Heimir Hallgrimsson urges Ireland to forget demoralising England defeat

Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson has told his players they “can’t be crying” until they play Greece on Tuesday after being humbled by England in his first game in charge.

Ireland’s Nations League B2 campaign got off to a disappointing start in Dublin on Saturday evening when they slipped to a 2-0 defeat in a one-sided encounter.

Hallgrimsson admitted afterwards there were lessons to be learned from a bruising reverse but insisted his players cannot dwell on a difficult 90 minutes as they prepare for the showdown with the Greeks, who beat them home and away during the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

Asked if his team had to forget the England game, the 57-year-old Icelander said: “Correct, correct.

“We really wanted to have a good result against England, but I think most of us are unhappy because we wanted a better performance.

“We talked in the dressing room, now let’s try to look positive on the next two games. This was a negative, we cannot carry that into the game against Greece.

“Greece have shown that they play well against Ireland, so have the upper hand. We have to change that, so we can’t be crying until we play Greece, we need to kind of energise, use every moment to be ready for that one.”

For all England were very good before the break, during which Declan Rice, who won three senior caps for Ireland before switching allegiance to England, and Jack Grealish, who wore the green shirt at under-21s level, both scored, the hosts did not cover themselves in glory.

Hallgrimsson, who was only appointed in July and has had a matter of days to work with his players, admitted they had been decidedly second best.

Asked what had gone wrong, he said: “There were a lot of things. First and foremost, I think it’s confidence in decision making, initiative – that was the big difference between the teams.

“I know the individual quality, we can talk about that, but when you are defending in a collective way, you need to take decisions, you need to believe in action and reaction and we were not good at this compared to England coming from a good Euros and from winning the Under-21s (European Championship).

“All their passes, all their movements, all their decisions were taken in the belief that they would be successful, whereas I felt we were always hesitating.”

In particular, Ireland were found wanting for both goals, Trent Alexander-Arnold carving them wide open for the first before Rice masterminded an intricate move which left them for dead.

Hallgrimsson said: “If you see the first goal, it’s just a pass through the heart of the team. It should never happen at any level of football, so internationally you’re unhappy – but if you were playing youth football, you would still be unhappy with a goal like this.

“The second goal was a give-and-go, four, five, six give-and-goes through us. Again, shouldn’t happen at this level.”