Hallgrimsson “lost for words” following Republic of Ireland’s heavy defeat at Wembley

Heimir Hallgrimsson expressed being “lost for words” after his Republic of Ireland team “gave up” during a second-half collapse, which resulted in a 5-0 Nations League loss to England at Wembley. His side conceded three goals within a six-minute period in the second half. Following a first half that remained scoreless, where the Irish had successfully contained England, Harry Kane scored a penalty to give the hosts the lead. This occurred after Liam Scales received a second yellow card and was sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham. Reduced to 10 players, the Republic of Ireland struggled significantly as Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher quickly extended England’s advantage, before Jarrod Bowen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis completed a challenging evening for Hallgrimsson. “Well, I’m kind of lost for words,” the manager stated. “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.” Hallgrimsson, the former Iceland boss who took over from Stephen Kenny earlier this year, further commented: “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.” He added, “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.” This outcome represented the Republic of Ireland’s heaviest defeat against England and their most significant loss since being defeated 6-1 at home by Germany in 2012. “It’s easy to sit or stand on the sideline and criticise,” Hallgrimsson remarked. His team is now set to participate in a relegation play-off to maintain their position in the Nations League’s second tier. He continued, “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.” He also noted, “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.” Concluding, he said, “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.” Hallgrimsson expressed his belief that Scales’ challenge on Bellingham, which resulted in Kane’s penalty, did not warrant a second yellow card. “I think it’s OK to give a penalty but I never think this is a yellow card,” he informed RTE. “The advantage is you give them a penalty so I didn’t see the need to give a second yellow for this.” He concluded, “Things like this happen. Sadly for us, it totally changed the momentum of the game and it was tough.” The manager’s subdued post-match sentiment was echoed by Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins, who issued an apology to the Irish supporters. “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.”