Heimir Hallgrimsson says Christmas came early for Greece against Ireland

Heimir Hallgrímsson was reacting to Sunday night's Nations League defeat to Greece in Athens.

Forget about Greeks bearing gifts, Heimir Hallgrímsson wants his players to cut out the Santa Claus act and stop gifting goals to their opponents.

The Ireland manager was speaking in the wake of Sunday night’s defeat to Greece in Athens, where he felt both goals came from poor Irish play.

Tasos Bakasetas opened the scoring three minutes after half-time and substitute Petros Mantalos capitalised on a howler from the otherwise outstanding Caoimhin Kelleher to seal the win.

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Hallgrímsson felt that Evan Ferguson should have been awarded a game-changing penalty early on, while he was happy with the reaction to Greece’s opener.

But he was frustrated at the goals conceded, saying of Kelleher’s late error: “And then again Christmas in November again for us. We're giving too many gifts to the opponent.”

Ireland were under relentless pressure for the first half-hour, but made it to half-time without conceding.

“Going through the first half without conceding made us feel, 'Okay, the chance is there for us',” said Hallgrímsson.

“But to concede so early was a blow and it was a sloppy goal. I need to see it again, but I saw one replay and it was a sloppy goal.

“But anyway, from that moment I think we really grew into the game. It was like a little bit of pressure was off, maybe comparing that to the Finland game as well, so it looked like when we have nothing to lose, we start to play like we should.

“I was proud of the guys second half, how they played, how they pressed, won the ball high up, got it in dangerous positions and had some chances, so proud of that, and we stayed in the game until the 87th minute or something.”

He added: “But I like to take the positives from this and I think we showed ourselves.

“Hopefully the people saw that as well, what we can actually do, how we can play if we are on the front foot, positive with belief in what we are doing, et cetera, so happy with that positive to take from that.”

Addressing the early Ferguson penalty appeal, when the Brighton striker appeared to be bundled over as he shot at goal, Hallgrímsson said: “I didn't see it again, but the guys who were watching felt it was a foul and that would have completely changed the game if we had scored at the beginning of it.

“It was kind of the plan to hit them on the counter once we got it because we knew that we would need to defend in the first half, so it would have been sweet to see that one in the goal.”

He continued: “Honestly, we were not happy with the first half. Before the game, we knew it was going to be a tough match with all that was going around, the wave that is here, and we knew that there would be a hostile atmosphere and a good crowd behind the Greeks.

“They just came from a win in England, they are top of the group and we knew that the first minutes would be tough.”

Hallgrímsson did have sympathy for Kelleher, whose performance will be remembered for the error that led to the second Greek goal in injury-time.

“I have a goalkeeper coach who always says the same thing: football is a team sport until a goalkeeper makes a mistake, then it's no longer a team sport,” he said.

“It is what it is. You never know, but we were really in the game, we were getting the ball in dangerous positions at this moment.

“But winning or losing was not there, it was because we started too late, I think, to believe in ourselves.”

The former Iceland coach started Troy Parrott and Evan Ferguson as a front-two, but had to move Parrott back to counter the Greek attack.

“We needed to and we did tweak it, so one of the changes we did was moving Troy behind Evan and that slowed them down, so we could move from right to left a little bit more,” he said.

“But they play really wide, that’s their style. They tried to lure us to the end-line and then play in between us.

“And I think we coped with it, it’s new for some of the players here to play this way, but I think we coped with it.

“But I understand and we felt the same way, they always outnumbered us on the flanks, but they never went through us, which is the most important thing.”

Hallgrímsson handed a competitive debut to Ipswich midfielder Jack Taylor after the 26-year-old impressed on the training pitch.

“He is one of a few players in this camp, in these two games, that came in and changed things, and that is what you want to see when you put in substitutes,” he said.

“You would like to see players step up and make the difference and show the coach and the country, I’m here, I want to be in this team.

“I think this game, and more players as well, the same last game with Festy and more players came in and made a difference. So I’m happy with that, that is what we want to see.”

He concluded: “I have no delusions, this is always about results. This is a results business, the national team, so we always like to have points and we always like to win.

“But now I’ve been two weeks with these guys and I think what has happened in these two weeks has been really positive.

“I think the guys are more on board and I think when we do it, and it’s not like it’s five or 10 minutes, the second-half against Finland was really good and I think this second-half was pretty good as well, even under difficult conditions against a really good team, especially here.

“So I think we have shown ourselves and the fans again what we can do.

“If we keep working on the correct things, improving how we play both with and without the ball, there is only one way and that is forward, growing.”

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