Ireland manager reveals Evan Ferguson hope as he shares his early impressions of the Brighton striker
Evan Ferguson came off the bench as a late substitute in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to England.
Evan Ferguson is expected to feature at some point in Tuesday’s Nations League clash with Greece.
But Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson, who handed Evan Ferguson his first appearance since Brighton’s defeat to Liverpool at the end of March - has a longer-term vision for the 19-year-old.
He is hopeful that Ferguson will be fully fit for next month’s double header when Ireland are away to both Finland and Greece.
Hallgrímsson shared his thoughts on working with the Meathman over the past week, saying: “He’s coming back and I’m really happy with him, how he’s been doing the sessions with us.
“If you look at his numbers, his running numbers etcetera, he’s done more this week than in previous weeks with the club. So he is improving all the time.
“Hopefully in another month he will be in better shape. The kid is willing to do the work, he is willing to do well. Hopefully he will start to play and that will probably quicken his fitness levels.”
Hallgrímsson insisted that Tuesday’s game would be even more important for his side than the England one.
“That was the message that I was trying to get out before this camp,” he said.
“I think for Ireland and the league and going forward it is really important to be in Group B.
“But everybody probably expects England to win the group, so it is between us and Greece and Finland to be second. So it’s open and that is why this game is massively important.
“Having them now at home, the players will know Greece, it’s more or less the same squad as played in the Euros.
“So hopefully we can change what happened in the Euros (when Greece won both qualifiers against Ireland), both here and away.”
He added that there would be subtle changes made in Tuesday’s game-plan compared to Saturday’s.
“It’s not my philosophy to jump from one thing to another. There will always be tweaks,” he said.
“But it should be the same principle in how we do things, how we defend, how we attack.”
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