Northern Ireland skipper Shea Charles on Sweden defeat: ‘We should have been more compact’

In an open and honest interview the classy midfielder warned that what happened in the Strawberry Arena was ‘a look into the future of what we are going to come up against’ in World Cup qualifiers later this year declaring that the team must learn from their mistakes.

The captain in Stockholm was not shy in giving a candid appraisal of himself either suggesting he ought to have taken more responsibility in the second half when the Swedes started to run riot.

In his two previous games as skipper, the Southampton ace, who is on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, had won and drawn. This was a new experience.

“Me leading the team to a 5-1 defeat is obviously tough and different. Maybe I need to take more responsibility on the pitch when it is three or four. It was a tough night and there is a lot to learn,” said Charles.

“We have a long time until the next game so it will be about being able to take the responsibility of having a defeat and maybe just organising the team a bit better when we have gone 3-0 down.

“We came out in the second half saying ‘don’t concede the next goal’ and we did. We should have been more compact and we weren’t and it ended up being five.”

The last time Northern Ireland lost 5-1 was in June 2024 to Spain prior to them going on to win the European Championships. After that match, O’Neill’s team lost just once in their next eight games up to the trip to Sweden.

A similar recovery would be welcome with friendlies to come in June versus Denmark and Iceland before six World Cup qualifiers between September and November against Luxembourg, Germany and Slovakia.

“Spain are one of the best teams in the world and we came back last year from that and we were very good. Hopefully we can do something similar,” stated Charles.

“The only difference was after the Spanish game we played Andorra a few days later (and won 2-0) which meant we could bounce straight back from so it might be a bit tougher a few months on.

“We will be a bit longer together in the summer so we can definitely work on the things we weren’t very good at in Sweden.”

Asked if the game in Stockholm could fuel Northern Ireland going forward, Charles said: “It’s almost like a look into the future of what we are going to come up against. Germany are one of the best teams in the world. It will be a different game of football and anything can happen on the night. We are good enough to go and compete against these sorts of teams. It just didn’t happen this time.

“It was a tough night. I don’t think it was a 5-1 game but they finished their chances unlike us. That is what happens when you make mistakes against players of that quality.

“We will look at this game in June and work on things and the mistakes we made.”

In keeping with the rest of the conversation, Charles was honest about two opportunities that came his way – the first when he shot from distance straight at Swedish goalkeeper Viktor Johansson who had gifted him the ball and secondly when he was a touch unfortunate to see his shot deflected wide after linking up well with Jamie Donley.

“I know I was far out but I think it was an easy chance,” said Charles.

“I was just a bit too safe in the way I approached the shot. Like that one we had other good chances and if we put them away it would have been a completely different game.

“For the other one Jamie played a good ball through to me and the space opened up more than I expected and the defender got in the way and it was just a corner in the end.”