4 days Ago By Neil O'Riordan
AS A dentist, Heimir Hallgrímsson is well used to dealing with people who just want the painful experience to be over as soon as possible And that is exactly what it felt like for the final 39 minutes of Sunday’s game against Wembley after Liam Scales had been sent off . He watched in horror as his punch-drunk side compounded error after error, going from holding out against England to 3-0 down in the space of six minutes with the home side going on to win 5-0. Hallgrímsson said: “It was probably one of my worst second halves of football.
It’s difficult to be a coach when this happens. “You don’t have time to react to anything. All of a sudden you’re 3-0 down, one player down, against a good team like England.
“It’s just – I’m not going to use foul language – but it’s tough. It’s tough, not only for the coaches but for the players on the pitch as well. “You start to think about how many minutes are left and ‘we need to limit the damage’.
“You think if you equalise you might concede more. It was more about defending then attacking. “I can’t ever remember a team of mine conceding five goals in second half, no.
“You need to be smart after conceding a shock like this, a goal and losing a player. “You need to be smart to play the next few minutes, be compact, not concede another one, growing again into the match. “I think we did all this in first half.
In the first 10 minutes we were a bit shaky but then we found our rhythm in our block, we kind of controlled where they wanted to go. “So we controlled the way the game was played even with the little amount of possession we had. “That’s what should have happened when we went 1-0 down.
But it’s easy to be outside and criticise.” But, clearly, after a heaviest defeat in 12 years, Ireland’s players are not above criticism. Whatever about conceding the penalty and earning a second caution and his dismissal for a foul on Jude Bellingham , Liam Scales’ initial booking for kicking the ball away was utterly avoidable.
And, although his sending off inevitably meant Ireland would be up against it, he could not have imagined the extent to which his team-mates would crumble. As he must, Hallgrímsson will attempt to pick up the pieces and remind them of the good things they had done prior to that ahead of the Nations League play-off in March. The four months without seeing them are a frustration for a manager who, when he was in charge of Iceland, was able to gather at least some of his players together in January.
He said: “That is impossible. Players are playing two games a week. It is what it is.
“If we look back when we played them at home and this. I know the goal-scoring was different. This was a different game.
"We could have, and maybe should have, taken the lead in the game. “It would have changed the whole lot if we’d taken the lead. Then, this last 30-35 minutes, it’s difficult to criticise, but it’s still embarrassing to lose 5-0.
“I think 11 v 11, we played really well out of possession. I think we played really well until the first goal. “It was in possession when we had our most dangerous moments, when we won it, and then lost it again.
"That was when England had their chances. So, we need to grow from in possession rather than out of possession.” For a manager who has extolled the virtues of a settled team, he has gone through a hell of a lot of players But Hallgrímsson has claimed that there will be greater consistency to selection in 2025.
The Icelander has had just six Nations League games in 71 days since being handed the reins by the FAI. And he has used 31 players – a whopping 23 of them as starters – as Ireland have lost both games to England and Greece and beaten Finland home and away. Mark McGuinness was the latest player handed an audition, his debut a memorable one for the wrong reasons as Ireland capitulated when his centre-half partner was given his marching orders.
But Hallgrímsson says that his open trials are over as he tries to plot a way for Ireland to qualify for the World Cup. Hallgrímsson said: “It has been good time for me. Now, I’ve seen them.
It was necessary for me to give them a chance to show what they can do. “Andy Moran came in to a terrible position on Sunday. But he showed he was confident to play at this level.
“You always get answers. Answers are not always how you want them to be. But all answers are good because it moves you forward.
It moves you to take decisions going forward. “Maybe you knew some things already but I needed to see all of these players going into the World Cup.” McGuinness got the shout to start in the centre of defence having earned his first call-up last month before being forced to withdraw through injury.
Although a talented performer, who had made a big-money from Cardiff City to Luton Town in the summer, he had not really been in the conversation given Ireland’s options in that position. But Hallgrímsson said: “We wanted to have, for this game, his physicality. He has shown with his team how good he is.
"We wanted to use his aerial skills in set pieces. It is sad that we didn’t get more than we did in the game.” His inclusion saw captain Nathan Collins moved into midfield with Hallgrímsson happy with how the tactical switch worked in the first half.
He said: “I’ve told you guys, and I try to be consistent in what I’m saying, we need to be able to play teams like England away and we will need to defend for long spells in the games. “And if we do that as well as we did I the first half, we have a chance against everyone, any team.”.
