Michael O’Neill enjoys joke about long-ball tactics after narrow Germany defeat

Northern Ireland may have ultimately fallen short in Monday’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Germany, but Michael O’Neill was able to enjoy a joke about long-ball tactics after his side pushed their illustrious opponents all the way at Windsor Park.

Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann arrived in Belfast insisting he had meant no disrespect with comments last month about Northern Ireland’s approach, having said their football was “not particularly easy on the eyes” during his side’s 3-1 win in Cologne.

It was a line Germany were sticking to, with Leipzig midfielder David Raum talking about Northern Ireland’s “kick and rush” style after the game.

But Germany were the ones being forced to repeatedly hack the ball clear in the second half of Monday’s contest as Northern Ireland kept pushing right up to a full-time whistle they felt came too soon as referee Jesus Gil Manzano added only two minutes of stoppage time.

“Having looked at the stats, ironically Germany played more long balls than us in the game,” O’Neill said with a smile.

Germany’s approach was in large part down to how Northern Ireland kept coming at them. O’Neill said his side played with a lack of belief in the first half, but that was not the case after the break.

“I think we have to give ourselves credit because we forced the game a little bit,” O’Neill said.

“We felt that because they had played with three centre-backs in Cologne that they were concerned about us physically, but they only played with two here and a back four.

“We had a game plan for (Joshua) Kimmich if he played in midfield, but he played at right-back so that was something we were probably happy enough about.

“I think Julian picked a team midfield that would contest the second balls a lot better.”

The defeat leaves Northern Ireland three points behind Germany and Slovakia with two games left to play in Group A – O’Neill’s men head to Kosice to play Slovakia before Luxembourg visit Belfast in the final fixtures next month.

Top spot in the group is a long shot now – as it realistically always was – but a victory in Kosice would offer hope of at least second place and a guaranteed play-off place.

Failing that, there is still a decent likelihood Northern Ireland will get a play-off by virtue of having won their Nations League group.

“We’re a pot-three nation, so there has to be a sense of realism, right?” O’Neill said of his team’s ranking. “The idea we should expect to be in first spot – we’ve not been at the World Cup since 1986.

“Let’s bring things down a little bit. This is a young team. We knew if we could win this game we’d be in, not a strong position but a really good position to maybe achieve something amazing.

“That would be difficult for us now. We would need difficult results. We need probably four points in the last two games to be in a very strong position.

“Having beaten Slovakia at home (2-0 on Friday), we have to believe that we can go there and get the right result and hope Germany can take care of business when they play Slovakia at home.”