Seamus Coleman says the Republic of Ireland have to ‘man up’ and look themselves in the mirror.
A 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland last night means that the Republic have scored just two goals in their last five games.
A year ago this week, the Irish hopes of World Cup qualification were torn asunder by Denmark, who won 5-1 in Dublin.
Since then, it has been a series of disappointments, with only 25,000 showing up to the Aviva Stadium last night.
“We’re all disappointed. We can do all the talking we want in there, we can do all the talking we want before the game,” Ireland captain Coleman said.
“The only place we can be better is out on the pitch. Tonight we weren’t good enough, we weren’t good enough on the ball, we weren’t good enough making angles for each other and creating chances. That’s the honest truth, our keeper was man of the match and that says it all.
“If you watch us in training or before the game we’re getting the ball down, we’re trying to make things happen. But when we go out on the pitch we need to help each other a little bit more, help the man with the ball.
“We need to analyse our game, ask ourselves look in the mirror and say ‘did you make an angle for your mate who was on the ball?’ and I think if we’re honest we didn’t do that.
“Not good enough is how I would describe it. We need to man up and take responsibility.”
Ireland draw their 2018 to a close when they take on Denmark in the Nations League on Monday night in Aarhus.
The Killybegs man added: “Maybe confidence is a problem. I’m never going to knock the quality of our players. I think we all need to step up, myself included, and be braver on the ball.
“The talking before the game and this talking after the game, it’s a load of nonsense really. It’s on the pitch it has to happen. We have to end this year on a high.”
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