Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP via Getty Images
Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP via Getty Images
Jake O’Brien featured for the Republic of Ireland tonight in their latest Nations League match against Israel.
Jake O’Brien started for Ireland earlier this week in his country’s opening match against Kosovo, and ended up on the losing side in Pristina.
And it was not a particularly great outing for O’Brien, who had shown signs of ring rust. That was perhaps to be expected given his lack of involvement so far this season for Everton.
But O’Brien was back in action tonight, hoping to put in an improved display for Ireland.
How Jake O’Brien fared for Ireland against Israel
Ireland responded well to their defeat against Kosovo, running out comfortable 3-0 winners against Israel in front of a limited crowd at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Hungary.
Following no handshakes between the players and no swapping of pennants between captains Dara O’Shea and Manor Solomon, the game commenced.
And Ireland flew out of the blocks, scoring their three goals within a 12-minute period in the first-half. Troy Parrott got the first, with Adam Idah on target next. Jack Moylan got Ireland’s third and that gave Israel too much to do.
It was about Ireland just keeping things tight after that blitz, and they did – and O’Brien was much more solid than he was against Kosovo.
As per Sofascore data, O’Brien made 10 defensive actions in the game (only O’Shea made more), with six of those being clearances. He also won three tackles.
O’Brien also won all seven of the duels he contested.
And O’Brien was rather at the heart of Ireland’s play on the ball. He had the most touches of any Ireland player with 60, and completed 40/45 passes for an accuracy of 89%.
It was a performance he rather needed after not getting much of a look in back at Everton and struggling a bit the other night against Kosovo.
O’Brien will now hope to follow this up with another strong performance against Austria on Thursday.
At the moment, James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite are in fine form back at Everton, which makes things tricky for him. But this break is his chance to at least increase his match sharpness and hopefully play himself into a bit of form, ready to replace one of those two if needed.
The numbers here will surely please Moyes. In the opening weeks, he hasn’t been able to find a place for O’Brien, but the Scot will no doubt welcome the 25-year-old making his job harder in terms of selections for the Everton defence.