Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson reveals health set-back that impacted Greece preparations

Ireland lost 2-0 to Greece in Olympiakos's Karaiskakis Stadium on Sunday night.

Heimir Hallgrímsson has revealed that plans for Sunday’s clash with Greece were thrown into disarray by illness.

The new Ireland manager was forced to keep his distance from his players in the build-up to the 2-0 defeat in Piraeus.

Hallgrímsson’s voice was still raspy as he spoke to the media after the Nations League reversal at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

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Goals by Tasos Bakasetas and substitute Petros Mantalos, who capitalised on Caoimhin Kelleher’s injury-time error, earned the hosts the win on an emotional night, when tributes were paid to the late George Baldock.

Hallgrímsson revealed: “I’ve been sick, so I’ve been a little bit isolated from the squad. I had a little fever and a cold.”

It wasn’t all bad news for the new manager, however, as he did record his first win three nights earlier in Finland.

This will give him something to build on when the Boys in Green return to action next month.

They will complete their Nations League campaign with games at home to Finland and away to England at Wembley - and Hallgrímsson is already looking to those fixtures.

“We will have a lot of clips from this game (against Greece), positive and negative, that we will go through, and hopefully again we will have more belief and confidence in what we are doing,” he said.

“Tactically, I think we are improving a lot, especially defensive, (we are) better organised, but still we are capable of giving away too many… it’s not too many, giving away chances, and the opponent seems to punish us every time when we do.”

Meanwhile, Hallgrímsson says his players are proving themselves to be quick learners - as they adapt to a new style of management and tactics.

With the dust settling on his second international window in charge, he reflected positively on a week that saw Ireland pick up their first win, away to Finland, but follow that up with defeat in Greece.

It was a fourth consecutive loss inside 16 months to Greece - and a third defeat in four games for the former Iceland boss.

However, he insisted: “I think tactically we are getting better. We need to find the correct balance against opponents.

“But what is the best, maybe, formation? I’m not going to say formation, but how we jump, how we press etcetera?

“Look, the guys have responded to everything we have asked them to do. The first games will always be tough. It has happened pretty quickly how they adapt to what we are doing.”

He added that he was forced into an early tactical switch in Piraeus on Sunday against Greece.

The hosts were so quick at moving the ball from one side to another that they were creating dangerous overloads, isolating defenders and finding massive pockets of space inside the final third.

Hallgrímsson reacted by changing what was a front-two, with Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott both leading the line, to a main striker in Ferguson and Parrott behind him.

“We didn’t plan before the game to start with a 10, we wanted to play with two strikers,” he said.

“But they moved the ball so quickly from right to left and we needed to have one and one. So that was the tweak in-game in the first half.

“We were trying to compensate for how they were playing so quickly, overloading the flanks etcetera.”

Another positive, according to Hallgrímsson, was the emergence of two fresh attacking midfield options in Finn Azaz, who started against Greece and Jack Taylor.

Middlesbrough midfielder Azaz impressed in Helsinki, while Ipswich Town man Taylor gave a fresh vibrancy to Ireland’s attack as they pushed in vain for an equaliser in Piraeus.

“We are always looking. I think both Finn and now Jack played well,” said Hallgrímsson

“We are just giving players a chance. I want to see players in action. So (there are) positives.”

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