A DIAMOND that failed to sparkle against Poland, but Northern Ireland players still believe they can pick up precious points against Ukraine.
Tactics were a major talking point on the night, with Michael O’Neill’s men looking like a 5-3-1-1 for much of the match, but Paddy McNair insisted the idea was to be slightly more attacking than that:
“It was meant to be a diamond in the midfield but we just couldn’t get the ball, Poland moved it very well and it ended up me playing right wing and then moved to the ‘10’ and it was a tough first half. They had a lot of the ball.
“Michael said push on a bit more but it was hard to really create anything. It was frustrating,” acknowledged the Manchester United player.
The 21-year-old covered plenty of ground but, as he said, struggled to get possession, and was substituted at half-time. His replacement, Stuart Dallas, initially came on at right midfield, with skipper
Steven Davis reverting to the point behind lone striker Kyle Lafferty, but further formation tweaks followed.
Goalkeeper Michael McGovern insisted that the various systems were not to blame for the defeat:
“The formation was five defenders, a diamond in midfield with Davis in behind Kyle, but in the second half we brought Stuart Dallas on for a bit more pace and then Conor [Washington] so we ended up with two up front.
“The players just adapt to the formations, we have been very well prepared and the manager is prepared to play different systems and it’s not a problem.
“When you’re chasing the game, chasing the result the formation is always going to change.”
Put simply, the Enniskillen man felt that NI did not perform to a sufficient standard:
“I don’t think we played anywhere near as well as we can, we can play a lot better and we are disappointed. It was all built up to the first game against Poland but we were very disappointed in the way we performed.”
However, the Hamilton Academical goalkeeper is looking forward positively, saying:
“The good thing from our point of view though is that we can go again on Thursday and if we win the next game things look completely different.
“We can’t afford to dwell on this for very long we just have to pick the bones out of it and realise where we went wrong, but we have another opportunity against Ukraine and I feel we can play a lot better and definitely get a result.”
Northern Ireland fans in fine voice during the Poland game:
Deafening here. I said DEAFENING HERE! @NorthernIreland #POLNIR #GAWA pic.twitter.com/thl9vh5kbt
— Irish News Sport (@irishnewssport) June 12, 2016
For all Poland’s pressure and possession, the 31-year-old was not called into action too often, only once to make a serious save, protected by three Barclays Premier League centre-halves in fine form.
“I had one or two saves to make, I actually enjoyed the game, from a personal point of view, I felt happy and relaxed and enjoyed the occasion but was disappointed not to keep a clean sheet.
“I think 0-0 was, the way we played, the best we could have hoped for as I don’t think we created that many chances, so that is maybe something we have to look at.”
The goal he did concede, from Arek Milik in the 51st minute, eventually brought Northern Ireland’s recent 12-game unbeaten run to and end.
McNair, in particular, is unused to defeat, pointing out: “It’s our first game in over a year that we’ve lost. It’s disappointing.
“It’s only my second defeat in a Northern Ireland top in 10 games. It’s frustrating but I’m sure on Thursday we’ll bounce back with a better performance.”
That previous loss, for both McNair and the north, was away against Scotland in a friendly in March 2015, but the rarity value did not lessen the hurt, admitted McNair:
“It was very disappointing, losing the first game of the tournament, it always is. We just have to bounce back and look forward to Thursday. Poland are a good side, they deserved the win on the day.”
Yet, like McGovern, he too is not despondent, declaring: “Of course we’ll go into Thursday confident. We’re in the tournament for a reason, because we’re good enough, so I don’t see why we can’t get a result against Ukraine.”
Northern Ireland fans are looking forward to the Ukraine match:
