No excuses as Mannion admits Koper humbling is a hell of a wake-up call 

Instead of finding a springboard to the new Carla Ward era, the Girls in Green have clearly regressed even further on the back of a 4-0 thumping in Slovenia 

NO WIPING THAT ONE AWAY: Ireland's Aoife Mannion leaves the pitch dejected on Tuesday night. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Aoife Mannion admitted Ireland’s biggest defeat for seven years was a wake-up call.

In contrast to the uptick from the crushing Euro playoff defeat to Wales Ireland required, they’ve regressed further with a wretched 4-0 thumping in Slovenia.

This Uefa Nations League B campaign was billed as an ideal recovery sequence, facing three nations lower down the rankings. Yet Turkey were inches from snaffling a point in Tallaght in Friday’s opener and they left Koper red-faced and pointless.

“Today is a wake-up call,” asserted Manchester United defender Mannion. “Yes, it’s clear we want to play a new style and have more possession under the new manager but ultimately need to be a lot better.

“It felt like their first goal came out of the blue but then by half-time it was clearly a sign we were really open and getting caught on the hop.

“Maybe this result will be advantageous as the wake-up call, rather than if we’d drawn the game. We know that we’ve to get on the same page and knuckle down.” 

Mannion wasn’t using the excuse of Carla Ward’s introductory phase, in which she’s still settling on a preferred team and, most pressingly, where those players are optimally positioned.

“I don’t think one particular shuffle was the reason we struggled in the first half,” said Mannion, who switched from centre to left-back on account of Megan Campbell pulling out in the warm-up.

“Carla said at the end that we can’t wait until half time to make those changes. Collectively we just weren’t good enough.” 

Katie McCabe echoed that reality check, highlighting how the fundamentals, rather than any structural deficiencies, were their downfall.

“That was completely unacceptable by our standards,” blasted the Arsenal playmaker. “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 gave them the chances and we need to be better.

“We’re trying a new system – we're going to make mistakes and – but needed to be braver on the ball. We just weren't clean enough in our turnovers, gave Slovenia too much space and are chasing them in the group now.

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