HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON has said Ireland deserve every criticism that comes their way after their Wembley wobble.
But he is optimistic about his side’s future chances after the Nations League draw and learning of likely opponents in the World Cup qualifiers.
The Ireland boss has been licking his wounds since Ireland lost 5-0 to England, with all goals coming after Liam Scales was sent off early in the second half.
Yesterday, he learned Ireland will face Bulgaria in the relegation-promotion play-off with their opponents immediately confirming that the first leg on Thursday March 20 would take place in Plovdiv.
The return match will be in the Aviva Stadium 72 hours later.
In next month’s World Cup draw, they will definitely be in a four-team group and can face any of the top and fourth seeds but only Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Serbia, Greece and Slovakia from the second seeds.
They are welcome distractions but it is going to take him some time to get over his side’s capitulation in London.
Hallgrímsson said: “It’s tough. All coaches would say the same, losing with this number has been tough.
“And criticism, you cannot answer that in any way. You need to take it in.
“Because when you lose five- zero you’ve definitely done something wrong.
“We’re not hiding. The goals we conceded were very soft and strange but I think again it was down to the mentality and psychology, we lost our heads.
“We lost a player, and we conceded a goal, a kind of mental breakdown, moments of madness, conceded three goals in six minutes and it’s game over.
“It’s tough to come from back that. It happened very quickly.”
The Icelander had previously spoken about bringing in a sports psychologist to address what he felt was a lack of confidence among the players after some tough years.
And he confirmed that would be on the agenda for 2025.
He said: “We had a good talk prior to the England camp, just who has access to things like these, in this area.
“I myself have used help in this area and it’s really just one piece of the puzzle, that you can add to what we are doing, a professional in this area, not even a professional, just someone you can share things and stuff with.
“Psychology is just a bigger and bigger part of elite sports. In elite sport, it’s a bigger and bigger part of coaching.”
MORAN MORE
There was one bright spark for him as he repeated his praise for Andy Moran for his performance off the bench. He is hoping others can come to the fore between now and March.
He said: “It was positive the introduction of Andy Moran. He showed leadership skills, he was not afraid to take the ball in probably the worst moment for a sub, to come in in a game you know is kind of lost.
“But he showed good characteristics once he came in so that’s a good thing.
“We have names in our head that we are monitoring. We didn’t want to touch much of the under-21s because they were so close to qualifying so there might be younger guys.
“It’s a long time, you can have a guy shining in the next two or three month. We will be looking at the options we have, not only these play-off games but for the future as well.”
He will also hope to have fewer players ruled out than the 10 missing for this month’s window although Chiedozie Ogbene will definitely be out after Achilles surgery.
He said: “I think it is something everyone is experiencing at this stage, there are a lot of drop outs, a lot of injuries and serious injuries.
“Looking back, we did not have many injuries with Iceland. They always showed up for the national team. Even if they were injured, they showed up.”
He also anticipates a more settled side, having given 23 different players starts with a total of 31 featuring across just six Nations League games.
He said: “I’ve said it again and again, we need to have connections to know the player next to you will cover, because he has the same thoughts as you do. We need to establish that for sure.”
And he will start off more sure-footed than he did in September when he seemed ill-prepared for someone whom the FAI claimed had been identified as their first choice as manager back in March.
Hallgrímsson – appointed in July, 10 days after stepping down as Jamaica boss following their elimination from the Copa America – said: “Of course I have learned more about my players.
“The transition from CONCACAF and then CONMEBOL, coming from the finals, jumping straight into this and being confronted with 40 or 50 journalists that was kind of the most challenging aspect of the job.
“I thought it was a good decision to have John O’Shea fronting the team, because you need to answer questions and probably I didn’t have the answers.
“When there would be a question about a player and I didn’t know, it would look silly not to be able to answer.
“All of a sudden you are representing a country, you are kind of a spokesman for a country, and you like to do that while you need to be careful what you say and what you do. I have been guided well.
“I have given praise to the set-up and the people working at the Federation. I am really happy and hopefully we can work on that and build something good and great together.”
SEEING THE SITES
They will go on a site visit to Bulgaria next week and, despite the extra travel involved, he is happy for the game not to be in the capital, where Ireland’s five previous games in the country were staged.
He said: “We just met them after the draw and it’s confirmed that it’s Plovdiv, they were re-laying the grass, that’s why they played the last game in Sofia.
“It’s a better stadium, a newer stadium so they want to play there.”
Bulgaria were beaten 5-0 in Belfast but were runners-up to Northern Ireland – whom they beat at home – and conceded just one goal in their five other matches.
He said: “I think Bulgaria is an OK draw. It’s not my favourite, it’s not the worst.
“Slovakia was the highest FIFA-ranked team and everyone would like to avoid them. You would expect a low-scoring game when you look at the goals and statistics.
“To break them down is going to be tricky.”
And their qualifying group may not be as daunting as first feared with the draw taking place on December 13.
He said: “The teams that we can face especially from Pot Two are not teams that are much better than us, even though they are higher ranked. It gives me hope than we can do things.
No matter who we face we will be ready when it comes to the World Cup,
“The good thing is that we are in a four-team group. We can use June for final preparation.”
