KATIE McCABE called Ireland’s shocking 4-0 loss to Slovenia “completely unacceptable” – but new manager Carla Ward insisted she is to blame.
The Girls in Green suffered their heaviest competitive defeat in 17 years, with three goals shipped in the first half, on a night to forget in Koper.
And skipper McCabe acknowledged that there can be no excuses, even as the players adjust to a new system under boss Ward.
McCabe said: “It was completely unacceptable by our standards. We can’t start games like that. We need to look at ourselves, we have to go back to the drawing board.
“The goals were avoidable. We gifted them their chances. We have to be better.
“We’re trying a new system and we’re going to make mistakes and we need to be brave. But we just weren’t clean rough and we gave them too much space.
“But I know the girls love playing for their country and we won’t have a performance like that again.”
Boss Ward said that she was to blame for the result as players adjust to her more attacking system that the more defensive tactics used in the last five years.
Ward said: “It’s on me. You can’t have a half of football like that and expect to win the game. It is a horrible night but it is a huge learning curve at the minute.
“It’s my job and it’s important that I take the pressure away from the players.”
The more defensive tactics under Vera Pauw and then Eileen Gleeson saw Ireland qualify for the World Cup and go close to reaching both Euro 2021 and Euro 2025.
But Ward insisted she will stick to her belief that the team can be more creative, and stick to the tactics she used at Sheffield United, Birmingham City and Aston Villa that got her the job.
She said: “It was not system. Maybe a couple of players in different positions and trying something a little different.
“We aren’t going to rip it up, we have to own it and we have to make sure that half of football never happens again because that is unacceptable.”
