Michael O'Neill drawing from World Cup on Northern Ireland return

Thoughts on style of your team?

I have watched the World Cup with interest and seen teams winning games with 18-to-20 per cent possession. Clearly there will be games when you will have to play in a more pragmatic way but equally there are games we will have to be on the front foot, particularly here at home.

"One of the teams in the World Cup that impressed me the most was Japan who basically were at their best when they didn’t have the ball and they were a running team. Their game was built around making life difficult for the opposition.

"To do that you need your players playing all the time as well. I think you can build a running team now because it is a 16-man game and the ability that gives you to change your team and keep that freshness in your team.

"I was always a big advocate of the five-sub rule. A lot of people think it is a disadvantage to smaller teams and smaller nations. I see it the other way as you get the chance to put your freshest team on the pitch as much as possible and I think you need that because there are games where you are not going to have the ball.

"We always know the importance of set-pieces and it is about ensuring all those areas to give you the opportunity to win a game are covered off.

"The team will evolve in time and it is important not to try and force a style of play on a group of players that can’t deliver it. It is about fitting that right style around these players. I’ll also have conversations with the players about ‘should we be a high pressing team? or should we sit deep or should we be a counter attacking team?’ I will look at the opposition between now and then and the key is adapting in the right way to that.”

Eligibility as important to you now?

“Eligibility is extremely important, there’s no doubt about that. You only have to look at some of the emerging nations in the World Cup.

“Eligibility is used a lot in those squads and they find some great players that way.

“It’s important for us to be proactive in that because it’s hugely important.

“You’re always looking for that player who can make an instant improvement and eligibility provides that.

“We did a huge amount of work with Andy [Cousins}. You have to do that and as an association, if we are going to host a tournament in five years’ time, a player who could be playing for us in that tournament might be 14 or 15 now. Just look at Jude Bellingham playing at the World Cup at 19 now, he’s phenomenal.

“We have to work hard at it because it is so competitive, it’s an aggressive market and we have to make sure we’re in it.”

Pleased to see the success of U17 and 19 squads?

"It is brilliant. Gerard Lyttle and Gareth McAuley have done a great job.

"I saw the results and for a small association that is massive, because it builds a proper international calendar for those players.

"If you don't qualify, it is difficult for a small association to fund international football at that age with friendly games etc.

"Whereas if you go to the second phase, those lads will probably get 8-10 international games a year.

"And that's when you get the buy-in from those players, from these experiences.

"The work done at the JD Academy and Andy Waterworth has been massive. That was in its infancy when I was here, and Jim Magilton. We got it off the ground in a very short space of time, and big strides have been made since then.

"You see the young players and the clubs they are going to now. They are better equipped. The key is also to help our clubs develop young players, and if we can do that as an association then that's a big challenge. But I am excited for the future.

"The ironic thing is that as manager of a club, the academy is on your doorstep, but you don't really get to see it.

"But this job affords you the chance to go and check it out, and if the dates coincide the right way then all the better.

"I always enjoyed watching the U17s and 19s playing in tournaments. You can easily build a relationship with a young player, and two years later he could be in your senior squad."

Is the Irish League on your radar and views on Conor McMenamin impact?

"Conor has done very well. Clearly he is a player who is performing consistently high (for Glentoran). Obviously the recent injury has stalled things.

"Watching the Irish League closely, and the age profile of the players, I always think full-time opportunities attract young players.

"Kofi Balmer, Trai Hume, that model of player is hugely important. Look back at Stuart Dallas, Niall McGinn...it is a huge part of where an international footballer comes from.

"There is no set pathway for it. So certainly the Irish League and the money coming in is good. I have sympathy for some of the other clubs because you see a little bit of a gap appearing...but the challenge is for those clubs to try and get to that level.

"But keeping young players back in Northern Ireland is not a bad thing. Kofi has played over 100 games in the Irish League and if he is not in Crystal Palace's first-team or around it, I believe he won't have a problem going out and dealing with a loan."