Shea Charles wants to see Northern Ireland hit the heights of their home performances on the road starting against Luxembourg on Monday night.
In the 2024 Nations League, Michael O’Neill’s side have been dominant at Windsor Park winning three games out of three scoring nine goals and conceding none but in their away matches in the competition they have yet to find the net losing 1-0 in Bulgaria and drawing 0-0 against Belarus in a fixture played behind closed doors in Hungary.
Asked what Northern Ireland need to do to change that in Luxembourg, captain Charles was honest in his assessment.
“I’d probably say trusting in how we play,” declared the midfielder in a press conference on the eve of the final international of the year.
“At home we have the fans behind us and it’s a lot easier to feel comfortable in the way we play.
“I know when we played out in Bulgaria in different conditions and the pitch wasn’t great we didn’t really have the belief to go and play with the ball. We let them have a lot of the ball.
“The Belarus ‘away’ was different because we had a lot of the ball but without fans it was tough to get going in the second half. We probably have enough confidence now to come over here and get the win. We are looking to perform as well away as we do at home.”
A draw would assure Northern Ireland of top spot in the group but Charles was emphatic when saying “We will definitely go for the win”.
Reflecting on how far the young team have come in 2024, the 21-year-old stated: “Everyone has kind of matured together really. I think we’ve progressed a lot as a team. A lot of other young players have come in and we’ve just built a really good strong structure to the team and allowed them to play with full confidence.
“We all love playing with each other. Even when the starting 11 changes and the subs come on I think there’s a good amount of experience with the likes of George Saville and Josh Magennis which really helps the young players close out games.”