Craigan added that shedding a participant of Bradley’s calibre is a “big loss” however Northern Eire can nonetheless stun Italy, who’re aiming to qualify for a primary World Cup since 2014.
Goalkeeper Pierce Charles can also be a doubt on account of a shoulder damage sustained at Sheffield Wednesday, and O’Neill will probably be hoping that no extra of his key gamers get injured forward of the sport.
“Completely we will do it. We should attain a efficiency stage we’ve not reached for a very long time.
“The Slovakia recreation [a 2-0 win in October] was very shut, and hopefully we will replicate massive elements of that efficiency.”
Sunderland’s Trai Hume, the versatile Brodie Spencer, Portsmouth’s Terry Devlin and Swansea Metropolis midfielder Ethan Galbraith are all candidates to deputise for Bradley at proper again in Bergamo.
Craigan added {that a} small silver lining was that the damage occurred thus far out from the play-offs, so O’Neill has time to rethink his technique.
“It isn’t occurred proper earlier than the sport so he has a little bit of time to think about a method or recreation plan to tactically fill that void that Conor leaves.
“We do have a bit of canopy in that space of the sphere, however do they carry the identical qualities that Conor has?
“No, sadly they do not, however whenever you’re a rustic with a small pool of gamers, typically it’s important to make issues work.
“If we will get all of our key gamers match, aside from Conor sadly, then we will go to Italy and trigger an enormous upset.”
