Poland loss reflects Ireland standing

It was a really bad night for Ireland in Warsaw on Sunday.

Maybe expectations were exaggerated after the remarkable win over Germany — bearing in mind that we had only three shots on target in that game — but it wasn’t just the result against Poland that was disappointing, it was the alarming nature of the display throughout the 2-1 defeat.

This was a performance which lacked leadership, discipline and composure. Everybody seemed to be pumped up and nobody seemed to be thinking straight. Our manager’s tactics were all about testing Poland’s nerve, and it was very basic, route one stuff. But I think the Poles knew what was coming and handled it pretty comfortably, if not always elegantly. They headed as many balls as we did and made as many tackles as we did.