In the wake of their Euro 2016 exit, Northern Ireland manager responded to criticism regarding the omission of fan-favourite Will Grigg for all four of the team’s matches.
The Wigan Athletic striker who made 43 appearances for a return of 28 goals with the Latics did not feature in a single minute for Northern Ireland, not even when the match was up for grabs late against Wales.
O’Neil conceded that Grigg was way down in the pecking order but was adamant he had a bright future.
“Will did not get the opportunity to play. In fairness he was our fourth choice striker,” he said,
“He is a great young player that has a promising career ahead of him, but I do not pick my team on what the supporters think.”
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Kyle Lafferty was preferred to start after making just seven appearances for Norwich City (and Birmingham City on-loan) for one goal in season 2015/16, while it appeared Conor Washington and Josh Magennis were also prefer options with both coming on instead of Grigg.
Nevertheless, O’Neil was pleased with the way his side were able to tactically nullify Wales but obviously left heartbroken with the result.
“We didn’t give them space today. We didn’t give them that opportunity. We stifled Wales in the middle of the pitch and played from that platform,” he said.
“I was surprised with the Russian performance (against Wales). If anything, it lacked a bit of heart.”
“It is no secret that if you can stop Gareth Bales you go a long way to stopping Wales.”
“I think Wales can go far. The difficulty for them is there is when they play teams like us that do not allow them to counter-attack.”
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