Andrews believes Poyet got Irish assistance ahead of Athens encounter

Keith Andrews believes that there was an element of insider trading taking place ahead of Ireland's summer defeat to Greece in Athens.

The Ireland assistant manager said that he has been alerted to Greece manager Gus Poyet’s imaginative tactical approach to the game between the two Group B rivals ahead of the Euro 2024 qualfier in June.

Greece took all three points on a night that the manager openly admitted that he knew Ireland’s tactics and implemented a game-plan to nullify the threat of the visitors, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for Poyet’s side.

The defeat for Stephen Kenny’s side put a major dent in their qualification ambitions and it proved a devastating blow from which they have been unable to recover from, heading into the final three group games with a meagre three points on the board.

"In terms of the approach [to the Greece game] in June, it wasn't rocket science was it?" said Andrews, speaking at Tuesday’s press conference. "We had played a similar system for a long period of time.

"In terms of this game coming up, I’m not going to say anything here that’s going to jeopardise anything, because I am sure he [Poyet] will be reading, and possibly getting some Irish staff from clubs around England to come in and watch his training session and have an opinion or view of sorts that will maybe help in his game plan."

When asked to elaborate in relation to the Irish people aiding the Greece manager with his preparations, Andrews said: "Gus has a thing where invites certain people in to watch training. Pre Athens, I am sure that assisted his preparations.

"He is quite cute, very experienced in his preparation. He said certain things post game, where he alluded to, he has done his homework...

"It is out there, it is not