Roy Keane’s determination to manage Irish expectations ahead of Sunday’s World Cup qualifier with Austria is the sort of thing Theresa May might usefully learn from in the unlikely event she leads the Tories into another major election campaign.
Confronted with questions containing the implication that Ireland really should win this weekend, Keane came out swinging. Austria, the message was, will be dangerous just now.
There was even an unexpected hint of melodrama from Ireland’s assistant manager as he contemplated the challenge that awaits the players at the Aviva Stadium.
Out of form and sorts and almost out of players, Austria will nevertheless pose a major threat, he insisted, and the locals must be prepared to make sacrifices if they really are to significantly advance the cause of their country.
“I’ve never underestimated a team in my life, going back to when I was eight years of age,” said the 45 year-old whose mood suggests he is enjoying the build-up to this game. “No, you can’t think like that … we’re not good enough to … this game kicks you in the teeth.
“I don’t ever remember with Ireland having any sort of easy game, even against the so-called minnows of world football. We’ve always found it hard to win football matches and that will be the same on Sunday. We’re in for a tough game. Their record will tell you that; history will tell you that.”
Derision
Keane had reacted with derision to a suggestion that there is some “disarray” in the opposition camp and suggested that, after a close game went against them last November, he would expect Austria to come here with every intention of making amends and securing the victory required to haul them back into contention for a top-two finish.
“Your intention going out in every game of football is to try and win it,” he said. “I can’t comment on the Austrian camp but if they’re coming here to win the game of football then they’re dead right because if I was in their camp I’d be thinking, ‘Let’s go to the Aviva and have a go’, because their record will tell you they’ve got a chance.
“If there is supposed to be disarray in their camp then a draw’s not the end of the world but your mindset going into every game of football has to be, can you win it. If you can’t win it, don’t bloody lose it.”
A year ago, the Austrians might well have been regarded as favourites to win, even here, but not much has gone right for Marcel Koller and his side since they coasted through the qualifying stages of Euro2016.
For Keane, the problems they have encountered come as no great surprise but they should, he says, serve as a warning of how quickly things can turn sour for a team that has achieved some measure of success.
Retired
“It’s difficult to try and maintain that when you’re not an England or France, producing loads of players all the time and playing regularly,” he said. “They’ve had injuries like us and I think a few of their lads obviously retired.
“If they come and win on Sunday, all of a sudden they’re back and they’ll probably be saying there’s disarray in our camp. Disarray can happen within 24 hours, that’s why you’ve got to keep your foot down, you have to try and keep winning. I go back to that rollercoaster, you’re either up here or down there, at the moment we’re not far off the top and we want to stay there. But easier said than done.”
There is, he says, the sense about the place that the players are up for the fight which is just as well as he refers to the game at one stage as “a war”.
“As usual we want players playing on the edge, lads putting their bodies on the line,” he said. “They’ve done that before, players like Séamus Coleman, he broke his leg.
“You go out on the pitch and you put your body on the line, you have to be able to accept that. People have done a lot more for their country than break their legs. People have died for their country. All we’re asking is that they put their bodies on the line to try and win a game.
“They’ve got to give everything they have got. I’ve always had that mindset, but we want that from this group of players because we are going into battle on Sunday. You have to put your body on the line like Séamus did. You give everything and then hopefully we get a few moments of quality to win the game.”
