Northern Ireland suffer stage fright

Nice: There was a fleeting moment in the final minutes in their Euro 2016 opener when Northern Ireland supporters must have wondered if they were about to deal Poland a late sucker-punch.

Oliver Norwood played a clever, low free-kick that deceived the Poland defence and zipped into the path of Steven Davis, with the Northern Ireland captain just millimetres away from making the connection that could have asked serious questions of Wojciech Szczesny. In the end, though, there was to be no smash and grab, and on the balance of play, Michael O’Neill’s team, dominated from the first whistle, could have no complaints as the country’s first appearance at a major tournament for 30 years culminated in a limp defeat that leaves them with a huge task now to qualify from Group C.

Had Northern Ireland shown more of the ambition evident in the final quarter of the game, they might have caused Poland a problem or two but stage fright and an overly defensive set-up ultimately combined to cow a side that had come into this tournament on the back of an unbeaten 12-match run.

Kyle Lafferty did not mince his words when asked for an appraisal afterwards. “I think we were overawed,” the Norwich City striker said. “That was not the team that got us here. We knew it would be tough but I think the whole performance was not a Northern Ireland performance and on Thursday [against Ukraine] we will go and put it right. We didn’t turn up.

“Michael will talk to us, we will take notice and we will produce a more determined performance.” O’Neill had started with a 5-3-1-1 formation. By the closing stages, Northern Ireland were playing 4-3-3, the manager’s fourth tactical change on an evening when they couldn’t make their mind up about how best to tackle the Poles, for whom Bartosz Kapustka was outstanding drifting in from the left. Arkadiusz Milik’s goal shortly after half-time proved the difference between the teams but the gulf in quality was not reflected by the scoreline.

On this form, Northern Ireland are going out but Poland, with metronome Grzegorz Krychowiak pulling the strings in midfield, could be a serious force in the competition. “They really did get on top of us and were very powerful in every area of the pitch,” O’Neill said.

Given the strength of Ukraine with Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko, it seems inconceivable that O’Neill will persist with the same system in Lyon on Thursday. The manager, in fairness, hinted at changes. “We have to find a solution to have more attacking outlet, and maybe that means a bit of change of personnel or tweaking the system,” he said.

“Maybe with the two players at wing back, there was an element in some aspects of our play where it took us a while to settle in.”

That late, elusive chance for Davis may be playing on many Northern Ireland minds even still. Even without it, O’Neill has plenty to ponder.