Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson was far from happy with his side’s ‘sloppy’ draw with Luxembourg.
The visitors were held to a goalless bore draw on the manager’s 58th birthday and mustered just two shots on target.
If it weren’t for debutant goalkeeper Max O’Leary, Ireland’s performance would have likely ended in defeat.
The Bristol City stopper made two crucial saves. The first denied Danel Sinani before keeping out substitute Vincent Thill on either side of half-time.
Ireland did hit the woodwork on two occasions through Nathan Collins and Jack Taylor, but there was little to shout about in front of 6,312 inside the stadium.
The performance will certainly provide Hallgrimsson with food for thought with the World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Armenia three months away.
Although he did leave numerous Championship players at home for the two friendlies to help recuperate following an arduous season.
Ireland performance was sloppy and scrappy, says Heimir Hallgrimsson
Hallgrimsson did not mince his words after the full-time whistle.
Speaking to reporters, he said: “Let’s be honest, we’re not happy with this performance.
“It’s good to keep a clean sheet but we all felt that in the first half we were sloppy – the game was boring in the first half.
“All the good things we did against Senegal were missing, all the quick movement, the press, the ball speed – so sloppy, we changed in the second half, more tempo, more duels etc.
“But not good enough. We always like answers to questions and this one is a negative one, so we at least know that.
“We go in September and play the higher ranked team first, like we did now, and then the lower ranked team away.
“So this is definitely something that we can learn from. We must play the same way against everyone, whether it’s a friendly at the end of season or a group stage game, we need to play the same way all the time.”
Fatigue played a part
It’s feasible that the performance can be attributed to the players being physically exhausted.
Given the number of games in the football calendar, the players have yet to enjoy a reasonable rest to recover their bodies and minds.
While Hallgrimsson wasn’t prepared to give excuses, he couldn’t ignore that it would have been a factor. He added: “It is understandable that players are thinking after this game we have a break for some time, a lot of these players have been playing a lot of matches.
“But credit to them, and you saw there were a few injuries from fatigue, so no, they were probably a bit careful at the end of the season as well, they don’t want to start injured in the new season.
“We had some chances but still even if we won the game we wouldn’t be happy with the performance. We must look at the performance first.”
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