Michael O'Neill worries Northern Ireland have forgotten how to win games

 

Rory Dollard
Thursday 13 September 2012 10:36 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Michael O'Neill, the Northern Ireland coach, admits that after watching Luxembourg snatch an unlikely 1-1 draw at Windsor Park, he is worried his men have forgotten how to win.

Nigel Worthington, O'Neill's predecessor, lost his last four games in charge of the national side. Since O'Neill's appointment, there have been three defeats and two draws.

Now, having seen his team somehow fail to take maximum points from a match in which they had the overwhelming majority of chances, O'Neill is concerned the lack of victories is becoming self-perpetuating.

"There may be an issue there or an element of that," he conceded after Dean Shiels' maiden international goal was cancelled out with just four minutes left by a heavily deflected Daniel Da Mota effort.

"There was a bit of anxiety in our play and that comes from results. We probably let anxiety creep into our play too easily and our performance suffered as a result. We saw players do things we wouldn't expect. The only way to change it is to win games and that's going to take a bit of time."

O'Neill was particularly disappointed by his side's showing after half-time, adding: "The players know themselves they let their standards drop in the second half."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in