Katie McCabe: 'That was completely unacceptable by our standards'

UNACCEPTABLE: Katie McCabe after her side's defeat in Slovenia. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Katie McCabe admitted Ireland’s 4-0 drubbing by Slovenia stemmed from an “unacceptable” performance that saw them ship three goals by the interval.

If Friday’s patchy 1-0 win over Turkey marked a fitful start to Carla Ward’s reign as manager, this avalanche in Koper was alarming.

Since Ireland lost 5-0 to world champions USA in 2012, they’d only lost by four goals once, against Poland in 2018.

Lara Prasnikar’s opener after three minutes gave the underdogs belief against the top seeds of the Uefa Nations League B group but the Eintracht Frankfurt grabbed a second from a corner before impressive teenager Zara Kramžar made it 3-0 from close range.

Substitute Nina Kajzba completed the rout by spearing the fourth past Courtney Brosnan with eight minutes left.

“That was completely unacceptable by our standards,” said Ireland skipper McCabe, initially pushed into an advanced role before reverting to left-back for the second half damage limitation exercise.

“We can’t start games like that. We always know it’s going to be difficult coming to these places, away from home. We need to have a look at ourselves. It’s back to the drawing board to look to see where we can improve.

“The goals were completely avoidable. I think we gifted them the chances and we need to be better.

“It was important to come out in the second half and play with a bit more pride because that first half was completely unacceptable.”

Former Aston Villa and Birmingham City manager Ward laid out a manifesto of adopting a progressive passing system since being appointed last month. There was little of that on show on a chastening evening in the Balkans.

Arsenal playmaker Mc Cabe added: “We’re trying a new system. We are going to make mistakes and we need to be brave on the ball and we just weren't clean enough in our turnovers. We gave them too much space and we are going to be chasing them in the group now.” Ward chose to accept culpability for the implosion.

“I won’t use the word I probably want to use, but I think the first-half was horrible,” she said.

“That’s on me because I tried something different – getting us into positions to create more and it didn’t pay off.

“At half-time we had to readjust and I thought we were much better. But you can’t have a half of football like that and expect to win the game.

“We can accept mistakes but the reaction to those mistakes is what I’m looking at. It’s a horrible night, but it’s a huge learning curve at the minute. I’m asking them to do different things and it’s my job to get that right.

“First-half, it wasn’t the system, it was maybe a couple of players in different positions and trying something a little bit different.

“We won’t just rip it up. We have to own it and take responsibility and make sure that half of football never happens again.

“I think you could see across both games what we’re trying to do. My philosophy has been the same and has served me well at all three clubs with very little resources.

“It’s just about adapting. It’s a new era for this group. There are some leaders who have gone too and that takes its toll on other players as well. There’s a lot to consider. We know it was an unacceptable half of football and we can’t let that happen again.”