Northern Ireland: Davis, missing the GAWA and Haaland's hype - five NI takeaways
- Published
Northern Ireland's defence had a torrid time against the ruthless Norway attack
On his first home fixture as Northern Ireland manager, Ian Baraclough's men fell to a 5-1 defeat against an impressive Norway side in Belfast.
Led by the talismanic Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, Norway simply blew Northern Ireland away and, in both defence and attack, Baraclough's men had no answer.
So after a draw and a defeat in Baraclough's opening two Nations League games, here are five things we noticed ahead of that all-important Bosnia-Herzegovina play-off.
A week of contrasts
If the Romania game was a slow and, let's face it, a turgid affair for 88 minutes, the Norway game was anything but.
Twitter admins everywhere were smashing their keyboards as four goals flew in at Windsor Park with just 19 minutes on the clock.
The visitors played some scintillating football, especially in the first half, and deservedly won with ease as they out-ran, out-passed and out-scored a leggy and rusty NI side.
Norway were so clinical, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, man of the match in Romania, only had one save to make and spent most of the game picking the ball out of his net.
An empty Windsor Park failed to inspire the home side
Missing the GAWA
On the 15th anniversary of Northern Ireland's famous victory over England, it was absolutely bizarre, sad almost, to see Windsor Park, usually a sea of green and a cauldron of noise and energy, so still for an international fixture.
Despite the lack of atmosphere, Northern Ireland managed to neutralise Norway's early goal through the human swiss army knife that is Paddy McNair, however when the visitors scored again the absent Green and White Army weren't there to give Baraclough's men the lift they required.
We're not saying it would have magically altered the outcome, but when Norway were firmly on top, the GAWA would be roaring their players on to try and rescue a result.
In their absence, Northern Ireland slumped and conceded five goals at home for the first time since Spain in 2002, meaning Baraclough's first home fixture will be one he will want to forget in a hurry.
Haaland justifies the hype
With his 19 goals in 20 appearances for Borussia Dortmund and Norway in 2020, it is well documented by this point that Erling Haaland is an exceptionally-talented freak of nature.
Daniel Ballard, who performed so admirably in Bucharest, is over six foot tall but he looked dwarfed compared to Haaland and struggled to deal with the forward's pace and power. But it is an experience the Arsenal defender will learn and grow from.
Haaland, who also picked up an assist on top of his two sublime finishes, was far from the only threat with Mohammad Elyounoussi and Alexander Sørloth also providing problems for the NI defence.
Virgil van Dijk, Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry and Frenkie de Jong are some of the stars to grace the Windsor Park turf in the past year, and Haaland, whose last appearance in Northern Ireland was a surprise defeat by Glenavon while playing for Molde in 2018, is right up there with the very best.
Alexander Sørloth, Mohammad Elyounoussi and Erling Haaland were in superb form for Norway
Eyes on Bosnia
At the end of the day, despite the humbling defeat, there's a more important test around the corner for Baraclough's boys in the form of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Euro 2020 (2021) play-off semi-final.
The Norway game is a write-off, but the Romania game on Friday provided some positives and showed a defiant and strong mentality of this NI team.
Bar David Healy's goal-mad period, Northern Ireland have never had the most prolific of attacks, an area in which their opponents excelled on Monday, however the leaky defence will be an area of concern and Baraclough will be keen to make sure the absent Jonny Evans is available for that play-off to steady the ship.
It's a very winnable fixture, so Northern Ireland have to believe they can make it to the next stage and not take too much discouragement from their Norway nightmare.
Captain, leader, legend
We'll save the final word of the night for Steven Davis as he equalled Pat Jennings' record of 119 caps.
When you think back to that famous aforementioned Healy goal, the Rangers man is just as important now in the centre of the park as he was back in 2005.
It's a real shame he didn't get the ovation, or result, he deserved from the Green and White Army but that doesn't take away from anything Davis has achieved in a green shirt.
What a servant the 35-year-old is. One of Northern Ireland's greatest-ever players.