Slovakia v Northern Ireland: Michael O’Neill’s focus on the ‘here and now’ of the World Cup effort

The confidence that Northern Ireland can seal second place ahead of Slovakia has come in after they comfortably beat Belfast’s best team David who is good under O’Neill.

Over the weeks, however, there has been a growing sense that the tables have been turned somewhat.

Slovakia lost influential Pair Stanislav Lobotka and David Hancko for the game at Windsor Park, both expected to be the francecto calzona line this season around.

Northern Ireland, however, did not have three-quarters in the midfield to impress with the reverse change, with Shea Charles and Ali McCann suspended.

How the manager has managed so many holes in his line has been the main talking point since his squad was confirmed last week.

In Napoli’s Lobotka, O’Neill believes Slovakia can also call upon one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe.

“He is a very good player and he played at a high level with Napoli, but we look at Slovakia as a team, we don’t look at them as one player or two players,” he said.

“It doesn’t change the way we try and play. We have to deal with that as a team, it’s not an individual player.

“We will not suffer any significant change in their strategy or how they look to play tactically, but it is clear that they are stronger.”