O'Neill wants to forget Nations League was ever invented

Macdara Ferris reports from Windsor Park

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill joked that his team need "to forget the Nations League was ever invented and go and be ready to play in March."

An injury goal left his team with four defeats from their four UEFA Nations League games. However despite their relegation to League C, O’Neill did find the positives both in terms of his team’s performance on Sunday evening and in the players that he has “battle hardened” across the last few months for the EURO 2020 qualifiers that begin next Spring.

“When you look back, what do you want from this competition?” asked O’Neill when chatting with the media in Windsor Park after the 2-1 loss to Austria.

“We wanted to try and develop the team and I genuinely think we have done that. The negatives are the results, not the performances. 

“Has it given players the experience they need? Yes, it I think has. Has it developed the team and the style we want to play? That is the case as well. 

“The good thing is if we had lost games like this in the Euros, we’d be despondent as the damage would be much greater than losing in the Nations League. 

“Ultimately it has deprived us of a potential play off place. It means we’ll be in League C and we can live with that as there are good teams there. The damage is limited for us. 

“The upside is the development of the team and it is worth it. We had to get younger players into the team, some with very limited club football behind them. Hopefully the experience will make us ready and battled hardened for March and what lies ahead.”

The draw for the EURO 2020 qualifiers takes place in Dublin on Sunday week and of course some of the final tournament games will take place in Dublin, along with matches in Glasgow and London.

extratime.ie asked O’Neill if potentially being part of those games nearby is an incentive for the players but it is all about getting to the tournament for him, not about where the games are to be played.

“We could have games in Baku. The fans will go wherever they have to go. They have proven that.

“The main thing for us as a squad and as a nation is that we watched from the outside for so long. Teams were going to tournaments and we never realistically believed that it was going to happen (for Northern Ireland). 

"France changed that. Russia changed that - when we were in their fighting till the last minute of the playoff game. We have to put on a similar campaign in the next Euro qualifiers.

“We will care little about playing in Kazakhstan. The main thing is the team is ready to compete in the Euros. You could have a wonderful Nations League and maybe think you are in a better position than you are and expectations get extremely high. The boys believe they are capable of mounting another challenge to qualify again."

Scoreless at half-time, Austria took the lead just four minutes after the restart before Corry Evans got an equaliser. The home team pushed on but got caught out just before the referee’s final whistle.

“We got to grips with the game and reacted well to going a goal behind. I felt until 80 minutes we looked more liable to win the game. We pushed harder than they did. 

“We are attacking at one end and we got punished at the other end. Stuart [Dallas] could have put the ball out of play and the referee would have blown the whistle at that time. 

“It is an Alaba-Arnautovic combination and the lad Lazaro scored with a fantastic finish and that separates the teams. 

“It’s sickening to lose a game like that as I don’t think we deserved to lose the game.”

“There’s a lot more positives for us in terms of the performance than negatives but ultimately we lost the game so that’s a negative,” concluded O’Neill. 

Heartbreak for Northern Ireland as Valentino Lazaro scores late winner at Windsor Park leaving Austria celebrating. Match report from Belfast: https://t.co/bhnmuQsc7Zpic.twitter.com/GncBdNAazH

— Macdara Ferris (@macdarabueller) November 18, 2018