Republic of Ireland camp full of confidence for must-win clash in Linz

Uefa Nations League Group B3: Austria v Republic of Ireland (Raiffeisen Arena, Linz, Saturday, 7.45pm)

I STEPPED out of the railway station into the foggy night.

It was a real pea-souper, eine echte Knochenarbeit as they might say here in Linz and the first thing I heard was a scream of ‘ACHTUNG’ as a fella zoomed past me on a scooter.

As anybody who’s ever watched The Great Escape, Escape to Victory or Escape from Sobibor or read a Commando comic will know, ACHTUNG means ‘danger’ and there’s plenty of that lurking for Ireland on Saturday night.

Austria haven’t lost at home for three years and they’ll be confident they can extend that record and win this group at the compact and atmospheric 17,000-seater Raiffeisen Arena, home of LASK (Linzer Athletic Sport Klub) and scene of the dramatic comeback win that knocked Celtic out of this season’s Champions League.

If Ireland suffer the same fate as the Celts they’ll need to beat Kosovo in Dublin on Tuesday to salvage the runners-up spot and a place in the promotion play-offs. Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson might settle for second place but of course he wants to wrap up the group with two victories.

“We know what we need to do, we want to win the group and that means we need to win both games,” he said.

A year ago Hallgrimsson’s Ireland looked defensively solid but lacked a cutting edge. Now with Troy Parrott in brilliant form they’re scoring goals regularly but conceding them too and blowing match-winning situations has become an issue. They were 2-0 up against Czechia in the World Cup play-off but lost on penalties, they were two ahead against Austria in Dublin in October after Troy Parrott added a penalty to his superb opener but were hanging on at the end.

That game changed in the second half after manager Ralf Rangnick made changes at the break.

One of them, towering striker Michael Gregoritsch, scored the equaliser after another substitute Alexander Prass (injured for this game) had pulled a goal back midway through the second half.

Mauricio Pochettino’s recent arrival means Manchester United have brought in six managers since Rangnick exited Old Trafford in May 2022. United remain a mess but Rangnick has prospered, taking Austria to Euro 2024 in his first campaign and to this year’s World Cup in his second.

His team has developed a habit of finishing games with a flourish. Two injury-time goals enabled them to beat Israel 3-1 in their opener and LASK clubman Christoph Lang struck five minutes from time to earn them a 1-1 draw in Kosovo last time out.

“We need to play well, we need to be solid and we cannot make the same mistakes we did in the second half (against Austria) at home, we know what kind of a team they are,” said Hallgrimsson.

“We have analysed them and we see opportunities in attacking them and we just need to grab them and take them.”

Austria are a potent counter-attacking side with energy and willing runners. After their experience last month Ireland should know they can’t afford to dwell on the ball in defence or midfield.

In terms of selection, having five men on yellow cards (Jayson Molumby, Adam Idah, Ryan Manning, Conor Coventry and Liam Scales) may affect Hallgrimsson’s thinking but without the ball his team reverts to two banks of five with the wing-backs dropping in either side of three centre-backs and Parrott pushing out to press the Austria centre-backs.

With the ball, the wing-backs will push forward on the flanks and Jack Moylan will get up behind Parrott, the out-and-out forward, with Finn Azaz in support.

Hallgrimsson wants his team to move the ball faster into the forward areas where they can play and Moylan will be a key player for him on Saturday night.

The Cardiff City clubman burst onto the scene with a hat-trick against Grenada in his international debut in May. He added a quality finish in the first game against Israel and has given the Ireland attack another dimension alongside Parrott.

“The players are playing well for their clubs,” said Hallgrimsson.

“Moylan has taken the spotlight over the last couple of weeks and hopefully he can transfer that into the national team. His rise has been really fast.

“We found him in the May camp when he came in and scored three goals in his first international and since then he’s been involved in the starting 11 more or less and has had an impact.

“Normally you need three, four… up to 10 games to be comfortable at this level but he was comfortable from the first game, even in the first training. When he came in for the first session it was a ‘Wow’ impact.

“A lot of the guys are coming in from good performances and hopefully we can transfer that into this game, I think we can be more courageous than we have been before and we’re coming into these games with confidence.”

Ireland skipper Nathan Collins agrees. He predicts an entertaining game and sees threats at both ends of the field.

“As much as they are very dangerous, we’re dangerous in our own way,” he said.

‘ACHTUNG’ Austria.

Republic of Ireland possible: Kelleher; O’Brien, O’Shea, Collins, Scales, Manning; Molumby, Coventry; Azaz; Moylan; Parrott