HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON has challenged Bulgaria to come and have a go if they think they are good enough.
Ireland claimed a first leg advantage in their Nations League promotion-relegation play-off with a 2-1 win in Plovdiv on Thursday night.
And the onus will be on Ilian Iliev’s side to try to turn the tables in the Aviva Stadium on Sunday night if they want to go up into League B.
Hallgrímsson said: “I think now it’s their turn, they need to do something different, because they need to win.
“I think now it’s a different scenario. They need to come to Dublin, win the game and score goals.”
But he stressed that he was not looking for his team to sit back, bemoaning how they were too passive in the second half on Thursday.
Although possession was more or less evenly split in the opening period, Bulgaria had the lion’s share of the ball after the restart but struggled to create any chances of note.
Hallgrímsson said: “I always think defending higher up the pitch is easier. If you try to win it there it makes it easier for the defenders to defend higher up the pitch.
“We need good legs from the guys up top. It’s a lot of work for them defensively and that’s what we want in Dublin.”
With that in mind, he may need to shuffle his pack for the return match.
Having flown home overnight on Thursday, bar a recovery session at the hotel, the players were given yesterday off.
And Hallgrímsson will check on them today before finalising his line-up for the first home game of the year.
He said: “The pitch was wet so probably there will be tired legs but we have a really good medical team that will help them recover quickly.
“We can do very little tomorrow so we’re just going to try to get energy back into their bodies and then we’ll see who is fresh and if we need to make some changes.
“But I think this performance was good so hopefully it gives us confidence for the next game.”
