Ireland star Chiedozie Ogbene explains why the time for learning on the job is over
Ireland host Greece at Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night, hoping to bounce back after the 2-0 defeat to England
Chiedozie Ogbene admits the time for learning on the job is over as Ireland chase meaningful results under Heimir Hallgrimsson.
The new Ipswich Town recruit knows this relatively young squad must shed the L plates and become cut-throat in their approach if they are to qualify for tournaments.
Hallgrimsson made a losing start on Saturday, with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish returning to haunt the Boys in Green in England’s 2-0 stroll at Aviva Stadium.
READ MORE: New Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson on fallout from England defeat as clock ticks down to Greece
But the Icelander has always maintained that tomorrow’s Greece game is the more important match of this double-header, as it’s off a closer fighting weight.
Recent results against Greece suggest there will be nothing easy about it, of course. They quickly became a thorn in Stephen Kenny’s side in the last Euros campaign.
Kenny targeted the game in Athens last summer as a big opportunity for his team to register a signature win.
Doing so, he felt, would provide the platform to kick on and qualify.
Ireland prepared at a warm-weather training camp in Turkey and the build-up was smooth, but the performance in Athens was anything but.
The 2-1 defeat signalled the end of Ireland’s qualification hopes and was also the beginning of the end for Kenny who then lost to Greece at home soon after.
Gus Poyet loved rubbing Ireland’s nose in it and even touted himself to be Kenny’s successor, but he’s no longer in charge having been replaced by Ivan Jovanović.
But it’s precisely that soft underbelly that let Ireland down over the last three years, registering just six competitive wins in the Kenny era.
Now the St Pat’s manager, he did blood a new squad of players, but with results the way they were, was always going to be the enabler for the next man in.
Hallgrimsson is now in charge of a relatively young crop who have gained valuable international experience in that time.
Ogbene is one of them, having become an instant fan favourite after bursting onto the scene under Kenny in 2021.
But he’s 27 now and knows there’s only so long that he and his team-mates can claim they are only a team in the making.
Ogbene said: “I’ve been here with the international team just over two or three years and we’re demanding a lot now.
“At the start I was learning, trying to understand the game. Now we have a higher amount of players in the Premier League.
“We have to put pressure on ourselves. We can’t be learning, we want to be winning games for our country, we want to be going to big competitions.
“So I’m not going to sit here anymore and say we need to learn - we learnt a lot in the past.
“Ultimately international football is about getting results and I believe the manager will set us up right to get results.”
Ogbene, who joined Ipswich before the window shut after a season in the Premier League with Luton Town, continued: “International football is very difficult.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, you know it’s very difficult to win a game. I don’t want to sit here and tell you that we’re going to go and beat Greece.
“All I’m going to tell you is we’re going to try and put out a performance to try and win the game.
“For us to say we’re going to beat Greece who were previously European Champions (in 2004), I’d be quite naive to say that.
“All I know is we have to respect them, be on the front foot and try and win the game, especially on our home field.”
While Ogbene is stopping short of making bullish predictions about tomorrow night, he knows it’s the acid test for this group.
Yes, it’s early days under the new manager and you’re not going to see his true stamp on the side after just six training sessions and one match.
Fundamentally, Hallgrimsson wants to make the team harder to beat and that’s a sensible starting point, even if England tore his team to shreds.
On the same night, Greece dismantled group rivals Finland 3-0, so Ireland are still up against it tomorrow.
“The two balls in behind cost us the game against England, and we were never really able to get a foothold,” said Cork man Ogbene.
“But the likes of Greece and Finland, without being disrespectful, those are the ones we want to battle against and pick up points from.
“Obviously we wanted to pick up points against England and see what happens, but against Greece and Finland we have to put pressure on ourselves to pick points up.”
And Ogbene continued: “It would have been naive to have confidently said ‘we’re going to beat the likes of England’.
“These guys regularly go to the big competitions that we dream of going to.
“We were a bit better in the second-half and the week we’ve had with the manager, I’m hoping it will shine through against the likes of Greece and Finland.”
But while Hallgrimsson is stripping back Ireland’s approach - with the intention of being more compact and harder to beat - Ogbene knows it will be a work in progress.
Not that Ireland can afford the time, if the players are true to their word about delivering the results by any means necessary to reach tournaments.
But it’s the nature of international football that a new manager’s message can take time to bed in.
Asked if it was easy to take on the information and bring it into games, Ogbene said: “I’ll be honest with you, no, it’s not because everyone plays for different clubs.
“Everyone has different philosophies so we all have to leave that behind and come in and adapt.
“The manager wants more of a compact shape and maybe we can press from that. With Stephen Kenny, we were more aggressive.
“We just have to pick our moments. (Hallgrimsson’s) philosophy is quite different but we just have to fine tune it.
“We’re professional footballers, we're all in a privileged position and the top players have to adapt quickly.”
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