Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson rowed back on the headline statement that “we gave up” after a confidence-sapping 5-0 loss to England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening.
But the sentiment remains intact. Ireland came to London with a plan to clog the space in front of their defence, where English superstars Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are so lethal, by using Nathan Collins as an anchor in midfield.
For 52 minutes, it worked. There followed a complete collapse from the 10 remaining players, following Liam Scales’s sending off for a second yellow card, as an understrength English side plundered five goals.
The memory of this game will be three England goals scored in the six minutes after Scales walked for tripping Bellingham in the box.
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“I am lost for words,” said Hallgrímsson. “Six minutes of madness. It was a shock conceding a penalty, conceding a goal, losing a player. We probably lost our heads in this moment, leading into a second and third goal. We lost our heads. We gave up.
“We struggle with confidence and [the Kane penalty] clearly took away all our confidence from what we did really well in first half. You cannot explain things like that, it just happens, a slap in the face that was difficult to come back from. It is embarrassing to lose five-zero.”
Hallgrímsson was speaking in his second language, so the Icelander was offered the chance to explain his statement that the Irish players gave up so early in this Nations League B contest.
“I mean,” he clarified, “we lost what we were doing in the first half. Maybe it is too harsh to say ‘give up’. It is easy to criticise when you are standing on the sideline. We had a game plan that was working until it was not working.
“Six minutes, three-nil down, and down a player, against a team like England, it is a shock. I didn’t feel we had any way out from there. It was about limiting the damage.”
It could have been a different result if Evan Ferguson was awarded a penalty by Belgian referee Erik Lambrechts, or an intervention from VAR, following a clear jersey tug by Marc Guéhi in the 22nd minute.
“I thought it was a penalty for sure,” said Hallgrímsson. “I don’t remember what the referee said, as to why they didn’t give it, but of course that would have changed the momentum in the game.
“But I don’t want to make excuses.”
In truth, as soon as Ireland went 1-0 down, Hallgrímsson saw already brittle confidence levels drain from the team, revealing an ongoing problem when it comes to resilience.
“If you can play like we did for 50 minutes, let’s hope the next game we can do it for longer. And with a little luck, if we got a penalty and scored a goal, it is a totally different game. It [would have been] a psychological advantage to us.
“I believe in these guys,” he said, “but the past has been tough”.
On Scales’s first yellow card for kicking the ball away, the Ireland manager added: “We say it every meeting ‘don’t’ get silly yellow cards’.”
One positive to cling to ahead of Friday’s promotion/relegation playoff draw in Nyon, to be played next March over two legs, is the decision to move Collins into midfield.
“I thought that set-up worked,” said Hallgrímsson. “The tactics we played first half against a good team like England fits the profile of the players we are using. England drop players into that zone, it is Harry Kane’s role, but we had a centre back in that zone. They could not play through our block, they needed to go outside our block, like Greece had to. We didn’t create a lot of opportunities to score but it was worth trying.”
Ireland’s possible opponents in March, to remain in Nations League B, are Northern Ireland, Armenia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Slovakia or Kosovo, as England and their now former manager Lee Carsley drift from view, unless Ireland get them in the World Cup qualification draw on December 13th.
“I think it is fair to say there is a bit of relief,” said Carsley, who makes way for Thomas Tuchel. “I have found it challenging personally, as have the rest of the staff, so it is good that we have finished the campaign with such a strong performance.
“I spoke to the players at half-time when it was 0-0. I said to them that we are going to score. I had total belief that they were going to score, so just keep going. And it was pleasing to obviously get five goals.”
