Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has told his players to start with intensity against Bulgaria and maintain that approach throughout Tuesday night’s Nations League encounter at Windsor Park.
In three matches in the League C group O’Neill’s team have beaten Luxembourg at home, drew on neutral territory against Belarus and lost away in Bulgaria.
It’s been a mixed bag of results to date. At the start of the campaign O’Neill said top spot in the table was his target. If Northern Ireland are to achieve it, they could do with beating the Bulgarians in Belfast.
“I’m a manager who wants to win games, especially at home,” said the 55-year-old.
“The important thing at home is to show intent and that’s throughout the game.
“We’ve been at our best here when we’ve started with intensity. If you look back at the Luxembourg game there was intent from the outset and we’ve done that with more established teams in the past.
“That is something we have to get into the mentality and psychology of this team, too. We want the game to have intensity, so the onus is on us to create that type of game.”
Bar Rangers winger Ross McCausland, O’Neill has a full deck to choose from in terms of the squad that travelled to Hungary for the weekend match with Belarus but few changes are expected to the starting line-up meaning a home debut for teenage goalkeeper Pierce Charles in what will be a young team.
“The biggest thing is these players have come in and had to deal with a lot of responsibility,” said O’Neill reflecting on how he views the progress of the side.
“They’ve had to come in and be really important players. Conor Bradley is an important player for us but he is a young player at his club so there is a different type of responsibility that they have when they come here and that’s where I’ve seen the progression. That is a challenge they have embraced.
“Outside, people measure on results if you are going in the right direction but there is always other things to look at and there’s consistency in how we work and consistency in how the players understand how we work but the most important thing is players are coming in here and we are giving them a huge amount of responsibility and they are not frightened by that. They are embracing that challenge and that is a big positive for me.”
Asked if this Northern Ireland side can be competitive in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers or if they will hit their peak for Euro 2028, O’Neill answered: “You always want to get to the end goal as quickly as you can. I can’t really say because I don’t know what the draw will provide us in 2026 so there are a lot of factors but we are glass half full in terms of our approach to it.
“The speed of the development of our team is outside our control a little bit. Where are the players going to be in two years at their clubs? Is that going to help them be in a strong position in terms of playing international football?
“I’m optimistic about where we will be at that point of time. I still need to add to this squad of players. We still have positions that we are weak in because we don’t have strong options outside the first-choice player.
“We have other positions where we could pick three players. If we wanted to play with a back four we could play Conor (Bradley), Trai Hume or Brodie Spencer at right-back.
“We don’t have those options in every position and we have to build a bit of depth into the squad.
“When you come into a World Cup qualifying campaign you are not going to pick the same team every game so the key is to develop the squad further to give us more depth.”
After keeping a clean sheet at the weekend Sheffield Wednesday’s 19-year-old Charles is hoping to do that in the goalkeeping department.
“We were delighted with the performance he gave. He didn’t have to make a huge amount of saves, but he dealt with everything he had to well,” said O’Neill in reference to the teen who started out at Manchester City.
“I thought his composure and assurance for a young goalkeeper was evident throughout the game.
“Hopefully people will see him in that situation and feel he’s ready to play. I can’t control what Sheffield Wednesday do, they’ve brought a young goalkeeper in from Brighton, who’s very good as well.
“All I know is he’s ready to play and I feel he’s ready to play first-team football at club level after the period we’ve worked together with him at international level.”
Being adept with his feet is a big plus for Charles.
O’Neill added: “The best teams are built from the back. The best teams in world football. The role of the goalkeeper has changed dramatically.
“The younger the goalkeeper comes into the squad, the younger he’s been doing it and where he started his career, playing that way was a necessity at Manchester City.
“It’s a huge part of the game now. I watch a lot of Championship and League One football, I don’t watch a lot of Premier League football because of where our players are playing, and I see a lot of teams at that level trying to play and the goalkeeper is a key role.
“If you’re going to play at a good level, you have to be prepared to take the ball. I watch players in League One… Eoin Toal is a good example and it was the same with Conor (Bradley) when he was at Bolton. He has since taken it up the levels after going back to Liverpool.
“I see Eoin play and I think he can play at a higher level from the traits I see in his game.
“But the days of playing it long and getting the flick-on have gone. We have to adapt to how modern football is played.”
Pierce’s brother Shea, also at Sheffield Wednesday, on loan from Southampton, will be an important figure against Bulgaria with O’Neill confident regular football with the Owls should benefit him greatly.
“Out of possession is probably the biggest area for Shea to improve and you only get that through games,” said O’Neill who was impressed by the midfielder on Saturday.
“In the games in September he was probably a little bit undercooked because he hadn’t really played. He’d just gone to Sheffield Wednesday, the loan happened late, so he wasn’t coming into those international games having played four or five games.
“His performances for Sheffield Wednesday have been good and Shea is only going to improve. His attitude to the game is excellent, I think we know what he has in terms of his technical level and ability to control play.
“But the physical side of the game is big in the Championship and a season there will do him the world of good.
“Shea comes in and looks like he’s been playing for a long time, nothing fazes him. He takes the ball, he makes good choices and on Saturday I was really pleased with his physicality and if he adds that to his game, he will be a midfielder who can play at the highest level of the game.”