Isaac Price is probably too young to have seen the classic Catherine Tate comedy character, but the 22-year-old’s response to critics is basically: “Am I bovvered?!”
Asked about the criticisms of NI’s way of playing from Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann, or Slovakia midfielder Stanislav Lobotka calling them “annoying”, Price replied:
“I don’t really care what any of them say. I think we know what we’ve got in the dressing room.
“If they want to call us ‘annoying’ or say we’re just good from set pieces – it’s the result that matters at the end of the day. And that’s what we’re here to do.”
The West Bromwich Albion player IS bothered about this game with Luxembourg, declaring:
“Obviously we were disappointed on Friday night that we can’t finish in a higher position in this group.
“But we’ve got a game which we’re really looking forward to. It’s our last chance to really build on our team before we go into a really important game in March.”
Isaac Price was on target for West Brom in their Championship opener (Nigel French/PA)
He swatted aside the ‘dead rubber’ label which many will try to attach to this match, saying:
“Definitely not. I still think it’s a massive game, because we’re a young team and there’s always a chance for us to learn.
“International games don’t come around too often, so I think every game that we have we have got to make the most of.
The former Everton and Standard Liege midfielder is not one to shoot his mouth off, so Slovakia’s over-the-top celebrations of their win on Friday night riled up the Northern Ireland attacker and prompted this withering post-match put-down from him:
“If you’re playing in the game and you want to have a pop then that’s fine – but if you’re a third choice goalkeeper and you’re not playing, I think, just be quiet.”
Northern Ireland were beaten in Slovakia but can still qualify for the World Cup (Ben Whitley/PA)
He did feel that the Slovakian support’s noise affected the decision to allow the winning goal, after two earlier efforts were ruled out by VAR:
“Those two free kicks, one was offside and one was handball and I think VAR rightly chalked them off.
“I think the third one was a a foul, personally. I didn’t see it straight after but I’ve watched it back now and he puts his hands on him [NI defender Daniel Ballard.
“But maybe sometimes if you’ve already give two decisions our way and the third one comes, their fans can come on top.
“They’re decisions that go against you and ultimately we need to stop them chances from coming in. We’ve got to be stronger from set plays.
“As Michael said, we’ve conceded two set plays from two big nations now [Germany and Slovakia]. That’s something we need to get better at.”
Luxembourg is the last competitive preparation for the play-off, so Isaac Price and his NI team-mates will be right up for this.