O'Neill realistic about Hoops progress

Michael O’Neill met the press on Wednesday afternoon just 24 hours before his Shamrock Rovers side kick-off their Europa League group campaign against Russian side Rubin Kazan.

Having already overcome Flora Tallinn and Partizan Belgrade in European competition the Rovers boss was well aware that this latest challenge represents yet another step up the ladder, both in terms of the opposition that his side will face and the experience that they will gain.

“We’re under no illusions about the quality of the opposition”, he said. “They’re the Russian champions in two of the last three years. They’ve been in the Champions League group stages for the last two seasons, so the pedigree is there. We expect probably our most difficult game in Europe this year. I think, again, we’ll be asked to go up a level against a team that is consistently knocking on the door of the Champions League [group stages]. I’m sure they’re disappointed they’re not in it this season. We watched them closely against Lyon, who are a top side. It was a very acutely contested game, not very much in the tie at all, so it’s a big, big challenge for us”.

In terms of the level of expectation that his side now face, O’Neill was unequivocal, the pressure is very much on the other team.

“The expectation level is with Kazan”, said O’Neill, “and we have everything to gain from this game, and the other five games that we will play in the Europa League. I suppose we’re paddling furiously beneath the surface of the water to continue to make these things happen and to compete as a team and that’s what our aim is. We believe we can take points in the competition... particularly at home, and we have a chance tomorrow night to prove that. Equally, we’re not in a two legged situation anymore and that should help us play in a slightly more relaxed fashion.”

“Past performance gives us belief and confidence. We’ve played, I think, ten European fixtures and in no game have we been totally outclassed. Juventus, Copenhagen, Partizan, Yehuda as well. That’s where the confidence [comes from] and the experience of those games gives us belief. Why not go a stage further now and take points off teams in the group stages? The players improve with every game in Europe, their shape, their discipline and also, most importantly, their belief and their confidence.”

Asked about his team selection for the game. O’Neill offered some insight into the inner workings of a football club prior to a big game, and it seems that the players will be left on tenterhooks as to who will play and who will not, until the eleventh hour.

“I know what the team will be. I haven’t told the players yet. We’ve worked through some stuff today and I’m sure they’ll form their own opinions from that. We have a lot of options in midfield and I think will obviously be a key part of the game tomorrow night. All of these games for us have been squad games, fourteen man games, and tomorrow night will be no different. So I have emphasised to the players who don’t start the game that their roles could be significant. You only have to look at the game in Belgrade with Kilduff, Sheppard and O’Donnell’s impact coming into the game, the effect that had on the result. [They all] had a big factor in why we’re here now. I know the team that will start the game but I’ll not disclose it to the players until, probably, an hour and a half before kick off”.

Ultimately, O’Neill feels that the outcome of the six Europa League games that his side face should not become a burden on the club, rather that the club’s achievements to date should remain in focus. Asked about the possibility of his team making it through to the knockout stages he preferred to be realistic than stoke any unlikely ambitions.

“We have to be realistic about this. I think it would be an enormous achievement for a club like us to progress out of the group stages. I would imagine that from a financial viewpoint we’re possibly the club with the smallest budget that has ever competed in the group stages of a European competition. What we have proved to date is that [with] good organisation, good application from the players and good players, that it’s possible for us to get to the stage we’re at now. And, while we’ll never say that we’re just here to fulfill the fixtures, I think we have to be realistic. The European games will probably take the squad to over 60 competitive games this year, an enormous amount of games for part time players, and I think people have to recognise the achievements of the players so far without burdening them with other expectations.”