Why did all go wrong last night? It's the question we've all been wondering since last night's 5-1 humiliation at the hands of Denmark in the 2018 FIFA World Cup playoff.
Former Ireland defender Kenny Cunningham joined us on Off The Ball:am and he pointed out the issues with the formation and shape used at the Aviva Stadium.
But he also highlighted other apparent issues that took place on the field once the match started to get away from Ireland in the first half.
"I think at that point, that level of uncertainty and frustration was growing within the players. That happens, it's human nature. I've been there myself," he said.
"You’re 2-1 down, technically you're still in the game but you feel as if the game is going against you and you feel as if you don’t have a grip on it. You don't know how, you’re desperate to get yourselves back in the game and you want to go and close down people.
"But you’re getting played around, you're looking at players around you, looking at each other, looking at the whites of each other's eyes and thinking, 'What are we doing here? How exactly are we going to go about this? Why are they playing through us so easily.'
"I saw a lot of shouting and screaming last night and a lot of bitching amongst the players which I’ve never seen before and there’s nothing wrong with having a go at a player but there was an awful lot of that last night and that’s how it kind of manifests itself.
"Very quickly players can see that they’re struggling on the pitch and they're actually uncertain and 'We don’t know how to fix this.'"
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
