Heimir Hallgrimsson said he was “lost for words” after his Republic of Ireland side “gave up” during a second-half collapse that led to a crushing 5-0 Nations League defeat by England at Wembley.
After a scoreless first half in which the Irish had effectively frustrated England, Harry Kane put the hosts ahead from the spot after Liam Scales was given a second yellow card and sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham.
Down to 10 men, the Republic of Ireland crumbled as Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher quickly stretched England’s lead before Jarrod Bowen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis completed a miserable evening for Hallgrimsson.
“Well, I’m kind of lost for words,” the manager 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.”
The former Iceland boss, who replaced Stephen Kenny earlier this year, added: “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.”
The result marked the Republic of Ireland’s heaviest defeat by England and their biggest loss since being trounced 6-1 at home by Germany in 2012.
“It’s easy to sit or stand on the sideline and criticise,” added Hallgrimsson, whose side face a relegation play-off to remain in the Nations League’s second tier.
“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.
“But look, excuses when you lose 5-0… it’s kind of pathetic to be excusing or talking about positives. It’s embarrassing to lose 5-0.”
Captain Collins apologises to Irish fans
Hallgrimsson did not think Scales’ challenge on Bellingham that led to Kane’s penalty warranted a second yellow card.
“I think it’s OK to give a penalty but I never think this is a yellow card,” he told RTE. “The advantage is you give them a penalty so I didn’t see the need to give a second yellow for this.
“Things like this happen. Sadly for us, it totally changed the momentum of the game and it was tough.”
Hallgrimsson’s downbeat tone post-match was mirrored by Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins, who apologised to the Irish fans.
“First of all, it’s probably an apology from all the lads for that second half,” the Brentford defender, who was deployed in midfield by Hallgrimsson, told RTE.
“That’s nowhere near the standard we should be. Obviously circumstances changed things but we know as a group we’re a lot better than that. That’s not on and we need to do a lot better than that.”