O'Neill wants Ireland 'on front foot'

O'Neill is under pressure as 'Green Army' boss after being smashed 4-1 by Wales in Cardiff last month and also failing to beat group leaders Denmark. 

If the Republic of Ireland are to be defeated once more by Wales, O'Neill's side will be facing relegation to League C which would see them third seeds and at a disadvantage when qualifying begins for Euro 2020. 

O'Neill, speaking ahead of the game, remarked: "We'll try and do better. They outplayed us in the game in Cardiff. We have to get on the front foot, we are at home and we have to be better on the ball. 

"We were very solid against Denmark and that was important, the clean sheet was very important, but we have to be more creative.

"We've got to try and use the ball in the final third and be confident on it. I'm in total agreement that we need to be more creative, but international football is a step up from club level, especially when you have not been playing regularly.

"Wales are going to be missing some players, but they have got that little bit of youthfulness. They beat us well on the night and we'll try and do something about that tomorrow evening if we can."

Ireland are without Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady, while key players Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey will be sidelined for Wales. 

O'Neill commented: "Gareth Bale is a real world class player and Ramsey is a top quality player himself.

"I'm sure they will be blows for Wales and maybe, as a consequence, it should be OK for us in that sense.

"But I keep going back to it, we've got players who would be very normal starters for us that have been out for some considerable time. We've had to make do for quite some time now."