who are playing consistently for their clubs.
John Egan, David McGoldrick, Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne, Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams are players who may benefit from the regime change.
Finding a playmaker McCarthy going into these Euro qualifiers is akin to a manager who has been brought in to save a Premier League club from relegation with eight or ten matches remaining.
One of the many things lacking from Martin O’Neill’s side was a regular playmaker who could control the tempo and allow the manager to build a team around such a player.
Wes Hoolahan was under-utilised throughout the past decade and has now hung up his international boots, but you might imagine that McCarthy would have loved the former Shelbourne star, in his prime, in his Ireland XI.
McCarthy will, no doubt, be anxious to find such a player and may ask Alan Judge, Jeff Hendrick or even David McGoldrick to play such a role, putting their foot on the ball and linking play through midfield and into attack.
And if the manager opts to attempt to create a club-like atmosphere, he will be looking to rely on a strong core of players that will travel through this quick-fire campaign together.
Unearth a goalscorer Goals are a rare commodity in the green shirt these days and if Ireland are to enjoy success in the upcoming qualifiers, the manager needs to find a striker who can bring goals to the side.
O’Neill knew the importance of such a player, yet the previous manager failed to unearth a regular goalscorer, with most of the vital goals coming from midfield at Euro 2016 and in the last World Cup qualifying campaign.
Scott Hogan, Sean Maguire, Shane Long and Aiden O’Brien were all used, albeit sporadically in the case of some, while a final throw of the dice for the departing manager was to hand Michael Obafemi a late cameo in the 0-0 draw away in Denmark.
Expect McCarthy to be just as determined to find someone to lead the line and will be hoping that at least one Ireland-eligible striker hits form early in the New Year.
Former Celtic centre-forward, Cillian Sheridan, who currently plays for, Jagiellonia Białystok, one of the title challengers in the Polish top flight, was overlooked throughout the O’Neill era yet could be a McCarthy-esque player, leading the line the way that Daryl Murphy did for the manager at Ipswich.
McCarthy spoke about the combination of Murphy and McGoldrick working really well for him at Portman Road and it could certainly offer the Cavan man a way back in from the international wilderness.
Forming a formation "My way has always been to try to have an attacking game. We played 4-4-2 when I was here the last time – that won’t be happening," said McCarthy at Sunday’s press conference.
The manager also spoke about scoring goals, while emphasising the importance of keeping things tight at the back.
So while McCarthy will be looking for a playmaker going forward, he will also be searching for a dominating defensive player who will allow others to push on and create.
McCarthy’s first piece of business as Ireland manager was to speak with Declan Rice’s father and you get the impression that he sees a player like Rice vital to establishing a preferred formation.
The new manager reverted at times to the old school 4-4-2 formation while at Ipswich, while he would often employ a 4-1-3-2 or 4-3-3 when in charge at Wolves.
Recent Ireland performances have seen the team line out with three at the back, which in reality turned into a defence-minded five, so McCarthy may revert to a flat back four with that holding midfielder allowing plenty of runners from midfield to join in the attack as well as both full backs pushing up the flanks.
McCarthy will also have to sort out his midfield unit, and it will be interesting to see if he opts to play players out of their normal positions in order to fit them into the team.
Cyrus Christie was asked to play in the middle of the park in recent internationals, while actual midfield players like Alan Browne, Hourihane and Shaun Williams were overlooked, which must have had a negative effect on squad morale.
Captain Fantastic – The role of the captain in international football is perhaps not as important as it once was, back when McCarthy was leading by example with the armband bound around his biceps, or when Roy Keane drove his side on with commanding midfield performances.
Seamus Coleman has been the obvious choice for captain over the past few years with no other player really showing the leadership to challenge for the armband.
McCarthy, no doubt, will want a strong leader to marshall his side on the pitch and will probably leave that particular piece of the old regime roll into the new.
The only real sticking point in that situation will be whether McCarthy wants to utilise Matt Doherty in his starting XI. Both players could be worked into the team in a back-four situation with Doherty playing ahead of Coleman, but it will certainly be one to watch come March.
Even if Coleman does hold on to the role, McCarthy will be looking for suitable candidates to also lead by example, like Richard Keogh, Shane Duffy or Hourihane,
