"It's good for the team to have expectations, the worst thing is to have no expectation." Michael O'Neill said that before Northern Ireland meet Georgia at Windsor Park on Monday, and his point is backed by the start his side have made. Northern Ireland had taken seven points from the first three games, and Friday night's 3-0 victory over Ukraine in Slovakia kept them top of Group B2 at the halfway point.

O'Neill's message after the Ukraine win

The manager's view is that the squad should not treat the growing scrutiny as a burden. "They're going to have bumps along the road, we know that, but if we get to our end goal, whatever that may be, it will be worth it," he said. He also added that "the team will handle that well."

The football has given him reason to say that. Northern Ireland are unbeaten in their last three Nations League matches and have not conceded in the group so far. Those are the sort of numbers that make an argument about mood easier to defend, even if the real test comes against Georgia.

The young group he is backing

The other part of O'Neill's message is about the players he is using. Against Ukraine, the average age of the starting XI was just 22 years old, and that youth did not stop them controlling a result that mattered for the group table.

He also pointed to the flexibility inside the squad. "I don't look at it as if they're playing out of position, I look at it as them being given an opportunity to play a position that will help me and help the team," he said. O'Neill praised Conor Bradley and Daniel Ballard by name in the wider discussion of absentees and alternatives, while Trai Hume's role from midfield and Terry Devlin's work on the left showed how the side is coping.

The young core is doing more than covering gaps. It is also giving O'Neill enough trust to talk openly about expectation rather than caution, and that is the more interesting shift in this camp.

The immediate focus now is Northern Ireland vs Georgia at Windsor Park, where Northern Ireland will try to extend a start that has already produced seven points, three clean sheets in the group, and a first place position that has put real weight on the next game.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →