Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland, Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Thursday, 7.45pm – Live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm
If Stephen Kenny could have one wish granted ahead of the game in Sofia on Thursday night it might just that Ireland's opponents are as poor as they were almost a year ago in Dublin. Krassimir Balakov's side made quite a few of Ireland's peripheral players look made for the international stage that night. A big win in Bulgaria now might be similarly regarded as early evidence of the new manager's pedigree.
Man for man, the visitors look likely to be comfortably the better side again even if, as seems to be the case, their hosts have improved under Balakov's successor. Kenny has pointed to Bulgaria's win last November over the Czech Republic as evidence of higher standards but the Czechs, it should be noted, had already qualified for Euro2020 before that game was played and Georgi Dermendzhiev has barely half the players that started the game in his current squad.
The group now contains just a handful of players at clubs outside the country and not one who features in one of the continent’s big five leagues.
Nevertheless, at his pre-match press conference Kenny denied his side can even be regarded as favourites to win the game. “We’re away from home and in international football you have to earn everything,” he said. “We have the greatest respect for Bulgaria and know that anything we get, we’ll have to earn. We’ll fight hard for every point, it’s not something that we’d assume.”
Because of coronavirus, the circumstances will feel strange inside an almost empty stadium and the Irish squad’s preparations have already been heavily influenced by the need to observe all of the protocols. Still the game looks from a distance like an opportunity for Kenny to become the fifth new Ireland manager in six to kick his stint off with a victory.
The 48-year-old insists he has not yet picked his team and while it is hard to imagine he does not have of best part of it well worked out in his head, there is certainly plenty to ponder.
The presence of Séamus Coleman at the top table on Wednesday night seems to confirm the generally held view that he will start. Dropping the captain would have been quite a statement but unless Matt Doherty is to somehow be accommodated elsewhere in the team then the Everton veteran is retained on the basis of his stature rather than the pair's respective form and he may do well to stay the team over the coming months.
The most obvious way to play the pair of them would be to start Coleman on the right of a defensive three with Doherty and Enda Stevens used as wing backs but Kenny said earlier on Wednesday that he did not expect to do that. If he is true to his word then accommodating the newly signed Tottenham wing back starts, perhaps, to become too troublesome.
James McCarthy is, it seems, fit to feature and so we may start to see if he really can become the focal point of an approach that is intended to involve a good deal more passing through midfield.
Beyond that, it is not clear whether the manager intends to play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with supporting evidence for each and McCarthy aside, there is barely a player in front of the goalkeeper and defence who looks entirely sure of his place.
Asked about a shift in shape at the back, Kenny suggested it would be too radical a move when he has had so little time on the training ground and so there is a sense that the new manager might also ease himself gently into things with a few familiar faces.
Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah could well both feature but so too might James McClean and Shane Long. The former is something of old favourite of the manager's from their days together at Derry and it would be nice to imagine that Kenny might channel some of the player's boundless energy and commitment a little more effectively than his predecessors.
Coleman, while at pains to make the point that he was not criticising any of them, said that the players have been provided with plenty of information about the task in hand. Earning the insurance of a Nations League playoff will take rather more doing for the World Cup than it did for the European Championships but a win here would be a significant step in the right direction. For everyone concerned.
Probable teams
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Randolph (West Ham); Coleman (Everton), Duffy (Celtic), Egan (Sheffield United), Stevens (Sheffield United); McCarthy (Crystal Palace), Arter (Fulham); Connolly (Brighton), Hendrick (Newcstle United), McClean (Stoke City); Long (Southampton).
BULGARIA: Georgiev (Cherno More); Cicinho (Ludogorets), Dimitrov (Hajduk Split), Nedyalkov (Ludogorets), Zanev (CSKA Sofia); Kostadinov (Arsenal Tula), Malinov (Leuven); Nedelev (Botev Plodiv), Karabelyov (Slavia Sofia), Karagaren (Lokomotiv Plodiv); Kraev (Midtjylland).
Referee: Manuel Schüttengruber (Austria).
