Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka addresses the media ahead of Friday’s game against Northern Ireland
Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka will not be joining the critics of Northern Ireland’s tactics – including his own team-mate – as he prepares to face a “quality young team” in Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Košice.
Slovakia midfielder Stanislav Lobotka this week described Northern Ireland as “annoying”, claiming they do not create enough and rely on fast breaks, a month after Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann apologised for saying Michael O’Neill’s team “isn’t particularly easy on the eyes”.
But Burnley keeper Dubravka, who knows several of the players in O’Neill’s team having spent almost eight years plying his trade in England, took a different line about a team that beat Slovakia 2-0 in the reverse fixture last month.
“That’s the way they want to play and it works for them,” Dubravka said. “You look at the players they have and they use them as well as they can. They stay in games and they won their Nations League group (last year), so what can I say? It works.”
Dubravka has already come up against Conor Bradley, Daniel Ballard and Trai Hume in the Premier League this season and has been impressed by many of the players at O’Neill’s disposal.
“I particularly know the players from Sunderland!” the former Newcastle stopper said. “I know they’re a quality young team who are always difficult to play against. Their record and their stadium shows that and we experienced it four weeks ago.
“They are a quality team but we have to be focused on ourselves. We will try to dictate the tempo and play our game.”
Mario Sauer and Adrian Kapralik have sustained injuries, while Lubomir Satka is also expected to miss out, but compared to last month Slovakia have been considerably strengthened by the return of Napoli’s Lobotka and Atletico Madrid defender David Hancko.
While Northern Ireland need to avoid defeat to stay in the hunt for a top-two finish in Group A, Slovakia know a win would see them go into their final game against Germany – whom they beat 2-0 in their group opener in September – still with a chance to top the standings.
“It is a tough game because we know how important it is,” Dubravka said. “We need to be very careful at the start of the game because we didn’t do that very well in Belfast… we analysed which parts of the game we should have done more, so the approach and attitude is very important from the start.”