Ireland manager says Ireland lost its head during defeat to England 

Heimir Hallgrímsson says his Republic of Ireland team lost its ‘head’ during the second half of their 5-0 defeat to England at Wembley.

It was 0-0 at half-time and the promising start ended with three goals in five minutes by the home side after the restart.

What made things worse was the dismissal of Liam Scales after the defender picked up a second yellow card.

“The first half was like we wanted it, yes, it is easy to say that we had a good first half [but] when you lose 5-0 there is nothing you can say,” he said.

What people were talking about was a penalty appeal by Ireland during the first half after Evan Ferguson was pulled down by the jersey inside the area.

“We will never know that – we will never know that,” Hallgrímsson talked about the referee’s decision.

“I don’t know. It was six minutes or eight minutes of madness. And then with conceding a penalty. Losing the ball is one thing, don’t react to is another. Conceding a penalty [and] losing a player is a lot of shock.

“1-0 down and in your face you get the second one and I just felt that we just lost our heads. At the moment after that I felt there was no way back.” 

Harry Kane got the first goal and Anthony Gordon doubled their lead before Conor Gallaher poked the ball in at the near post. It was a rush of blood few minutes that killed the Irish cause.

“Kind of just gave up,” Hallgrímsson added.

“[It’s] easy to stand outside and criticise the players. A crazy moment that killed everything. 

"Not only the momentum but the game plan, the fight was taken away from them. There is hardly anything I can say right now. You try to pick the positives and the positives were the first half."

The big issue for Hallgrímsson was the sending off and penalty been given, instead of applying the double jeopardy rule.

“I think it is okay to give a penalty but I didn’t think that this is a red card – the advantage is that you give them a penalty,” he looked back.

“I didn’t see the need to give a second yellow for this. But things like this happen. 

"Sadly for us, it totally changes the momentum of the game. From then on it was tough.” Up until that point, it looked like Hallgrímsson had got it right with the team selection and way of playing. 

"A big part of this was the back-five that had Nathan Collins stationed in front of it.

“Like I said – the first half went to how we wanted the game to be played,” he looked back.

“He was playing in midfield and sometimes in defence and against a team like England with Harry Kane coming into that space and [Jude] Bellingham coming into that space. 

"It was all over that. When we went down a player we needed to take him back into defence. I think it was a good defensive display in the first half.

“Again, happy with that but the only thing you can say is sorry to the fans. Fantastic again. The Irish fans coming, even after losing. They cheer players on. Just amazing. The only thing you can say is just sorry.”