Northern Ireland v Slovakia

MANAGER’S VIEW

Prior to our excellent penalty shootout victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina last month, which has brought us to this huge game against Slovakia in Belfast tonight, I sensed the squad were hungry for success.

If anything that desire is even more apparent this time around. The players have been keen to get down to business all week. There has been an intense focus on what we need to do to book our place at the Euro 2020 final tournament next summer. When I took on the role of Northern Ireland manager I was tasked with getting us to the European Championship finals – and it’s time to deliver on that task. Our preparations have gone extremely well and I am confident we can succeed. We know it’s a game we are capable of winning if we set our minds right and if we do the right things. Naturally, we are disappointed at losing Trevor Carson, Corry Evans and Matthew Kennedy from the squad due to injury, but I know they will be cheering us on – and hopefully we will see them next year as we prepare for another major tournament. We will not be taking Slovakia lightly, however. Like us they have struggled to make their mark in the second edition of the UEFA Nations League this season, but like us they have players capable of producing moments of magic. Naturally, we have done plenty of analysis in relation to their team. They have lots of players who are more than capable of hurting us, so we will have to concentrate fully at all times to nullify any threats. It would be remiss of me not to give a special mention to Stuart Dallas, who is set to win his 50th cap for Northern Ireland tonight. Stuart has become one of our most important players and I hope he has a night to remember.

I am delighted we will have just over 1000 fans in the stadium to cheer us on. I would have preferred a full house, of course, but in the current circumstances, with the Covid-19 pandemic still looming large, we should be thankful that we have been allowed so many fans into the ground. A big thank-you must go to the association, stadium staff and local authorities for making this happen. After tonight we will switch our attention to the Nations League. One point from four matches in that competition is not great, although some of our performances have merited more points than that. We will be striving to add to our points tally against Austria in Vienna on Sunday (15 November) and again against Romania back here at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park next Wednesday (18 November). As we discovered last month triple headers are gruelling, however we also discovered in October that we have plenty of depth to the squad and everyone is keen to play their part as we strive to avoid relegation from League B of the Nations League. I hope you all enjoy the play-off final against Slovakia and I hope we give the 1000 or so fans who have been allowed into the stadium something to cheer about alongside the tens of thousands of others watching the game on television or on other devices.. Ian Baraclough Northern Ireland Manager

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