Northern Ireland entered Nations League C Group 2 as top seeds following their relegation and Ian Baraclough boldly talked of targeting 12 points from their June fixtures, but they have taken only one from three; Baraclough has just three wins from 19 competitive games
Sunday 12 June 2022 13:30, UK
Northern Ireland host Cyprus on Sunday night at Windsor Park needing to change their narrative around their flailing Nations League campaign.
Thursday's dispiriting 3-2 defeat in Kosovo came four days after a poor goalless draw in Cyprus, meaning Ian Baraclough's team have taken only one point from their opening three games in a group they entered as top seeds.
Greece defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 in the opening round of fixtures, and Baraclough has won just three of his 19 games in charge.
"We're not going to go off track, rip up the paper and start again," he vowed. "We're going through a tough time at the moment, but confidence is there and the belief is there."
With the pressure mounting and the storm clouds gathering, Sky Sports looks at what has been going wrong.
Northern Ireland fans have always backed their team through thick and thin, but sections of the crowd greeted the final whistle with boos in both the 1-0 home defeat to Greece and the 0-0 draw in Cyprus. The sense of ill-feeling reached its nadir during the defeat in Kosovo.
No nation has lost more matches in the Nations League than Northern Ireland (10, level with Iceland, Lithuania and San Marino). Baraclough came into these four fixtures talking of targeting 12 points, but now he is in dire need of a win just to stem the growing frustration.
Baraclough insisted he was paying no attention to his critics as Northern Ireland's long-running struggles in the Nations League come under increasing scrutiny.
"I'm not on social media, I don't read the papers," he said before the defeat to Kosovo. "I concentrate on what I can do to improve things.
"If I was more focused on what was being said about me, I don't think I'd be doing my job properly. For me, it's noise in the background.
Baraclough, approaching two years in the job, insists he remains the right man for the job.
"I've got confidence we are on the right track," Baraclough continued.
"I knew taking the job it wouldn't all be plain sailing and I'm confident that we can go through and build from this Nations League and put together a really good series of games in the Euros - that's the end goal we're looking at, to qualify for the Euros.
"It's not where we are now, let's look at where we are at the end of the Euros."
Northern Ireland now return to Windsor Park for Sunday's match against Cyprus still without three points on the board, and the tension is huge. Baraclough has faced questions this week on whether he has taken the side forward.
With only three wins in 19 competitive matches, it is a fair debate. The 51-year-old has given 13 players their senior debuts in his two years in charge and can claim to have significantly widened the pool of talent available to Northern Ireland.
But equally, during the trip to Kosovo, he has frequently referred to the significant number of players absent for one reason or another - suggesting he believes Northern Ireland are still reliant on their core group.
Northern Ireland fans have long supported their team through thick and thin, but there were some boos at the final whistle in the 1-0 home defeat to Greece, and more among the 600 travelling fans in Cyprus and Kosovo.
"I can totally understand and we can understand as a group that fans are frustrated, not getting the result and not seeing the team play to the best of their ability all the time," Baraclough said.
"Certainly, coupled with spending money on travelling abroad and following the group, we don't take that for granted as a group of people. There is just as much frustration within the dressing room, I can assure you, as there is on the terraces"
Northern Ireland's last three games were plagued by disjointed play, too many mis-placed passes and mis-timed runs as players rusty from a few weeks off tried to get to grips with new partnerships in a much-changed squad missing a string of players.
Baraclough pointed out there is no quick fix for that. The rain in Pristina did little to improve the quality after the baking temperatures of Larnaca, which no doubt contributed to Northern Ireland's performance.
They would suffer another defeat despite scoring twice in a match for the first time since September 2013 against Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier, also losing 3-2 then. They had won their previous 22 games when scoring more than once.
Much of the team's recent success has been built on defensive solidity with captain Jonny Evans integral to building this platform. But against Kosovo, Northern Ireland shipped three goals in a match for the first time since September 2020, which was also in a UEFA Nations League contest, losing 5-1 to Norway.
Baraclough again pointed to the inexperience in his side with the likes of Stuart Dallas, Josh Magennis, Corry Evans and Craig Cathcart missing, having given Brodie Spencer and Conor McMenamin their full debuts in this match.
"Count the caps," he said. "Take (Steven Davis), Jonny (Evans), Kyle Lafferty out of the side and see how inexperienced the group is. We lost Paddy McNair on the morning of the match. They have to learn and get that experience from somewhere.
"I though the young lads showed great spirit, the lads coming off the bench as well. Shea Charles, Conor Bradley, they're lads who weren't around a few months ago, who might have expected to be playing for the under-21s or under-19s.
"Let's not be all negative about the way they've gone and played. Yes, about the result. I understand that, and I understand the fans' frustration but there are ways to losing a game of football and that's it."
There are green shoots of recovery despite the poor results. Conor Bradley has been blooded and reflected on a "mad year" after taking major strides forward with Liverpool and Northern Ireland.
It is just over 12 months since Bradley, 18, made his international debut in a friendly against Malta despite never having played a senior game at club level, but since then he has earned another five caps and played Champions League football among five Liverpool appearances.
He got his second competitive start for Northern Ireland in last week's 1-0 home defeat to Greece, when he was matched up against Liverpool team-mate Kostas Tsimikas, and though the result was disappointing, it was another significant night in his still young career.
"I'm developing both as a person and as a footballer which is the main thing for me," Bradley said. "I feel I have come on leaps and bounds over the last year and hopefully I can do something similar from now until next year."
Bradley's versatility has been a huge help to his progress so far. Where Northern Ireland have used him at right-back or wing-back, he has tended to move further forward for Liverpool, and he insists he is happy to play anywhere he is asked.
As he gets to work both with Liverpool's first team and the likes of Steven Davis and Evans with Northern Ireland, Bradley is trying to learn as many lessons he can from those who have played at the highest level.
Spencer made his first Northern Ireland start in this match, becoming the youngest player (18 years, 34 days) to start a game for Northern Ireland since Josh Carson in May 2011, who was 17; Spencer was 279 days old when Norn Iron captain Steven Davis made his first international appearance in February 2005.
Indeed, Northern Ireland featured three teenagers in a match (Spencer, Shea Charles and Conor Bradley) for the first time since May 2011 against Wales. This can only bode well for Northern Ireland's future.
Baraclough made four changes in Cyprus and more came in Pristina albeit in defeat. McMenamin and Brodie Spencer made their full debuts as part of five alterations.
Dan Ballard, Ali McCann and Shayne Lavery also started as Kyle Lafferty kept his place up front to start alongside Lavery. Yet Northern Ireland's Nations League despair grew deeper.
Sections of the Green and White Army sang 'Cheerio' after the manager went to acknowledge the travelling support at the end of a match in which the final score made it look better than it really was
"It's understandable," Baraclough said of the chants. "They're here, they want to follow and watch a team their team are team playing, but what do we do about players who are being blooded and building for the future?
"We knew we had to go through a certain amount of pain on it as well and we are as it goes forward. You'll see improvement and you've seen a difference between the first two games and this one tonight."
Northern Ireland's games without a win in this competition now number 13, but it was not luck that was against them at the Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri as they were second best to a bright Kosovo side who threatened to score more and increase yet further the growing pressure on Baraclough.
The question most fans are asking is will Lafferty now retain his place for the Cyprus home encounter.
At least this unprecedented quadruple-header affords Northern Ireland one more chance to get a win on the board before the long wait until September, and it is a chance - at home to Cyprus on Sunday - they must take to prevent this becoming a full-blown crisis.
Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell has described Northern Ireland's Nations League record as "somewhat embarrassing".
Only Andorra (14 games) have played more matches in the Nations League without winning. Just three draws from 13 games tells its own story.
Having suffered relegation to League C, Northern Ireland came into the group believing they could target top spot and a European qualifying play-off place, but those hopes are already hanging by a thread.
The manager perhaps created a rod for his own back by setting a target of 12 points from the four fixtures in June, with a return of one point from three so far woefully short of expectations.
Baraclough has emphasised the need to retain a positive outlook, saying negativity will only breed more negativity. He has reiterated his message to players that it is OK to make mistakes as long as they immediately pick themselves back up.
Of course, there would have been no more positive message in Pristina than three points but that eluded his team. Northern Ireland must capture the fighting display they showed at the end against Kosovo and carry it into Sunday's match against Cyprus at Windsor Park.
"Play like that, with that intensity and positivity, and create the chances we create and I'm sure we'll win the game," Baraclough said.
"If Windsor can get behind the young kids, behind the team in full, the onus is on us to do something, to start with intensity and take the game to the opposition.
"I think the crowd will be all in behind the team, not a problem."
