'We hate Plan Bs'

Joey O'Brien has urged his Shelbourne side to put their best foot forward against Rijeka in tomorrow night’s Europa League clash, and emphasised that there is no talk of a Plan B in the dressing room.

Shelbourne would go into the play-off round of the Europa League – one tie from the league phase – should they beat Rijeka over two legs, however, there is also a viable way into the Conference League equivalent should O’Brien’s side get beaten.

A re-match with Linfield, a team Shelbourne have already beaten this summer, could be on the cards in such a scenario, however, the manager believes that it would be counterproductive to even assess that situation ahead of a vital game with the Croatian champions.

O’Brien was cautiously optimistic about his side’s chances of progression against a "really strong" side, while adding that it would be a "monster task" to go through.

The Shelbourne manager believes that his side come into the tie as underdogs, however, the intention remains to set up to win the game, taking into account the soaring temperatures and the unknowns when coming up against a new side.

"I think they are favourites," said O’Brien, speaking at the pre-match press conference. "It's going to be a really difficult game, but it's a game that we can't wait for.

"We have a game-plan to try to set up to win the game, that's the way we always play. That's the aim of the game, every time we go out and play, we look to win.

"If you have a game-plan just sitting in trying to survive for 90 minutes, I don't think it works like that."

O’Brien sees possession as a key factor in European competition and he believes that his side will show their capabilities if they can keep control of the football for sustained periods of play.

However, the manager has urged caution ahead of the game and has told his players that they really need to show total concentration in the early stages to get a real understanding of the opposition and how to implement the aforementioned game-plan.

"In European football, you need to get into possession, and I think we showed that against Qarabag in the previous round that when we get on the ball and show quality, we're a good team. That's one of my big messages to our players tomorrow, is to put your best foot forward," said O’Brien.

"It's that feeling out of each other," he added. "The lads have seen enough video of them now at this stage. Seeing who the individual players are going to come up against and certain patterns they work as a team.

"But again, you never really know until you're out on the pitch and you see the movements and you see how quick they are and stuff like that.

"So we obviously need to be on guard of that because we've learned before that you cannot give away moments in the start of the game really because otherwise you're going to turn into a long night.

"It's about, making sure we're on guard in that first half."

Another trip to Belfast's Windsor Park is not being entertained in the Shels dressing room

And O’Brien believes that his side have being building momentum through a string of good performances in both the league and in European competition, and while he still rues that first leg performance against Qarabag, where they lost 3-0 at Tolka Park, he feels that his team bounced back impressively in the second leg.

"I think we've been playing good stuff over the last little while," said O’Brien, when asked about confidence levels within the squad ahead of the game.

"In the Qarabag game, it was a really tough opposition, and we're disappointed how we started the game in the first half. We let them settle into it a little bit. But I thought second half we were really good again and had the momentum of the game.

"Then over in Qarabag, the lads again done really well, and we were able to make changes, which shows the strength of the squad that we have. We done really well in that game, I felt. The game-plan was decent enough, we had a couple of chances and should have scored, so who knows how that leg could have went?"

And as for Plan B, O’Brien was not entertaining talk about what possibilities could come via the Conference League.

"I spoke to the lads about it. We hate Plan B's and we're not thinking about Plan B. If you think about Plan B, you take your eye off the ball.

"As a player, if you start letting yourself think like that, 'maybe this might happen or we get these again’, that's not the way you play football.

"You want to go out and challenge yourself and attack what's in front of you and I think you're at your best when you don't have that safety net or you think, it's OK to lose, it's not too bad.

"It's going to be a monster game. Irish teams, our record in Europe away from home against stronger teams and stronger countries over the years isn't very good.

"So it's going to be a monster task but it's the task that we want and we're going to embrace and we're going to try and put our best foot forward and get a result."

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