Republic of Ireland assistant coach Keith Andrews woke up on Sunday morning thinking of ways to stop a world-class striker in Erling Haaland, but hours later shared those concerns with another footballing superstar , Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.
Haaland will be the first on November 17 when Norway visit for an international friendly where Ireland will try to knock out a player who has scored 15 goals in just nine Premier League appearances this season.
Sunday’s Euro 2024 draw then pitted Stephen Kenny’s side against France and the Netherlands, meaning two clashes [27 March, 2023 and 7 September, 2023] with the top scorer in Ligue 1 for the past four seasons.
“Yesterday at this time I woke up thinking about Haaland and this morning I woke up thinking about Mbappe,” Andrews told 2FM’s Game On as he reflected on the team’s nightmarish Euro 2024 draw. .
“The draw, there’s no two ways to look at it, it could have been nicer.
“When you watch the draw live and see the pots and think ‘B, C, try to avoid those two’, especially with France falling in pot two – they’ve always been a team no one really wanted with the type of players they have.
“It’s still fresh, [we’re] doing our due diligence, having discussions today and having a few Zooms chatting through the logistics.
“Obviously it will be a challenge that we will have to face head-on, a challenge that we will be eager to plan for. It will be a very difficult task, no doubt with the level of opposition.”
While many Irish fans already view the play-off route as the best chance of qualification, Andrews surmised that the players themselves would sincerely believe they could shock France or the Netherlands.
“I think they believe in it, me really,” he said.
“I’ve said it to the players and I probably haven’t said it enough publicly…this is an incredible group to work with, to coach, to be there on a daily basis. They buy into absolutely everything we try to achieve. .
“I think they believe in it, I really do.
“When you look back and think about some games, out of two games against Portugal, we deserved more than one point, I think that’s fair enough to accept.
“It won’t take much for the players to believe in what we’re doing, how we’re going to try and go about it. What we need to bring is a bit of consistency and when you play against the top teams like we’re going to to see him in this next campaign, you have to be clinical, your concentration levels have to be on top.
“It’s a group effort, so when the substitutes know their role around set pieces, how we deal with situations in games, continue to be a threat from our set piece and manage their kick stopped.
“All of these components fit into it, but from a belief standpoint, I don’t see that as a problem.”
Before the start of this qualifying campaign, there is a November friendly window which begins with Norway arriving at the Aviva, followed by a trip to Malta on November 20.
Kenny and his management team were once again the subject of much debate after their last Nations League window resulted in a defeat in Scotland and a win against Armenia where the team blew a two-goal lead before Robbie Brady netted a late penalty after the visitors had been reduced to nine men.
Andrews said criticism is an integral part of the job, but he’s confident the team continues to move in the right direction.
“I’m not looking for articles and opinions if I’m being completely honest, but obviously it’s hard to block everything out. I spend a lot of time in Ireland and you always hear little bits of information whether it’s through of friends or family.
“In an ideal world everyone is absolutely supportive of the team, they’re fully supported, the reality is that won’t always happen.
“We live in a free country and people are entitled to our opinion.
“I was in there [media] president before so that I don’t get hurt too much by some of the comments I hear. The only thing I will say is that it doesn’t take my time, really.
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“I’m fully focused and I fully believe in what we’re trying to do. We have to, in my opinion, develop a team. We’re not a development team, but we have to develop a new team, a new way of playing. it will be very useful to us.
“Was he absolutely perfect? Of course not. I think the big thing we have to find in the games, the months, the campaigns to come is consistency.
“When you look back at periods of games and full games, in some cases there were some brilliant moments, some brilliant individual performances. I think collectively, as a group, we kept improving and that must be the case in the next campaign.”
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