Hallgrímsson’s calm will be tested when Ireland take on England and Greece – The Irish Times

There is something quite calming about being around Heimir Hallgrímsson, as if you had come to meet the manager of the Irish men’s football team and ended up in an audience with a wellness app. He never seems too excited or too depressed, not prone to extremes of arrogance or mood swings. He is the kind of man who leaves everyone else arguing about whether the glass is half full or half empty while he goes off to fix the tap.

Of course, whether that kind of zen survives Ireland’s actual football matches remains to be seen. England and Greece arrive at the Aviva in the next ten days and both, in their own way, have been the tormentors of generations of Irish teams looking for a way to improve their position. Hallgrímsson’s sense of equanimity will soon be tested.

For now, though, he has had a drama-free introduction to the job, culminating in the naming of his first team. It is, by his own admission, a 23-man squad that has been chosen as much by John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy as by Hallgrímsson himself. He did not try to make it seem like he had suddenly become an expert on Irish football after just a few weeks in the job. That is unrealistic.

And it’s already clear that he’s not interested in things that aren’t realistic. That applies to everything: selection, style of play, expectations – everything. Hallgrímsson isn’t wedded to a particular formation and doesn’t consider it too important for his Irish teams to learn to play with it.

“I’ve never had a favourite system,” he said. “It’s more about the principles at play, whether we play with three or four at the back. Principles in defence. When we develop our team and our players, it will be easier for us to change formations during the game without any problems.

“The important thing is what suits the players first and foremost, and what suits the game against this opponent. So maybe in the future we can see a change of formation during the game, when the team is really a strong unit and knows the individual tactical instructions and the team tactical instructions. That would be something I would love to see, that we can adjust and change during the game against different opponents.”

If you think that kind of flexibility seems a long way off at the moment, Ireland’s new manager isn’t going to try to change your mind. He’s not going to be a man who stokes culture wars or tries to improve the playing field he faces. Or, for that matter, to water it down. When asked about the idea of ​​his Irish teams playing from the back, he didn’t cling to any kind of dogma.

“In my opinion, having been with the team for such a short time, I think it is something that we will develop slowly. It is not something that can be forced. But this will develop slowly and it will probably be the last thing that happens.

“In possession, the player can relax and make risky passes without losing the ball. Right now, there are more important things than spending all the time preparing the pitch. For me, the important thing is to score a goal. If preparing the pitch helps with that, then we will focus on that.”

There is a combination of these responses that we have not seen from Irish managers for some time. At the end of his tenure, Stephen Kenny’s idealism was not much of a market, and Hallgrímsson’s realism is certainly a change of tone in that regard.

But the Icelander shares with Kenny a sense of humility that was not always present during the Trapattoni and O’Neill years, or even during some of Mick McCarthy’s second years. The last thing Irish football needs from its national coach is for him to feel he is doing the country a favour by taking over. Hallgrímsson does not remotely convey that feeling.

“I am normally quite realistic in every sense. We have a good group of people, both the federation and the players, who are dedicated to doing a good job. Everyone is on board and eager to do their best. That is really encouraging and I have not felt any negativity since I arrived. Maybe I will be spared the first few weeks of the job, but I really feel comfortable to do a good job.”

Of course, England’s first match could go either way. Anything other than a clean thrashing of the two European runners-up will give the new player a fairly long extension of his honeymoon period. Finding his team in a tough cricketing situation will give him all the realism he can handle.

“I’m looking forward to that moment. Everyone has been telling me and saying that it’s like we’re playing just one game, just against England. Everyone says we have to play well against England.

“I always say that there are two games. We play Greece three days later and it is a game that we must not forget and that we must concentrate on. So once we have beaten England, we cannot celebrate for three days and lose to Greece.”

The last comment, “once we’ve beaten England”, was a little joke, delivered with such Nordic coolness that we had to listen to the tape again afterwards to make sure he had said what we thought he had said. And he had said it, and then he had gone on to his real message.

Never too high, never too low. It is a good thing that his reserves of equanimity seem robust, at least. It is hard to imagine that the work in Ireland will do much to replenish them.

Republic of Ireland squad for Nations League matches against England and Greece

Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool) is the best player of the year.

Defenders: England national team players including Séamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Jake O’Brien (Everton), Andrew Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), Liam Scales (Celtic), Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City), Robbie Brady (Preston North End).

Midfielders: Will Smallbone’s (Southampton) players are: Alan Browne (Sunderland), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Kasey McAteer (Leicester City).

Forwards: The Northern Ireland national team players are Adam Idah (Celta), Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion), Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich Town), Chiedozie Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Callum Robinson (Cardiff City) and Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar).

Accessories

Saturday, September 7: Ireland vs England, Aviva Stadium, 17:00

Tuesday, September 10: Ireland vs Greece, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm