Stuart Byrne feels Mick McCarthy got his tactics badly wrong as Ireland lost 2-0 in Switzerland.

The Ireland manager started with a 3-5-2, including Aaron Connolly making his first start in Geneva.

But they struggled to get into the game as the Swiss scored an early goal and dominated most passages of play.

Speaking on Off The Ball after our live commentary, ex-Shelbourne midfielder Stuart Byrne expressed his disappointment at the Irish approach.

"You get what you deserve in football, I have to say," he said.

Tactics

"And we didn't do anything really in the game to deserve any sort of result out of it. Switzerland asked all the questions right from the start.

"But I really have to question tactically what it was we were really trying to achieve in that first-half and the system that we tried to play.

"We offered nothing at all. It seemed to me, the only opportunity we were going to have to score was from set-pieces.

"I think tactically he's gotten it wrong (McCarthy). Simple as that. The manager has to take responsibility for whatever way we were trying to play for that system."

He also felt Conor Hourihane's absence from the starting line-up was baffling in light of the approach.

"The best player we have for delivering set-pieces is on the bench and didn't even get on the pitch," he said of the Aston Villa midfielder.

"I don't know what's going on there. I think he's been very harsh, first of all not to start Hourihane. But to not bring him on at all, I find it really quite strange."

You can listen to the full post-match analysis and commentary recap here.

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