McClean believes Roy right to "speak his mind"

Republic of Ireland midfielder James McClean has insisted that Roy Keane was right to criticise the players following their surprise defeat to Belarus at Turners Cross on Tuesday night.

Speaking to the gathered media at his press conference the day after that loss to the Belarusians, who are ranked 77^th in the FIFA world rankings, the assistant manager was heavily critical of side attitude and performance, declaring he was tempted to “kill” a few of them afterwards.

And McClean, who played 78 minutes during that loss in what was Ireland’s last warm up fixture before they jet off to France for the European Championships, admitted the Cork man was right to condemn the players.

“I felt Roy’s comments were pretty much bang on,” said the Derry native.

“He shouted in the dressing room as well, you all know Roy, he’s not afraid to speak his mind and fair pay, that’s the way it should be.

“Not everyone can have a good game but the bare minimum is that you should give 110 per cent in your performance.

“You can come off the pitch after not putting in a good performance but at least you should put a good shift in and give everything you could.”

The former Manchester United captain also reserved minor criticism for McClean, believing the all action midfielder must start contributing more than just tough tackles and start adding more goals to his game, something again the 27 year old was in agreement with.

“You are always working on it,” enthused the West Bromwich Albion playmaker.

“If you can get as many goals and assists as possible then you know its only going to bode well results wise.

“I’ve been lucky enough so far to get 5 international goals but I want to add to that, hopefully I can in the next couple of weeks.”

Former Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni was heavily criticised for the way he prepared his side going into the last European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine, which culminated in an early exit from the competition.

But the former Sunderland man, who was involved in that ill faithed campaign, is hopeful that better preparations this time around will reflect on better performances and results in France.

“The preparations this time has been very good so hopefully the results and the performances are better than in 2012,” explained McClean.

“We fear no one going in, we’re in a tough group, we were in a tough group 4 years ago but this time we have a younger squad and a real togetherness, there’s a real great strong character and bond in the squad and hopefully we can get better results.”

“I feel a lot more part of it than I did 4 years ago, I didn’t even play a second in the qualifiers then I only had two caps before the tournament started.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t play more than I did but now I feel I’ve played the qualifiers I nearly have 40 caps now and I feel a more mature player and person going into this tournament.”

The squad will travel back to Dublin tonight before regrouping for final preparations on Sunday evening, meaning they won’t be afforded the opportunity to attend tonight’s SSE Airtricity league clash between Cork City and Dundalk at Turners Cross.

Although McClean admits he has other things on his mind anyway adding “I’m more worried about Derry’s results to be honest and they’re away to Galway but I think Dundalk’s a superior team.”