As England strolled to a snug Nations League victory within the Dublin sunshine courtesy of objectives from the night’s two pantomime villains, it was tough to not assume that this was simply what Heimir Hallgrimsson wanted to see.
Within the build-up to Saturday, the brand new Republic of Eire boss, charged with respiratory new into an Irish group that misplaced its approach underneath his predecessor Stephen Kenny, admitted he was nonetheless attending to know his gamers.
He’ll know them just a little higher now. Extra importantly, he’ll now respect the quantity of labor required if he’s to emulate his feat in guiding his native Iceland to the World Cup finals.
In his pre-match information convention on Friday, Hallgrimsson stated that so as to beat England for simply the third time in historical past, the Republic of Eire wanted to take their probabilities at one finish and be ultra-tight to close England out on the different.
They did neither. Not solely did they spurn a group of presentable probabilities, the benefit with which they allowed England to chop by way of them for the 2 objectives can have opened Hallgrimsson’s eyes to what he has inherited from Kenny.
Within the hour main as much as kick-off, Hallgrimsson reduce a relaxed determine, all smiles and arms folded, watching on as his gamers went by way of their pre-game drills.
In recent times, the Aviva Stadium hasn’t at all times boasted essentially the most raucous environment, however there was electrical energy within the air as the primary aggressive match between these sides in Dublin since 1990 started.
And throughout the opening exchanges, the Republic of Eire performed as if fuelled by the vitality contained in the stadium which intensified remarkably any time Jack Grealish and Declan Rice touched the ball.
The spectacle was worthy of a brand new chapter however the hosts’ early-evening optimism quickly light. Towards vastly superior opposition, the laid naked the problems which have saved this group again: missed probabilities, disjointed patterns of play an alarming vulnerability when defending counter-attacks.