Martin O'Neill: It's important for the nation

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has not shied away from the enormity of this weekend's Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland, saying: “It's important for the nation.”
 

The Republic of Ireland go into the Group D clash in fourth place, two points behind the Scots in the play-off spot at the midway stage of the qualification campaign. Victory would see the Boys in Green leapfrog Gordon Strachan's side in the table heading into the home stretch of the race to reach France 2016.

However, defeat would be a huge body blow at this point, with a home tie with Germany and an away trip to Poland on the final day among Ireland's four remaining games. After two friendly games and two weeks of build-up during which everybody has been speculating on tactics and team selection, O'Neill has now made it clear that he is sending out a side to take all three points and nothing else.

“I don't really know the approach of Scotland, but I know what our approach is – we're going to try and win the game,” O'Neill told media the pre-match press conference at the Raddison Hotel.

“That's very important. We're at X number of matches in the group, we're halfway through this now and we have games at home to try and take some advantage of, and that late goal against Poland [scored by Shane Long to give Ireland a 1-1 home draw back in March] funnily enough has still given us that big lift.”

Responding to a question about how a defensive approach from Gordon Strachan's side could affect the game, O'Neill replied:

“For us, not only to close the gap on Scotland but to actually go in front of them, a win takes care of that. But in terms of their approach, I think it's difficult to set your mindset out for a draw in the game, especially in a match of almost massive derby proportions. I don't see it like that, I think Scotland will be attempting to try and win the game and naturally that's our own ambition."

A set-piece routine by the Scots undone O'Neill's side last time out, with Shaun Maloney profiting to score in the 75^th minute of the November meeting between the sides in Celtic Park to give Strachan's men a 1-0 victory. O'Neill believes “passion and desire will constitute much of the game” but has also urged his players to strike a balance between heart and composure.

“I never really understand what that means, really about playing the occasion,” said O'Neill. “I think it is an occasion, I think it's there and you can't deny that it's a big occasion. The point is this here, I think that [now] we've made it to the game, you have to play with that desire, that great occasion.

“Mix it, but you have to be cool too, cool under pressure as well – try and eliminate silly mistakes in the game. Things that you think 20 minutes later 'What was I doing there? What was I thinking about?' I think all of that there should be brought into the calculations over the game.

“I think that the less big mistakes you make and the more composed you feel under this sort of pressure, the better you'll perform.”

The Ireland boss has since watched re-watched the game in Glasgow and still believes very little separated the sides on the night.

“My viewpoint at the end of the match didn't really vary too much having seen it a couple of times back,” said O'Neill. “I thought there was very little between the sides on that particular night. I don't think that they caused us endless problems in the game, we might not have caused them too many either. But we are at home this time, we feel as if we are stronger and we want to make use of that.”