Just like in tournament football, Northern Ireland have to reset and go again on Tuesday against Austria. Despite the hype around Saturday’s game at Wembley, Tuesday was always set to be the bigger game in terms of the final reckoning in Group D.
England are expected to run away as group winners, leaving Northern Ireland and Austria to fight it out for second spot and the play-off that comes with it.
With such an important game and a quick turnaround, Shiels says this set of fixtures will be valuable when it comes to Euro 2022 next summer.
“It is great timing, with the calibre of opposition in Austria and England in succession now, and that being repeated in April, will certainly help us in our preparation for July,” added the 65-year-old.
“They learnt a lot in that environment. Psychologically they will be a bit more switched on for the next time we meet in April.
“We are at home against Austria, who are a fantastic team. It is important that we be competitive in our group games. We will have to pick a team that is fresh.
“The experience tonight was good and there will be more good experiences on Tuesday. We will try our best to be more attack-minded and give a good account of ourselves on Tuesday.
“There were periods of the game where we didn’t have enough confidence, but we will deal with that and correct it in the Austria game.”
