I feel embarrassed sometimes when I come off the pitch, says Matt Doherty

Stephen Kenny unfazed by defender's frank assessment after heavy defeat to England 

Matt Doherty doesn't feel a 1-0 deficit needs to be terminal, even in Ireland's current predicament. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Matt Doherty tends to say it as he sees it and the emotions swirling through the Republic of Ireland's defender's head were all the more unfiltered as he spoke so soon after the side's 3-0 loss to England at Wembley.

A seventh game without a win, a fifth without a goal. A tough night.

Yes, this was an English side ranked fourth in the world and, yes, Ireland were worn thin by injuries, Covid and other unforeseen turns of events but professional pride doesn't take a night off and Doherty walked off the Wembley pitch full of frustrations.

"It kind of seems to be the trend at the moment, where we're not taking our chances and then getting punished. We're obviously going through a tough period in front of goal. It's not like we're not creating anything, we're just not putting it in the net.

“I just don't know if we have the belief every time we get into position,” said Doherty who was excellent in an unfamiliar left-back role. 

“Do we really believe that we're going to score? I'm not sure that's the case.” 

For him, the drought is as much mental as physical.

Stay calmer in front of goal. Don't snatch at a chance. Remember that there is always more time in the opposing penalty area than you might think. His performances with Wolves and Tottenham mark him out as a man with experience in this area.

Doherty bemoaned the performance Ireland gave for a long spell after going 2-0 down to England but the wider problem with such a shot-shy side is that the concession of just one goal is amplified by the lack of effectiveness at the far end.

That said, he doesn't feel that a 1-0 deficit need be terminal, even in their current predicament.

"For me, personally, no, I don't think like that at all. If we go a goal behind, why would we think we're done? It's only 1-0. Obviously, it looks that way because we're not getting back into any games.

“It's frustrating. It's disappointing,” he explained. “I feel embarrassed sometimes when I come off the pitch because we're just losing games, conceding goals and not winning games. It's not nice.” 

Stephen Kenny accepted that England were a cut above his side on the night. The Ireland manager made the point that a full-strength Irish side would need to play at their very best to have a chance to overcome England and that certainly wasn't the case here.

The frustrations voiced by a player like Doherty might have worried some managers but not Kenny who, when he was appraised of the defender's frank take on the team's performance, chose to digest it in a very different manner.

“I would have to speak to Matt but that doesn't concern me at all. It would alarm me if he wasn't disappointed with a 3-0. We only conceded one goal in any previous 90 minutes and that's the first game that we haven't really created any chances.

“There were a lot of circumstances connected to personnel that wasn't available for that game. For us to beat England we need our absolute best team and then we would have to play really, really well to do that.

“Enda Stevens, John Egan, and Seamus Coleman gone out of your back four to start with, but I don't want to make excuses. We still had a good team out. England were a step above us on the night. They are very good and a lot of players would have gained a lot of experience from that.

“And I learned a lot from seeing the players in that environment, individually. That was interesting.” 

Kenny needs to see a reaction now over the coming days.

Next up is a pair of Nations League games, starting with the visit to Cardiff on Sunday and then the meeting with Bulgaria in Dublin on Wednesday. Staving off relegation to the third tier of that competition will be a focus, so too the seeding for the upcoming World Cup qualifying draw.

For Ireland, however, the most immediate concern is the need to generate some badly-needed momentum. Kenny's take that morale isn't an issue after this latest defeat is to be expected but this grand and ambitious project needs some wind in its sails.

Plenty of young players have been blooded, regardless of the short-term setbacks, but Doherty doesn't go along with the idea that this squad is one where the older men need to cosset those new to the ranks lest they struggle in these choppy waters.

"We're young but we're men at the end of the day. We're all playing first-team football somewhere. You have to figure it out yourself, you have to see the situations in games and try to take games by the scruff of your neck.

"You have to be a bit ruthless, to be ultra-focused all the time. At the end of the day we're not playing kids football, we have to learn ourselves and go out with full focus and be men, to take it on. It's not going well for us now but it has to change."