Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has addressed the goalkeeping situation and captaincy issue ahead of the friendly internationals against Switzerland and Sweden.
The matters surrounding who will be between the sticks in 2025 and who will wear the armband are subjects of debate amongst the Green and White Army.
In terms of O’Neill’s No.1, this time a year previously it seemed like a battle for the No.1 spot between Conor Hazard and Bailey Peacock-Farrell, with the latter playing more games in 2024 until the younger Pierce Charles came in and started the final four matches of the successful Nations League campaign.
Selecting his squad for Friday’s home game with the Swiss and the following Tuesday’s encounter in Sweden, O’Neill opted to leave out Birmingham’s Peacock-Farrell and go with Sheffield Wednesday’s Charles, Plymouth’s Hazard and Bolton’s Luke Southwood as the third choice.
Club appearances for Charles have been sporadic in the 2024/25 season, while Hazard has shone for Plymouth in their famous FA Cup victory over Liverpool and in defeat to Manchester City in the next round.
Charles has the jersey though and has impressed at international level. Asked if it was a ‘gimme’ that the teenager would play, O’Neill said: “Conor has played in some high-profile games. No, I don’t think it’s a gimme at all.
“When I picked Pierce to play, I think it was the right thing to do, I think he showed his composure in the games, much is made of his comfort with the ball at his feet which is a big part of a modern goalkeeper now, but Conor has had to be patient in his career to get first-team football and he’s probably had more at Plymouth in the last couple of years than he’s had at any point in his career.
“He’s 27 now and probably feels like he’s making up for lost time. I might have to go into a game away to Italy or Germany (in the World Cup qualifiers) and Conor Hazard might be the best option I have to play, so it’s important we utilise these games.
“I think the blend in the goalkeepers is good. I’ve spoken to Bailey (Peacock-Farrell) and I think he understands he needs to be in the right frame of mind to come back and challenge for his place.
“Maybe for too long Bailey hasn’t had enough competition, so competition is good.”
As for the captaincy, since the international retirement of Manchester United’s Jonny Evans, O’Neill has used various skippers with Trai Hume, Conor Bradley and Shea Charles all given two games each in the Nations League.
Liverpool star Bradley is injured for this camp and is seen as the long-term favourite to lead the side, though O’Neill makes the point it is not imperative to name a permanent captain.
“I don’t think so, no,” he said. “It is possible we could continue to rotate it. I think it’s more important that you have leadership in your group and it doesn’t come through one person.
“I’m not convinced there’s a natural person there where you think, ‘He should be the captain’. We’ve had that in the past.
“I’m not scared to change the captain; the first thing I did when I came into the job (in his first spell in charge) was convince Aaron (Hughes) to come out of retirement and then tell him he wouldn’t be the captain, and he’d been captain a long time.
“I thought it was Steven’s (Davis) time to be captain at that point in time. The most important thing is feeling you’ve got a group of leaders and together they realise that person wears the armband on the night.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing if we change it, it’s not something that’s done consistently but I do think we put more value on it than is actually the case.”