Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson was furious about his side’s humiliating 5-0 hammering against England, suggesting his players “gave up” after Liam Scales’ sending off.
A Nations League campaign that started with a 2-0 defeat to Lee Carsley’s side in Dublin ended in embarrassment at Wembley, where the visitors had started well and frustrated the Euro 2024 runners-up.
But Scales’ sending-off for a second yellow card shortly after half-time saw the Irish spiral, with Harry Kane converting the resulting penalty before Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher scored in quick succession.
Substitute Jarrod Bowen found the net with his first touch before debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis came off the bench to complete a chastening end to 2024 for Ireland.
“Well, I’m kind of lost for words,” Hallgrimsson said.
“Six minutes of kind of madness. Yeah, it was a shock, conceding a penalty, conceding a goal, losing a player.
“We probably lost our heads at this moment, leading into a second goal and a third goal. And from there you can see, yeah, we maybe lost our head, gave up.
“We’ve talked and I said before we’re struggling with confidence, and they clearly took away all confidence from what we did really well in the first half.
“So, yeah, you cannot explain things like this. It’s just happened, a slap in the face and was difficult to come back from it.”
Asked if it is worrying that a manager feels his players are losing their heads and even giving up, Hallgrimsson said: “It’s easy to sit or stand on the sideline and criticise.
“Coming in after that first half, it’s a game like we wanted it to be. We’re defending compact, they didn’t find ways to play through us.
“And then coming in second half, so early conceding the goal, losing a player, conceding another one. It’s easy to criticise when you’re standing outside or watching the game from the stands.
“I think in a way is normal but, look, excuses when you lose 5-0 is kind of pathetic to be excusing or talking about positives. It’s embarrassing to lose 5-0.”
Ireland already knew they would be in the Nations League relegation play-off spot heading into a Group B2 finale that Hallgrimsson felt they should have had a penalty in.
The former Iceland coach was annoyed with Scales for picking up the first of his bookings for kicking the ball away on a night when the confidence quickly disappeared.
“If we can play like this for 50 minutes, let’s hope that next game at least we can do it longer,” Hallgrimsson added.
“With a little luck, if we would have got a penalty and scored a goal, it’s just a totally, totally different game.
“It’s psychological advantage to us, instead of the different scenario we had today. But, no, I believe in these guys but the past has been tough, so we just need to kind of use this to our advantage.
“Look at what we can take positive from this game. It was a lot of negative, but for me it’s important to just look at the positives build from that.”