THE POST MORTEM was a painful one.
An hour after the final whistle, Eileen Gleeson and her players were still trying to make sense of the 3-0 defeat to Sweden in the bowels of the Aviva Stadium.
The recurring reaction? Ruing missed chances.
Other takeaways? Frustration. Disappointment. All the feelings you would expect.
But there were positives. The encouraging start, and creating said chances, among the standouts.
Gleeson’s Ireland are yet to score in 2024 — John O’Shea’s men haven’t hit the back of the net either — but they came agonisingly close in the first half last night.
Lily Agg missed a gilt-edged chance when it was 0-0. Amber Barrett was haunted by her header over the bar which would have levelled matters shortly after Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s opener.
Both opportunities ultimately came from Caitlin Hayes’ arrowed deliveries from deep as Ireland started with a more aggressive approach.
Going the aerial route and bypassing the midfield was something they worked on all week. It’s no secret that Ireland are a direct team, and this was a successful tactic.
Their goals generally come from set-pieces or counter-attacks, yet this was more so a spark from nothing. There created other half-chances throughout.
But there were common themes across the goals Ireland conceded, too: they all came down their left side, and on the break. As they tried to play higher, and later, switched from a back three/five to a four, they were utterly undone. Katie McCabe was keen to play in a more advanced role and her Chelsea rival Rytting Kaneryd made hay in the gap she left.
Sweden are a direct, counter-attacking team. While France and England, the other top nations in this group, like to dominate possession and play fluid football, the Olympic silver medallists and World Cup semi-finalists generally produce their best work on the transition.
The biggest difference last night? The Swedes were clinical and ruthless. Ireland were not.
Perhaps Sweden can be a template for the Girls In Green, who are 18 places inferior in the Fifa world rankings. Yes, there’s a disparity in terms of the quality of player, but there’s no doubting the teams have some of the same attributes.
Gleeson agreed with The 42‘s proposal after the physical, fiery affair at Lansdowne Road.
“This is the difference in levels,” the Irish head coach said.
“This is where we need to get to. We want to have this identity of being assertive and aggressive, and getting forward in numbers. And I think the girls did do that. But we got caught.
“And this is where we’re at in our development as a team. And unless you do it, you can’t get good at it. That is the trade-off, of course.
“Sweden are pretty efficient on the transition, some great goals in terms of finishing. We need to get to that level. We got punished on transitions: the speed and the quality of those players that you’re playing against.
“But if we want to encourage and be proactive and higher and aggressive in the press, that’s the risk you have to take.”
Risk/reward. A balancing act. Gleeson spoke to this pre-match, but ultimately the increased attacking gambles didn’t pay off.
After all, this was Ireland’s heaviest competitive defeat since a 3-0 loss away to Germany in September 2020.
While Sweden stuck with their tried-and-tested 4-3-3, they generally managed the openness accordingly. They were shaky dealing with some Irish attacks — namely Agg and Barrett’s chances — but they held firm for the most part with goalkeeper Zećira Mušović hardly forced into a save. They nonchalantly moved through the gears and their class shone through in the second half.
Caitlin Hayes, who was named Player of the Match, insisted the hosts “had them rattled” early on, and offered a mixed assessment.
“The scoreline did lie in terms of we were on top at points, in the majority of the first-half.” the towering Celtic defender said.
“We have to be more clinical and take a grip of the game, put numbers on the board and if we do that, we can compete with anyone.
“When we changed formation, we got cut open which was bound to happen if we didn’t take advantage of pushing an extra [player] up.
“It’s a cruel game at times and if you let it get on top of you, there’s no bouncing back. Hopefully we can rest and recharge, recover and re-focus for Tuesday.”
Tuesday being the return tie in Stockholm. Denise O’Sullivan is ruled out with a knee injury and Ruesha Littlejohn is a major doubt with a ankle setback, but McCabe should be fit for another 90 minutes after her hectic schedule.
Will wee see the game-plan replicated?
“I mean that’s the trick, isn’t it?” Gleeson says.
“You’ve got the same team, if you want to change anything it’s a quick turnaround. They’ve seen exactly that and we’ve seen exactly them.
“Hard to surprise.”
So, stick with it?
“Yeah, and try and fix the parts that need to be fixed.
“Things we can be better on? More clinical. But positive that we created the chances.”
