No danger of complacency from NI - O'NeillJonathan Bradley - BBC Sport NI senior journalist Fri, November 13, 2026 at 6:54 PM UTC
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said he has "hammered home" the message that October's win over Ukraine will have no bearing on Saturday's Nations League meeting in Belfast.
Northern Ireland won the reverse fixture 3-0 in Slovakia, but O'Neill has stressed that his side still expect a considerable challenge against a side sat 28 places above them in the Fifa world rankings.
"We've hammered that home from minute one since the players came in," said O'Neill, whose side are top of Nations League Group B2 with eight points from four games.
"There'll certainly not be any complacency within the group and I just think nowadays that players know.
"We've shown them enough examples in terms of the the analysis to know that this is a team that can really hurt us."
Despite the 3-0 defeat, Ukraine had 73% possession in the game last month, the most by a side in any Nations League game lost by multiple goals.
"We had to deal with Ukraine having a lot of the ball in that game," added O'Neill.
"I wouldn't say the scoreline flattered us, but the key moments in the game went our way a little bit and we took advantage of that.
"I do think we had the best chances in the game, despite, obviously, the opposition having more possession, but we defended so well as a team that we limited them to not very many opportunities and I thought we always carried a threat on the counter-attack as well."
Northern Ireland boast a strong recent record at Windsor Park, one that has been built upon a string of stout defensive showings.
They have not conceded more than one goal in any of their past 16 games in Belfast, but have yet to score themselves in their two home fixtures during this campaign, drawing 0-0 with both Hungary and Georgia.
With an unusually long six days of preparation for this game, O'Neill said his team have focused on how they can create more in front of goal.
"We were disappointed having come back off having won the two away games, not to have won at least one of the home games, but I wouldn't say it's down to us needing to be more ruthless," he added.
"I think probably what we've talked a lot about this week is where we can be a little bit more clinical in the final third, in terms of creating better opportunities.
"Getting additional players in the box at times is something that we've we've looked at quite closely with the players and greater execution when you're in the final third as well."
The manager was already without defenders Daniel Ballard and Conor Bradley before Arsenal's Ceadach O'Neill pulled out of the squad this week.
Manager O'Neill has reported no fresh injury concerns, however, with Blackburn Rovers centre-back Tom Atcheson available despite dealing with a groin problem in recent weeks.
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Source: Sports
