O'Neill looking to lord it over his former tenant

Macdara Ferris reports from Copenhagen

Having got his side to the European Championship last year in France, Martin O’Neill is on the verge of progression to the World Cup in Russia next year.

He is well aware of the significance of what is up for grabs against Denmark in the playoff starting with Saturday’s first leg in Copenhagen.

“Qualifying for the Euros was a great achievement and some of the performances in France were great but the World Cup is something else,” said O’Neill speaking to the assembled Danish and Irish press in the Parken Stadium on Friday evening. “If we could make it, it would be fantastic.”

Between him and that achievement is his old tenant, Denmark manager Age Hareide. The pair played together at both Manchester City and Norwich City, with O’Neill renting out a room in his house for Hareide at one stage and the pair have kept in touch since the end of their playing days.

At the earlier press conference, Hareide had said that O’Neill was a good landlord but that in terms of management O’Neill has a side that is “easy to read. They don’t change from game to game and you see the same style of play.”

When O’Neill was asked about those comments by extratime.ie he said “if you watch a lot of Denmark, they have a similar pattern for most of the games.

“They might have a stronger choice of player in the sense that they have players on the bench playing in the big leagues throughout Europe.

“I don’t necessarily concur with that view. I’ve been in this national job for four years – three of them in competitive action – and I think that in the 24 qualifiers, we’ve played a lot of teams and I think there is a general pattern with a lot of sides.

“Some sides change, albeit different players may come in. With the Danish side, it is pretty similar. We know what to expect from them.

“It will be tough but we are in a playoff so that is tough. They are the seeded side and so there is an expectation that they might get through but we have overcome adversity in the last few years.”

In the playoff draw, Ireland were thankful to avoid Italy but O’Neill wasn’t underestimating the challenge ahead for the Boys in Green.

“Because of the quality and the experience that Italy would have had, I don’t think any of the non-seeded sides wanted them.

“We are unseeded so we are naturally going to draw a seeded side. Because it wasn’t Italy, it isn’t fine. This will be tough. Denmark have a lot of quality.”

Our match preview is available here.

For managerial reaction from Denmark:

Hareide hoping for more happy days https://t.co/iRbZrhQhU0pic.twitter.com/F68mlxYsgW

— Extratime.ie (@ExtratimeNews) November 10, 2017