There is something quite soothing about being around Heimir Hallgrímsson, as if you came to meet the manager of the Ireland men’s soccer team and ended up in an audience with a wellness app. He seems to be never too up and never too down, given neither to extremes of bullishness nor temper. The kind of dude who leaves everyone else to argue over whether the glass is half-full or half-empty while he goes off to fix the tap.
Of course whether that kind of Zen survives the actual playing of actual Ireland soccer matches remains to be seen. England and Greece are coming to the Aviva over the next 10 days and both, in their way, have been tormentors of generations of Irish teams looking to find a way to improve their station. Hallgrímsson’s sense of equanimity will get its stress-test early.
For now, though, he has had a drama-free introduction to the job, culminating in the naming of his first squad. It is, he readily conceded, a 23 that has been picked as much by John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy as by Hallgrímsson himself. He didn’t try and make out that he is suddenly an expert in Irish football after a few weeks in the job. That’s not realistic.
And already it’s obvious that he is not interested in things that are not realistic. That goes for everything – selection, style of play, expectations, the lot. Hallgrímsson is not wedded to a particular formation and doesn’t see it as being overly important that his Ireland teams learn to play to one.
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“I’ve never had a favourite system,” he said. “It’s more about the principles in play, whether we play three at the back or four at the back. Principles in defence. When we develop our squad and our players it will be easier for us to change formations during the game without any problems.
“It’s about what fits the players, first and foremost, and what fits playing this opponent. So maybe an in-game change of formation in the future we could see that, that is when the team is really a strong unit and knows the individual tactical [instructions] and team tactical [instruction]. That would be something I’d love to see, that we can tweak and change in-game against different opponents.”
If you think that kind of flexibility sounds a distance away just now, the new Ireland manager isn’t going to try and change your mind. He’s not going to be a man for stoking culture wars or trying to talk up the scenario he faces. Or trying to talk it down, for that matter. When he was asked about the idea of his Ireland teams playing out from the back he didn’t hold tight to any kind of dogma.
“In my opinion, from having this short time with the team, I think that is something that we will develop slowly. It’s not something you can force. But this will develop slowly and probably be the last thing that will happen.
“On the ball you can have the relaxed player playing the risky passes without losing it. At the moment other things are more important than spending all of our time in build-up. For me it’s about scoring a goal. If the build-up helps with that then we will focus on that.”
In there, hiding in the pockets of his answers, is a combination we haven’t really seen in Ireland managers for a while. There wasn’t much of a market for Stephen Kenny’s idealism by the end of his reign – and Hallgrímsson’s realism is definitely a change in tone on that front.
But the Icelander shares with Kenny a sense of humility that wasn’t always on show through the Trapattoni/O’Neill years, or even for some of Mick McCarthy’s second go-around. The last thing Irish soccer needs from its national team manager is a feeling that he’s doing the country a favour by taking on the role. Hallgrímsson doesn’t remotely give off that vibe.
“Normally I’m kind of a realistic in every way. We have a good group of people, both the federation and players, who are dedicated to do a good job. Everybody is on board and looking forward to doing their best. That’s really encouraging, and I haven’t felt any negativity since I came. Maybe they will spare me the first weeks of the job but I really feel comfortable to do a good job.”
England first up can go either way, of course. Anything short of a sound beating by the back-to-back European runners-up will buy the new man a pretty durable extension on his honeymoon period. Finding his side on the thick end of a cricket score will present him with all the realism he can handle.
“I’m really looking forward to that. Everybody has told me and everybody has said that it’s like we’re playing one game, we’re only playing England. Everybody is saying we need to play good against England.
“I always say that there’s two games. We play Greece only three days later, and that’s a game we should not forget and we need to focus on that. So once we’ve beaten England we cannot celebrate for three days and lose against Greece.”
That last bit – “once we’ve beaten England” – was a small joke, delivered with such deadpan Nordic coolness that we had to listen back to the tape afterwards to just make sure he’d said what we thought he’d said. He had – and then he’d followed it up with his actual message.
Never too up, never too down. It is good that his stocks of equanimity seem robust, at least. Hard to imagine the Ireland job will do much to replenish them.
Republic of Ireland squad for Nations League matches against England and Greece
Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (AFC Bournemouth), Max O’Leary (Bristol City).
Defenders: Séamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Jake O’Brien (Everton), Andrew Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), Liam Scales (Celtic), Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City), Robbie Brady (Preston North End).
Midfielders: Will Smallbone (Southampton), Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Alan Browne (Sunderland), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Kasey McAteer (Leicester City).
Forwards: Adam Idah (Celtic), Evan Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion), Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich Town), Chiedozie Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Callum Robinson (Cardiff City), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar).
Fixtures
Saturday, September 7th: Ireland v England, Aviva Stadium, 5pm
Tuesday, September 10th: Ireland v Greece, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm
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