Heimir Hallgrimsson had less than a week to work with his Ireland squad, but it took the new head coach just 26 minutes to see the size of the task at hand as his side were outplayed and outclassed by England at the Aviva Stadium.
Declan Rice and Jack Grealish came back to Dublin and showed why they turned their back on the green jersey in exchange for the chance to play at the highest level of international football.
Three-time Ireland international Rice was on hand to slam home the opening goal in the 11th minute, and then he orchestrated a string of smart one-twos before rolling the ball to the feet of Grealish, and the former Ireland Under-21 player of the year made no mistake, dispatching the second beyond Caoimhin Kelleher for a 2-0 lead England held to the finish.
There was such anticipation surrounding the fixture once the two old foes were drawn against each other in League B, made even more interesting with the appointment of Hallgrimsson, the anticipated return of Rice and Grealish, and topped off by the ascension of former Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley to the interim England manager position in recent weeks.
The fans arrived in their droves – on both sides – and packed out the Lansdowne Road venue complete with all the usual accoutrements.
Flags, fireworks, boos and brass, the atmosphere was electric inside the packed arena and the anthems were perhaps not entirely appreciated before the game got underway.
But it was only then that the gulf in class revealed itself, as beaten Euro 2024 finalists England dealt the struggling Irish a harsh dose of reality with some slick, fast-paced football that left the home side reeling time after time.
By half-time the result was in no doubt, and while Ireland improved after the break, England had reduced the intensity, already thinking about Tuesday’s game against Finland, no doubt.
Happy to opt for a back-seat ride into the opening encounter with John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy taking the lead, Hallgrimsson will have scarcely believed his side’s first-half performance.
The team looked off balance from the opening exchanges as Ireland’s defence were shaky from the start. With the three centre-halves marking one striker, Harry Kane, it allowed England's runners to exploit the space and easily play through the Irish defence.
By the time the opening goal arrived, England had already launched a volley of warning shots as they moved the ball with pace and precision from back to front, with the combination of Grealish and Anthony Gordon looking particularly potent.
Will Smallbone and Jayson Molumby, for all their midfield endeavour, were left completely isolated, and when Matt Doherty and Robbie Brady attempted to get forward in support, they were quickly exposed by the dynamic England selection.
The manager knew the odds were against his side really matching England, but he appeared bemused and bewildered after the game as he lamented the team’s first-half performance.
He spoke of a team lacking confidence, making poor decisions, failing to take the initiative and, as a result, unable to work as a collective, most notably for the two goals, which Hallgrimsson essentially described as schoolboy defending.
Speaking to the media after the game, Hallgrimsson was asked whether he was tempted to revert to a flat back four at half-time.
"We talked about it at half-time, do we want to change our formation?" he said.
"And we had in mind what we could do, [but] we decided to try to improve what we were doing rather than jump from one thing to another.
"Maybe it would have hurt us more, I don’t know. But I think we did better in the second half with a little bit more initiative, more brave, coming a little bit higher up the pitch.
"So we were happy with the second half. It’s easy when the opponents are winning 2-0, you don’t know if it is because they back off or we did better."
While Hallgrimsson let O’Shea and McCarthy lead the way, he had said that there were a couple of things that he wanted to get right from his own point of view to hit the ground running, and he was asked if he was happy with how the players responded.
"Yes and no," he said. "Always you are happy with some aspects of the play and not happy with other things.
"England played well and I don’t think the formation would have mattered. I don’t think who the players were would have mattered, it was just I think this lack of taking the initiative, believing that what we were doing would be successful.
"Hopefully going forward there will be better belief in the things that we are trying to do but at the moment I can’t deny the difference between the two teams."
Hallgrimsson will be looking for any positives to take from the performance, but even he admitted that Ireland’s improved second half showing was probably a result of England easing off.
Chiedozie Ogbene and Sammie Szmodics were probably the two shining lights from the outfield selection, with some decent cameos coming off the bench.
But Ireland really do have to be thankful for someone with the quality of Kelleher in between the sticks, because he single-handedly kept the scoreline respectable.
England manager Carsley said that he had assessed Ireland and based on the fact that they had had such little time to prepare, assumed that they would play with three at the back, plotting accordingly to exploit the space.
Ireland have been outwitted in the recent past: Ronald Koeman made changes to his side while trailing in Dublin before going on to win the game, while, famously, Gus Poyet had his homework done for the lost game in Athens, which proved to be the beginning of the end of the Stephen Kenny era.
Tuesday’s clash will see new managers in both dug-outs, and if the England defeat was eye-opening for Hallgrimsson, he really has his work cut out to create cohesion in his starting 11 in three days’ time.
"Greece have shown that they played good against Ireland so they have the upper hand," said Hallgrimsson.
"So we need to change that.
"We can’t be crying until we play Greece; we need to energise and use every moment to be ready for that one."
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
