ROI Radar: The evolution of Jim Crawford as Ireland under-21 manager
The job Jim is doing
After another round of exciting fixtures from the Ireland under-21s, some corners of Irish football supporters still question whether Jim Crawford is the best man to guide the age-group.
These type of debates tend to be tedious at times, but there isn’t anything wrong with considering some talking points as the international break comes to an end.
This piece will analyse Crawford’s style of play, and most importantly his results in order to examine his reign as the 21s’ manager.
The results
After Mick McCarthy stepped down and Kenny came in as senior manager, Jim Crawford was given the task of trying to qualify for the U21 2021 Euros.
With Italy, Iceland, and Luxembourg still to play Ireland needed 6 points to get a play-off. It didn’t help though that Iceland won four from their last five.
That meant, despite being down to ten men, Ireland needed to push forward for a winner against Iceland. That allowed Iceland to find a winner and eliminate Ireland in the process.
The next campaign took a while to get going. Despite a 2-0 win against Bosnia, Ireland gained just 4 points from bottom seeds Luxembourg and lost to Montenegro and Italy.
Play-off hopes were on a thread. However, beating Sweden home and away and comfortable home victories over Bosnia and Montenegro meant Ireland were guaranteed a play-off place.
BRILLIANT scenes at Tallaght Stadium 🇮🇪⚽️🔥
Substitute Ollie O'Neill (18, Fulham) scores with the last kick of the game to give Ireland the victory over Sweden 👏👏#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/IMXNbYgYLp
— Ireland Radar (@IrelandRadar) November 16, 2021
Despite a 4-1 loss to Italy away, it was the most successful qualifying campaign at U21 level ever.
A 1-1 draw followed by a penalty loss in the play-offs to Israel initially raised some misplaced concerns – that same Israel team subsequently made it the semi-finals of the Euros.
Overall a step in the right direction, despite just missing out.
Heartbreak for the Ireland U21s as they miss out on the Euros after a penalty shootout defeat away to Israel.
Jim Crawford, the players and all involved can be so proud of their campaign. Just not to be on the day.#COYBIG
— Ireland Radar (@IrelandRadar) September 27, 2022
And this time around in qualifying, the men U21’s won three from their first three against Turkey, San Marino, and Latvia.
A loss to Norway slowed down the run but a draw against Italy (who were lucky to score a 96th-minute equaliser) made it an interesting international break for Ireland U21s this month.
GOAL for Ireland.
Good work from Sinclair Armstrong before Killian Phillips fires home to give Ireland the lead against Italy.#IRLU21
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📱 Updates https://t.co/wExklV6oFx pic.twitter.com/H3jZuxNIjO
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 21, 2023
Games: 27 | Wins: 14 | Draws: 4 | Losses: 9 (Including a penalty loss) | Win Percentage: 52%
Style of play
It would be unfair to pass comment on Crawford’s first side as he took over what was Stephen Kenny’s project.
In the next qualifying campaign, Crawford favoured a 4-3-3 along with a sort of 4-2-2-2 formation. He also played a 3-4-3 away to Sweden. It was a replica of how Kenny played at the time for the seniors.
It eventually worked out, but the team didn’t seem settled at the beginning of qualifying with some chopping and changing occurring.
Crawford adapted in large part to whether Will Smallbone was fit. He liked Smallbone to occupy the right-hand side of the pitch in a free role.
#IRLU21 1-0 Montenegro – Will Smallbone scores an absolute screamer to give Ireland the lead.
📱 Updates – https://t.co/DQ7qpQRcX3
📺 Watch – https://t.co/NVrpaW23DL pic.twitter.com/jHueGEvUep— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 6, 2022
Coventry and Kilkenny sat and dictated play while Tyreik Wright was the wing threat. At times Liam Kerrigan would also be on the other side but on the other occasions, it was Lee O’Connor’s job to get up and down from right back.
This qualifying campaign, Crawford has set out in a 3-5-2 against the better nations so far. Against San Marino and Latvia the U21s lined up in a 4-3-3.
Against Turkey, Norway, and Italy, the style of play resembled a lot of what people want from an Irish team – a physically imposing side who play balls into the channels but also demonstrate pleasing play between the lines when its right to do so.
Sinclair Armstrong is key to the team with his industrious efforts up front but there are plenty more characteristics which make this 21s team so identifiable.
Sean Roughan and Sam Curtis push up high onto the wings to engage the press, Baba Adeeko and Matt Healy are energetic nuisances in midfield and the pace of Emakhu and Armstrong in front of them makes all the difference
A 95th minute winner from Aidomo Emakhu!!! 🇮🇪⚽🔥
Unbelievable scenes in Turners Cross as the Ireland U21s win their opening qualifier 3-2 👏👏👏#COYBIGpic.twitter.com/pSPdMzWrqD
— Ireland Radar (@IrelandRadar) September 8, 2023
He has also played playmakers in midfield like Moran and Leavy, but Phillips’s box-to-box performance against Italy potentially showed the way forward for a Moran-less Irish side.
Overall
Concerns over decision-making remain. However, if Johnny Kenny scored to put Ireland 3-1 up against Norway, or Healy and Lawal didn’t make errors leading to goals, Ireland could have taken six points from this international window.
We also can’t expect the Ireland U21 manager to be world class when the next Ireland senior manager will likely be Championship-level at best.
Maybe its too early for Crawford to be considered for the current Ireland vacancy, but if the next senior manager goes in a similar manner to Kenny – Crawford could definitely be in the running.