Football: Sammy has got a Hughes job to do

I DO feel for Sammy McIlroy. On the one hand, there are those who will question whether he's the right man for the Northern Ireland job

But then there are those who will say what has he got to work with?

They have managed just one point from the first three games - although it was a very good point I might add against the Ukraine - but they have yet to score a goal.

Gerry Taggart asking to be rested before the Armenia trip was bad enough, but then to have George McCartney and Kevin Horlock withdraw just before they get on the plane to Armenia was a severe setback.

George has said he doesn't want to go because Yerevan is 500 miles from Iraq. That's his decision, but I'm sure if it wasn't safe then none of the squad would have gone. It's still a strange decision if ever there was one.

Kevin's decision to retire is a massive blow to Sammy. He's lost a great servant to Northern Ireland, but more importantly Sammy's lost an experienced man who is a goalscoring midfielder at Manchester City.

I know Sammy is trying to do a Mark Hughes, who has done a great job at Wales, but then he does have the likes of Craig Bellamy, Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed and John Hartson!

The goal issue has become an acute problem and it just puts more pressure on the likes of David Healy, who is a natural scorer, and James Quinn.

But Sammy's biggest worry is the real lack of quality in his squad. It wouldn't be so bad if you could see the potential coming through the Under-21s, because that is after all supposed to be the platform for the senior squad.

But I don't think we have as much talent coming through as in the past.

However, the one thing that the national squad have - and certainly had when I was playing - is great spirit and I'm sure the Irish FA have taken all this into consideration.

Next up is Greece on Wednesday and that is another tough one.

Greece are a much better footballing nation than us at the minute.

They have more quality in their domestic league than us with the likes of AEK Athens, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. They have players earning a living abroad and their clubs play in Europe year in year out.

They also have the likes of Newcastle's Nikos Dabizas and I'm looking forward to his battle with club mate Aaron Hughes.

I saw the age old issue of club versus country cropped up. It's a real Catch 22. The national manager wants to pick his best side, the players want to put on a shirt for their country, but the managers feel their preparations for the next game are being impeded.

I don't blame the managers - I blame the football organisations for playing too many games.

I spoke to Pat Rice of Arsenal the other day and he was saying that when the players came back from the World Cup, they were just knackered.

The problem is the players come back international duty, and three days later are playing a big Premiership match or an FA Cup tie.

Players cannot peak every three days. Instead of training in that time, players are having to rest.

You only have to look at Ronaldo. He came back from the World Cup and missed pre-season with Real because he was so tired.

Admittedly, the players are fitter now than they were in my day, and we didn't have back-up they have today . . . the physios, the work they do on nutrition. But then the modern game is so much faster.

Still, I'm sure we won't be hearing the last of this.

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