Greece manager Claudio Ranieri has admitted that his side found it "very difficult" to get the better of a solid Northern Ireland backline in their Euro 2016 qualifier last night.
Goals from Jamie Ward and Kyle Lafferty fired the Green and White Army to a 2-0 victory in Athens, leaving the 2004 European champions eight points adrift after three matches.
"We lacked focus at the start and conceded early on which made it difficult for us," FourFourTwo quotes Ranieri as saying. "It was very difficult to break down a side so compact in defence. They are a team that know only too well how to close down space. We got hit by counter-attacks and had no balance in midfield.
"It was concentration that we lacked tonight. I watched Northern Ireland's matches against Romania and the Faroe Islands and told my players to beware of set-pieces and counter-attacks – and that's how Northern Ireland scored. We conceded in Finland from a counter-attack and it happened again tonight."
Group F leaders Northern Ireland return to action next month with a trip to face Romania.
Daniel Lewis
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