'I’m embarrassed, angry, disappointed' - Josh Cullen reflects on Ireland's loss to Armenia

SULLEN CULLEN: Ireland's Josh Cullen dejected after the match. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

Another abject Irish defeat in Armenia has filled Josh Cullen with embarrassment.

The midfielder was one of four members of the starting team beaten 2-1 by Armenia on Tuesday to have also featured in the 1-0 loss three years ago. Yerevan turned into hell again for Cullen.

Only a miraculous upturn in the final four qualifiers will reignite Ireland’s hopes of entering the playoffs for next summer’s World Cup.

Cullen was involved in a few other lamentable results against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. This defeat, particularly the emphatic nature of it, stung most.

“It's been going on for too long now. I'm pretty embarrassed to keep coming out and having to say the same thing,” admitted the Burnley man, unable to replicate his Premier League form over the double-header.

“I’m angry, disappointed, all those sort of things. We need to look at ourselves and improve.

“It felt like, as a team, we wasn't compact enough at times and the space was too big. Whether that comes down to only being a two in midfield or other parts of the game that we need to look at.”

Cullen admits frustrations were ventilated in the sanctity of the dressing room at the end of a humbling day.

“Of course, there were words said in the dressing room. I'm not going to go into what gets said in the dressing room.

“That's a private space and players should feel that they can say what they want in the dressing room and not get said to the media.

"But of course, we have conversations as players and there's areas we need to improve and we know that.”