Michael O’Neill expects Northern Ireland’s defence to face another stiff examination in Tuesday’s friendly against Sweden in Stockholm.
O’Neill took encouragement from Friday’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland at home, with a young side not looking overawed against a nation ranked 20th in the world. Even if Switzerland dominated possession, it was Northern Ireland who struck first and who arguably had the better chances.
Sweden will pose a different challenge, not least due to the attacking calibre in their ranks. Although Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres and Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski are out, they still have the likes of Newcastle star Alexander Isak, Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga and Spurs youngster Lucas Bergvall.
Having surprisingly dropped down to League C in the Nations League, Sweden thrived in the competition last year. Now managed by former Newcastle forward and Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson, they finished as top scorers in the competition with 19 goals in six games.
“I think people would be surprised given the calibre of player that Sweden had that they were playing at League C level,” O’Neill said. “Obviously they’d had a difficult campaign prior to that to find themselves at that level.
“But I think they’ve got a wave of attacking players now that are all playing at a good level…They’ve got good players and it will be a test for us. But the players should gain confidence from (Friday’s) game and take that into Tuesday…
“We’ll probably have to be very disciplined and very dogged without the ball. But we have to be able to carry a threat in the game as well.”
O’Neill said he would look to freshen up his side for the second game of the window, but admitted he only has so many ways of doing so given the lack of experience in the side.
He gave debuts to two of the four previously uncapped players in his squad as Jamie Donley and Terry Devlin came off the bench, with Ronan Hale and Kofi Balmer still awaiting an opportunity.
O’Neill stuck with teenager Pierce Charles in goal, but had said before this window that Conor Hazard was deserving of an opportunity given his recent form for Plymouth.
“We don’t have the ability to change the team dramatically, make seven changes and expect the team to be as strong,” O’Neill said. “We have to look at freshening up in key areas.
“We ask an awful lot of our attack, when your attacking players have to do a lot of work without the ball. We might have to refresh that and we have some options there we can look at.
“But again we’re a bit hindered in the back area with the defenders that we have missing. We want to stay strong.”
