Roy Keane believes Ireland must aim now to beat all of the team's main qualification rivals in next year's home games after Friday night's defeat to Scotland at Celtic Park.
“The way the draw has panned out we’ve had three tough away games so the Aviva is going to be massive,” he said, “but also it’s important that the players step up to the plate. When you drop a few points away from home it puts massive pressure on to win your home matches but that’s the game. We’re not daft, we appreciate that. We look forward to playing at the Aviva.
“Obviously we’ll have another chance on Tuesday night for some of our new lads to get used to the Aviva. It’s probably not been as hostile as the old Lansdowne Road as everyone knows. The record would suggest that. But we’ve just got to try and make sure we enjoy the Aviva and make it hostile for teams. That comes down to the players and supporters.”
Asked about the state of play in the group now, the former Manchester United captain observed: "When you go back and look at it on paper, you would still think that Germany are favourites but between Poland, ourselves and Scotland, I think it's going to be very, very tight. That's why the other night's result was pretty important; it just puts extra pressure on us now, certainly to beat Scotland at home. But we will be ready for that when it comes round. Hopefully the players will be.
“The lads will be licking their wounds for the next month or two and then will look to bounce back. That’s what sport is all about, bouncing back.”
There will, he expects, be significant changes to Martin O’Neill’s starting line up for Tuesday’s game against the USA with various squad members who have not had much of a look in of late, “entitled to get a game and to show the manager what they’re about.”
Darron Gibson's return to Everton in order to have some treatment on what is described as a minor knock to the knee frees up one place, while there will be no Robbie Keane either with the striker having returned to the United States to concentrate on LA Galaxy's forthcoming play-off games after training in Malahide on Saturday.
“Robbie is a top, top player, doing it for years and hopefully will be scoring goals for the next couple of years,” said Keane when asked about the decision to leave the striker out of the starting line up on Friday and the way that he had reacted to the news. “But you pick a team for a certain game. Everyone says that he is disappointed, of course he was. Tell me about any player who is left out of a big game and is not disappointed . . .
“But Robbie is brilliant for the group and brilliant for the team and the way that he reacted to the disappointment at Saturday’s training session was fantastic, absolute different class. Robbie Keane is as good a professional as I have come across.”
Asked about the player's comment afterwards that the tactics do not suit him as he is not the ideal lone striker or, as he put it: "I'm not fuckin' Niall Quinn, " Keane said simply: "No, he's a lot better than Niall Quinn."
