Wolves' Matt Doherty critical of Martin O'Neill

O'Neill and assistant Roy Keane left Ireland yesterday and Doherty said O'Neill's coaching was 'old-school' with a 'bizarre' situation where some players weren't sure what shape the team were playing.

Doherty and O'Neill crossed words in public a couple of months ago when the ex-manager said Doherty wasn't getting to the byline enough, with the in-form wing-back saying his 'face didn't fit' in the Ireland setup.

Doherty told RTE 2FM's Game On: "Compared to the set-up I have at Wolves, where we have a lot of Portuguese coaches, you could class it as old-school.

"When you were away with Ireland, you didn’t really have that much coaching. It was more of five-a-side, or 11-a-side game, and that would be it.

"The day before a game you would do a few set-pieces here and there and then go into the game. You are kind of thinking to yourself, ‘what shape are we going to play?’

"You’d have a few players thinking 'we’ll play this shape', or someone else thinking something else. You can’t have that, especially at international football, people not really sure on what their role is the next day.

“It is bizarre, but like I said, it didn’t happen all the time. There were odd occasions when it did happen.

"The performances haven’t been good at all, not even when I was involved. It’s come back to bite him O’Neill in the end.

"Everyone thinks there wasn’t a game plan every time, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes there was, sometimes it was less clear.

"He has brought great nights to Irish football. He’s brought moments where I have been watching at home, not in the squad, as a fan also.

"Some of the times he has made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. So, he deserves credit as well."