Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson admits his side were “second best by far” in Saturday’s Nations League defeat by England and hopes the players can grow from having their weaknesses exposed.
Hallgrimsson’s first game in charge ended in disappointment as goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, two players who used to represent the Republic of Ireland, helped England to a comfortable victory at Aviva Stadium.
Both of England’s goals came after slack Irish defending with Hallgrimsson admitting he wanted his players to show more “confidence” and “decisiveness” at the back.
“When you are defending in a collective way, you need to take decisions,” said the Icelander, who observed that he saw more “individual actions instead of a collective” from his defence.
“You need to believe in action and a reaction. We were not good at this.”
Hallgrimsson has taken over a side who won just 11 out of 40 games under Stephen Kenny and their lack of confidence did not go unnoticed by the new boss, who included his players’ unwillingness to shoot and cross from promising positions in his analysis.
After a difficult first half, however, Hallgrimsson was heartened by what he felt was an improved second-half display, perhaps aided by England taking their foot off the gas after building a two-goal lead.
The Republic of Ireland’s cause was not helped by a lack of cutting edge, though, with Jayson Molumby and Sammie Szmodics passing up presentable chances to score.
“It was more initiative, we got a little bit higher. We were more compact,” Hallgrimsson said of the second half.
“Easy to say when you are winning 2-0, you probably take the foot off the gas a little bit.
“But I think we can learn from this, grow from this and improve step by step from what we were doing instead of changing personnel or changing formations in the next game.”
Hallgrimsson was co-manager of Iceland when they beat England at Euro 2016, but emulating that seismic result was always going to be a big ask here.
Instead, the 57-year-old is likely to be judged on games against teams who are closer to the Republic of Ireland in the world rankings, like Greece, who are four places above them and visit Dublin on Tuesday evening.
Greece beat the Republic of Ireland twice in Euro 2024 qualifying and Hallgrimsson is determined to oversee a change in his team’s fortunes.
“We really wanted to have a good result against England but most of us aren’t happy that we wanted a better performance,” he said.
“We talked in the dressing room. Let’s try to look positive on the next two games. This was a negative but we cannot carry it into the game against Greece.
“They have shown they can play well against Ireland so they have the upper-hand. We need to change that.”