Ranking all 31 Ireland players used by Heimir Hallgrimsson in Nations League campaign

Of those 31 players, 23 featured in starting-11s across the Nations League campaign.

By: irishmirror.ie

Nov 18 2024
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Ranking all 31 Ireland players

Heimir Hallgrímsson says the time for experimenting is over.

Having used a total of 31 players across his first six games in charge, including 23 different starters, we can expect more consistency in selection when the international calendar resumes next March.

Mark McGuinness and Tom Cannon were players 30 and 31 to be utilised across the Nations League campaign.

Ipswich defender McGuinness started at centre-back in Sunday’s 5-0 thumping against England and Cannon came on as a late substitute.

Just two players were ever-present across the six games - Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and Brentford’s Nathan Collins.

Still reeling from the shock of conceding five in the second-half, including three in a dizzying five-minute spell early in the second-half, in which Liam Scales saw red, Hallgrímsson explained that he had seen enough throughout the campaign to evaluate the options available to him.

“It has been a good time for me,” he said. “Probably you know more, you had ideas what these players could do, Now, I’ve seen them myself.

“It was necessary for me to give them a chance to show what they can do.

“For example, even though it was a terrible position, Andy Moran came in and showed he was confident to play at this level.

“You always get answers. The answers are not always how you want them to be. But all answers are good because it moves you forward.

“It moves you to take decisions going forward. Maybe you knew something but I needed to see all these players going into the World Cup.”

Sammie Szmodics was the only other player to make six starts, although he only finished one of those games.

Robbie Brady, Josh Cullen and Chiedozie Ogbene would likely have fallen into that category were it not for their respective injuries.

So that’s six players that we can expect to see in Hallgrímsson’s preferred 11 next year, by the time the World Cup qualifiers come around.

Dara O’Shea played all six games, but one of those began from the bench, as did Evan Ferguson (four starts, two as sub).

Jason Knight’s suspension against England denied him a clean sweep (four starts and one sub appearance).

With Gavin Bazunu unlikely to shift Kelleher upon his return from his Achilles tendon injury, fitness concerns aside we can see the makings of a Hallgrímsson 11 begin to develop.

There will be tactical tweaks. Ireland will find themselves in a difficult World Cup group, with two higher-ranked teams set to be drawn alongside the Boys in Green.

So the Nathan Collins experiment on Sunday is likely to be repeated.

“You could see that again,” Hallgrímsson said. “I’ve told you guys, and I try to be consistent in what I’m saying, we will need to play teams like England away and we will need to defend for long spells in the games.

“And if we do that as well as we did in the first-half, we have a chance against everyone, any team.”

We will never know how effective Collins’ deployment ahead of a back-four would have been across 90 minutes at Wembley, because of his enforced move back into defence after the Scales sending off.

But those first 50 minutes offered a tantalising glimpse into just how Ireland can live with the bigger nations.

Some of the questions that Hallgrímsson will stew over across the Christmas and New Year period will include whether Festy Ebosele, who made a big impact during his three starts and one substitute appearance, fits into his ideal-11.

Or does Chiedozie Ogbene slip back in once he returns, in the second-half of the year, from his own Achilles nightmare?

And is Szmodics a second striker alongside Evan Ferguson? Or is he the answer on the left, with Mikey Johnston not offering enough consistency?

Despite the Wembley result, Hallgrímsson believes progress has been made across the Nations League campaign.

“Yeah, I think so. If we look back when we played them at home and this, even though the goal-scoring was different, I think this was a different game,” he said.

“We could have, and maybe should have, taken the lead in the game (the Evan Ferguson penalty appeal). It would have changed the whole lot if we’d taken the lead.

“But then, this last 30-35 minutes, it’s difficult to criticise, it’s really difficult to criticise. But again it’s still embarrassing to lose five-zero.

“I think 11 v 11, we played really well out of possession. I think we really played well until the first goal.

“It was in possession when we had our most dangerous moments when we won it, and then

lost it again. That was when England had their chances.

“So, we need to grow from in possession rather than out of possession.”

31 players

Here’s how the 31 players used so far under Hallgrímsson rank - injuries aside - ahead of the March play-off, from dead cert starters to definitely benched.

Given that Ireland will face one of Slovakia, Kosovo, Bulgaria or Armenia, it’s safe to say that he will go with a four-man defence, with Nathan Collins dropping back. In the list of probable starters, we look at the players who will go head-to-head for their starting spots, with one exception, as Mikey Johnston and Andy Moran are not like-for-like.

So Johnston would feature on the left of a 4-4-2, while Moran’s inclusion would see Sammie Szmodics start on the left of a 4-2-3-1. Liam Scales will serve a suspension for the first-leg at least, allowing Mark McGuinness another chance to feature.