Michael O’Neill responds to Julian Nagelsmann ‘long ball’ jibe ahead of Windsor Park showdown

Northern Ireland set to face Slovakia and Germany at Windsor Park later this month

Michael O’Neill said it’s not his job to set his team up for another manager “to come and beat us”. The Northern Ireland boss was responding to comments from Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann who labelled O’Neill’s side as a long-ball team after their game in Cologne last month.

Some labelled Nagelsmann’s remarks disrespectful, and while O’Neill refused to be drawn on that he defended his team and tactics ahead of the two sides meeting again at Windsor Park on October 13.

“Well, I watched the game back, I didn’t really read the comments, it was something about being long ball,” said O’Neill as he named his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and Nagelsmann’s side.

“But Germany played a lot of long balls too. I think managers always will say that about a Northern Ireland team. But I remember when we played Germany in the past and Joachim Löw was the manager.

“I think he won the World Cup. He was very respectful of how we played, and that’s something that obviously I’ll take away from it.

“The other side of it is this. It’s not my job to set my team up for the other manager to come and beat us. It’s my job to set my team up in a way that makes it as difficult for them as possible, and that’s what we’ll do again.”

Northern Ireland pushed the Germans all the way at the RheinEnergie-Stadion before late goals secured the win for the hosts.

There was a sense of disappointment with the final score with O’Neill insisting that’s not a bad thing.

“Look, it’s good that they feel like that,” he said. “I think we have to keep it in perspective for them as well, but they have to learn from that.

“The most important thing is how we look back at the game and we have to feel it. How could we have stayed in the game? How could we avoid having that five, ten minute period where we had a little bit of pressure? How do we manage the game a little bit better as a team? How can we slow the momentum of the Germans down?

“All those types of things, they come with experience, and sometimes from the sideline, it’s hard to get that message on. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible that night.

“You’re trying to get information to the players. But they have to be able to sense that themselves. They’ve got to be able to feel the momentum of the games, maybe starting to go against us a little bit.

“But that can only come through time, that’s not something that you can just put in, on day one, where this team is in terms of its growth.

“They have to use the experience to have belief for both games and obviously use it as a bit of fuel for both games as well.

“I think that the group is open, when you looked at it from the outset, you’d probably think that Germany, after two games, would have six points, but I always felt that would be a tough game for them.

“And they will expect a tough game when they come here as well, the responsibility is for us to be able to give them that tough game.

“If we can win our first game, we can really open the group up. And that obviously has to be our approach.”