MICHAEL O’Neill insists there will be no complacency from Northern Ireland at Windsor Park tonight.
O’Neill’s side are gunning for their first points of the World Cup qualifying campaign against Group F underdogs Luxembourg.
Northern Ireland kicked-off the Road to Brazil with a 2-0 defeat to Russia on Friday night.
They are heavy favourites to claim maximum points against Luxembourg, who only narrowly lost to Portugal in their opener.
“This group of players don’t have that attitude,” O’Neill said of his squad.
“It’s a hardworking group, they know what their strengths are and how they are going to get results.
“I don’t think they have an attitude that they can just turn up, take the field and win games. They’re not stupid enough to think like that to be honest.
“We’ve shared some information on Luxembourg with them and they’ll know they have to work every bit as hard in this game as they did on Friday night, albeit in slightly different circumstances.”
Russia boss Fabio Capello last week dismissed O’Neill’s men as “only Northern Ireland”, but O’Neill refuses to adopt the same theory ahead of tonight’s game.
“I wouldn’t say this game is as easy as you’ll get,” he insisted.
“If you look at Luxembourg you’ll see in recent times their games have been very close.
“They’ve been beaten 2-1 by Georgia, 1-0 by Switzerland and beat Macedonia 2-1.
“That gives you an indication this is not a team, with all due respect, that’s a San Marino or Liechtenstein getting beaten seven or eight goals to none in qualifying games.
“When you look at the group you could say the perception is that this will be our easiest game but you’d only need to have a conversation with the Portuguese and their manager to know it’s not going to be straightforward.
“We know where we are, how we feel about the opposition should remain in house. But there’ll be no underestimation, that’s for sure, not from me personally or from the players.”
p WORLD CUP SPECIAL ON PAGES 60-63
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