Former Chelsea star slams ‘absolutely disgusting’ Ireland after defeat to England

It was the start of a new era, but ultimately more of the same, as Ireland endured a disappointing start to their reign under Heimir Hallgrímsson in a 2-0 defeat to England last weekend.

The Boys In Green have had a torrid record in the UEFA Nations League and that continued with a flat performance in Dublin which showed the gulf between the Boys In Green and Europe’s elite.

It was hoped that Hallgrímsson’s appointment would be a sign of change, but unfortunately the same situation played out on the pitch, with Ireland being outplayed in almost every aspect of the game.

Caoimhin Kelleher was Ireland’s star performer between the posts on a night where their lack of prowess in the final third really showed.

Irish pundits were unimpressed with former defender Damien Delaney describing the performance as “passive”, while the English media were quick to criticise the Irish approach.

Former Chelsea star slams Irish team as ‘rubbish’

However, among the harshest critics was former Chelsea and Celtic star Craig Burley, who was incredibly blunt in his opinion of the current Ireland team.

The Scotsman has slammed the treatment of Lee Carsley by some British media for his refusal to sing God Save The King before kick-off, while urging them not to take any positives from their comfortable victory.

Burley, speaking on ESPN, said Ireland were so “bad” that England would have embarrassed themselves by taking encouragement from the win.

“Those newspaper headlines were embarrassing,” Burley said.

“The English have really embarrassed themselves this week.

“You can’t assess the new manager by playing in League B of the Nations League… Ireland are shit! Absolute shit! Then they have Finland and Greece.

“We had some big name journalists talking about Lee Carsley not singing the national anthem. He played for Ireland. He’s not a singer. He’s a football manager. They embarrassed themselves.”

“They also embarrassed themselves by saluting this performance. They are in League B of the Nations League.

“Ireland… most of their players don’t even play at the top level. They had 29% possession at home. They got beaten up. They’re idiots, they’re scum!”

“And yet we still see these stupid headlines in the newspapers.”

While Burley was cutting, Ireland didn’t give much indication that he was far off his assessment after what happened on Saturday night.

Hallgrímsson’s men have little time to lick their wounds as they look to welcome Greece – who beat them home and away in Euro 2024 qualifying – to the Aviva Stadium.

That said, an Ireland victory would go a long way towards erasing the memory of last Saturday and injecting some much-needed optimism into Irish football.

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