Sweden, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Hungary, we all have our own opinion of who we would like the Republic of Ireland to face in Sunday's Euro 2016 playoff draw, but the real question is Are we worthy of a place in the Euro's in the first place?
The table doesn't lie, in truth we don't deserve to be above Germany or Poland in the table even though Richard Keogh could have changed all that had he not missed a glorious chance at the death in Warsaw on Sunday last. Fact remains we finished 4 points behind the World Champions in our group having taken 4 points off them, we took 1 point from Scotland who finished below us and 1 point from an average Poland side apart from Robert Lewandowski.
Our failure, or rather Manager Martin O'Neill's failure to trust his players or his failure to let his footballers play football, cost us a place in the top two which was there for the taking. The fact that three teams were going for automatic qualification on the final day confirms this.
We have the players who have the heart and desire to play football. No supporter wants to see their side loft the ball up to the big 6ft striker up top and watch him attempt to knock it down in the hope an incoming teammate can get on the end of it. This is not why we watch football. Sure enough we all have fond memories of Big Jack Charlton but those days are gone. We all watched our disastrous Euro 2012 campaign under Giovanni Trapattoni and if we get there again I feel we are in for a repeat performance.
O'Neill has got to get the ball on the ground passing to each other and give loyal Irish fans something worth turning up for. There is a notion that Ireland don't have the players and we have to play this way, this is nonsense. When you have a player like Wes Hoolahan in your squad and you start him on the bench in a game in Poland which in reality you have nothing to lose, you know the manager doesn't trust the player or the manager only knows one way to play. Not wanting to sound like Eamon Dunphy but it is a crying shame that Wes Hoolahan at 33 years of age is not an Ireland regular, the guy should have over 100 caps. Players like Hoolahan want to play football. James McCarthy too has come in for a lot of criticism over the campaign, if Ireland were allowed to play football we would also see the best of him. Shane Long took five minutes off the bench against Germany to show what he can do. Players like Coleman, Long, Walters and Hoolahan have the passion and the ability to play with freedom in a team, It must be soul destroying to play in that system. No wonder a player of Jack Grealish's potential turned down the opportunity to play in that side or under that manager.
As much as I'd like us to go through I'd rather Martin O'Neill be replaced by a football manager that wants to play football. Unless Martin O'Neill changes his thinking we are on a hiding to nothing. The World Cup 2018 draw has been reasonably kind to Ireland and we should go into that qualifying campaign with the mind set of a team that believes in each other and with the full trust of a manager that believes he has a team capable of qualifying for the tournament. We don't have to look to far for inspiration, Wales and Northern Ireland are on their way to France next Summer, apart from Gareth Bale the only difference between their teams and us is their unity in the team and the manager's trust in his team to perform the way they all believe they can. If you go into a game believing you can win more often than not and with a bit of luck you will win. If you go into a game like Poland in a game that you know that you will qualify with a win and you leave out your most creative player, you will lose. No team wins anything without belief.
I feel Martin O'Neill still doesn't know his best side. Maybe he is just old school set in his ways. I for one would love to see some passion and desire in our team with players given the freedom to play football. Fact remains if O'Neill gets through the play offs we will all be happy until we get there and go home with our heads down again. If we don't get there for the sake of Irish football and with a realistic chance of automatic qualification for 2018 we need the FAI to step up and release O'Neill from his post and bring in a football manager that wants to play football.
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