O’Hara’s Hunch: Nations League Special

O’Hara’s Hunch: November International Break

The Premier League pauses for its third international break of the season, but Grosvenor Sport ambassador Jamie O’Hara is still on hand to put both of England’s UEFA Nations League games under the microscope, including the intriguing visit of Ireland to Wembley on Sunday.

Greece v England – Thursday 19:45

I think Lee Carsley should be given the freedom to experiment in this game. England can’t win the Nations League so there’s no real pressure on this group of players. I’d like to see Carsley blood in some youngsters and give players some opportunities to feature – we need to see which out of the fringe players are cut out at the top level.

This game is a bit of a glorified friendly with the amount of England players that are injured, but they still need to respect Greece after what happened at Wembley a couple months back. I still think Carsley has permission to try new things though – he did the same in the reverse fixture and it backfired and he got a lot of stick for it, so he will have learned from that and hopefully not make the same mistake. Give the young lads a chance and try to give the side some momentum ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s arrival.

Greece are no mugs and are a good team, so it’ll be a trick away fixture. I think England will want to make things right after the last game, so I’m backing them to get their revenge here.

Prediction: Greece 1-2 England (15/2)

 

England v Ireland – Sunday 17:00

This is an interesting fixture. I was surprised at how cool and composed England were in the match in Dublin in what was Lee Carsley’s first game. Times have changed since then though and it’s probably easier to get at this England side now – Carsley knows he doesn’t have the full time job so it’s not as if his neck is on the line if he loses the game. England should still have this in the bag, though.

Evan Ferguson’s form is a concern for Ireland. He just needs to keep going – he had a quick rise to fame and everyone was calling him the new Harry Kane, but sometimes you can drop off your levels. He just needs to keep plugging away and the opportunities are going to come. He’s a really good, young, talented player, but it’s hard being a young player these days. I like what he’s about though and back him to get back to those levels from a couple seasons back.

For me, Ireland aren’t good enough to trouble England. I’m going to go for a convincing home victory here.

Prediction: England 3-0 Ireland (11/2)

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