England 5-0 Republic of Ireland: Heimir Hallgrimsson ‘lost for words’ after Wembley collapse

Heimir Hallgrimsson said he was “out of words” after his Republic of Ireland side “gave up” during a second-half collapse that led to a crushing 5-0 Nations League defeat by England at Wembley.

After a scoreless first half in which the Irish had effectively frustrated England, Harry Kane put the hosts ahead from the spot after Liam Scales was shown a second yellow card and sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham.

With just ten men, the Republic of Ireland crumbled as Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher quickly extended England’s lead before Jarrod Bowen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis completed a miserable evening for Hallgrimsson.

“Well, I’m at a loss for words,” said the manager.

“Six minutes of madness. Yes, it was a shock, getting a penalty, conceding a goal, losing a player. We probably lost our heads at that moment, which led to a second goal and a third goal. And from there you can je I can see, yeah, maybe we’ve lost our heads and given up.”

The former Iceland boss, who replaced Stephen Kenny earlier this year, added: “We’ve talked and I’ve said before that we’re struggling with confidence, and they’ve obviously taken all the confidence away from what we had very much in the first half have done well.

“So yeah, you can’t explain things like this. It just happened, a slap in the face and it was hard to come back from it.”