Ireland have hit rock bottom says former striker as he delivers verdict on England defeat
Ireland’s 5-0 Nations League defeat at Wembley is one of the heaviest of all time.
Ireland have hit rock bottom and the only way is up, says John Aldridge, who reckons Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men have slumped as low as they can go.
However, he also believes that the 5-0 defeat to England at Wembley - one goal shy of the 1971 record competitive loss to Austria - can be a turning point.
The Boys in Green suffered a second-half humiliation at the hands of Lee Carsley’s side after an impressive display in the opening 52 minutes.
READ MORERoy Keane reacts as his future son-in-law scores for England against Ireland
READ MOREHeimir Hallgrímsson's reaction as he struggles to sum up Ireland's collapse against England
Celtic defender Liam Scales saw red for his trip on Jude Bellingham inside the box, leading to Harry Kane’s opener from the spot, and that marked the beginning of an incredibly damaging five-minute spell during which England score another two goals.
While former Liverpool and Ireland striker Aldridge believes the scoreline greatly exaggerated England’s dominance, he said: “I think we are as low as we can be.
“I actually hope we are as low as we can be. And I think we can only get better, I really do.
“That was never a 5-0 game, we all know that. But you have still got to stare it in the face.
“Yeah, I think the scoreline is rock bottom. I thought the performance was better than the scoreline suggests.
“We saw the way it panned out. We are not that bad. If you have got 11 players, that maybe ends up 2-0 or something like that. Maybe even 1-0, because England were going nowhere fast.
“But all the holes appeared because your plans went right out the window.”
Aldridge felt that the result was “like being hit below the belt.” He added: “It knocks the bollocks out of you. But you have got to try and look at it in the cold light of day.
“The game-plan was good. Up to 50-odd minutes the crowd was quiet, the press was all ready to slaughter the (England) team.
“And then one piece of magic - or two, by Kane and Bellingham - undoes it all. That’s what it was. Their two best players just combined and unfortunately Scales was on a yellow.
“If he didn’t get sent off, we were going to lose the game, probably, but we were not going to lose it 5-0.
“So to have a man sent off and then they score, mentally the lads were just gone.
“Even with 11 men we only created a few scraps, which were alright, and we looked like a little bit of a threat towards the end of the first-half.
“But I’ve seen that before so many times, you capitulate. When the goals come like that - bang, bang, bang - I’ve seen it, there’s nothing you can do about it.
“You are just pulled out everywhere, the plan is gone, the player’s been pivotal and then he has been sent off, and then all of a sudden you can’t adjust.
“You are not going to score, because you were finding it hard with 11 men.
“The game-plan, actually, in the first-half, I was happy. You can’t go and take England on, even if it’s more or less a second team.
“But it was good and I think that gives a little bit of hope for the future.”
Despite the result, Aldridge reckons Ireland are heading in the right direction and are going to be stronger by the time the Nations League promotion/relegation play-offs come around in late-March.
And then it’s into the World Cup qualifiers in the second-half of 2025.
The more he sees from new boss Heimir Hallgrímsson, the more he believes the Icelander can come up with a game-plan to get the most out of his players.
“At the end of the day it hurts enormously. But I think you have got to try and forget what happened in the second-half,” he said.
“I’d say to the players, don’t read the papers, especially over here (England), because all of a sudden they are going to win the World Cup again.
“Just try to think about what happened up to the sending off.
“Hopefully the players are going to forget those 40 minutes or so and just concentrate on the 50 minutes where it was not perfect, but it was bloody good.
“It can be hard to see the positives on the back of a defeat like that. We should be doing better, we all know that.
“Look, you have got to just give the manager a chance. He is only two minutes into the job.
“As I said before, up until the sending off I liked what we were doing, because that’s the way you have got to go forward.
“The next game won’t be for a while now. You don’t want to be thinking for four months on that one, because it’ll do your head in.
“But you have just got to keep with him (Hallgrímsson) and see what comes out of it.”
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