GROUP C: Ukraine v Northern Ireland, Stade de Lyon, Thursday, 5.0pm (TV3, UTV)
Relaxed and jovial, Michael O’Neill sat in the Stade de Lyon yesterday and laughed almost as often as he spoke seriously. Northern Ireland are in danger of effective elimination if they lose to Ukraine – given that Germany are next up – but O’Neill has clearly removed some of the disappointment of the Poland result from his system.
“Yeah, it’s a tough question,” O’Neill replied with a smile when asked whether Ukraine offers more opportunity for victory than Germany. “Which one do you think is more winnable, given the Germans are the world champions?”
When Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis was then talking about his one-man kick-off against Poland – Northern Ireland were the first team at the tournament to employ the new rule – O’Neill butted in to say: “We’re hoping it’s not the highlight of the tournament.”
There was a tone of happy determination. The only time O’Neill bristled slightly was when he was informed that the veteran Ukraine midfielder Ruslan Rotan had given the following assessment of O’Neill’s team’s: “Northern Ireland plays purely a British style, with great physical preparation, strong flanks, high crosses and lots of scrambling.”
O’Neill’s reply was: “Interesting that that was the statement.
“I looked at the statistics and Ukraine’s possession was not particularly high against Germany. They also played a lot of long balls, which is very British.
“One thing we’ve noticed about the Ukranian team is they are a physical team. If you look at the yellow and red cards the Ukranians have gained through qualification, I don’t think they are playing a Spanish style of football. We expect a tough game physically but also a highly technical game.”
Detailed preparation
A coach who places huge emphasis on detailed preparation, O’Neill will not have liked that word “scrambling”.
Out on the pitch his assistants had lined up yellow replicas of Ukraine’s 4-2-3-1 formation as O’Neill addressed his players.
The much-coveted wingers Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka pose the greatest danger.
The question for the Irish manager is how he tweaks Northern Ireland’s formation so that they show more going forward than they did against Poland. This could see Shane Ferguson dropped from left wing-back and possibly Jonny Evans moving to left-back in a flat back four.
But the consensus is that there will still be a five-man midfield and that Kyle Lafferty, so isolated against Poland, will again start on his own up front. Conor Washington’s introduction alongside Lafferty in the second half brought increased threat, but while O’Neill acknowledged that, he said: “It’s a different approach when you are 1-0 down.
“We just have to look at the team, whether we feel it’s right to freshen up. The team have played 3-5-2 or 4-3-3, 4-5-1. Whatever system we play in we’ve proven we can win games. We’ve proven we’re difficult to beat.
Well settled
“There’s other factors, not many teams in the tournament play with two out-and-out strikers. We have to think about that, whether we start with that or whether we introduce it.”
O’Neill added that he and the players are well settled. Yet he also understands that “having lost the first game, there’s a natural fear of: ‘When do you go home?’
“Other teams will feel the same and we have to make sure that’s motivation. We actually love our base and want to stay there as long as possible. We have to play it like a cup final because we know the significance of three points.
“We recognise where we need to be better, I don’t think we needed reassurance – ‘Do we belong here?’ – we felt that all along. But we must demonstrate that against a strong Ukranian team.”
Part of Northern Ireland’s motivation will also be visible. Uefa have agreed to the IFA request to wear black armbands in memory of Darren Rodgers, the 24-year-old fan who died in an accident in Nice following the Poland game.
“I hope the family can take some comfort in how much we are thinking about them at this sad time,” Davis said.
