Richie Sadlier and Méabh De Búrca were both critical of Ireland manager Vera Pauw's comments about her side's defeat to Canada at the World Cup on Wednesday.
In an interview with RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue following the 2-1 loss, which ended Ireland's chances of progressing to the tournament's knockout stages, Pauw described her side as "newcomers".
"To make a comment that 'the team is still growing and they're newcomers', that back five had 453 caps between them," Sadlier told RTÉ's World Cup highlights show.
"Forget using words like 'newcomers' or 'growing' or 'learning the game' about that back five. I'd wonder how that's heard within the dressing room.
"It just seems like one of those comments that didn't really make a hell of a lot of sense. She said she turned at one point to her assistant and said, 'I could see that the goal was coming'. You are the coach, if you knew something was coming, what action did she take to prevent it? A puzzling couple of comments."
To make a comment 'that the team are still growing and are newcomers' - were words that 'didn't make a lot of sense', according to @RichieSadlier when assessing some of Vera Pauw's post-match comments following the defeat to Canada #wwc2023 #rtesoccer #coygig pic.twitter.com/BT5s1JU2e4
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 26, 2023
Put to Sadlier by host Evanne Ní Chuilinn that "puzzling" was a "diplomatic" term, Sadlier upgraded them to "daft".
"Don't be calling players with that amount of experience 'newcomers' particularly when the offence that they're regarded as having committed is lacking concentration or not playing until half-time," he added.
"You tell children that. There are some things that they'll have to experience in the World Cup which you can say 'Fair enough, they haven't played in front of 80,000. They haven't played in front of a global audience. They haven't played with the stakes this high.' Grand, but don't say it's their inexperience that's the reason they didn't know that you keep playing until the whistle."
De Búrca, who won 52 caps for Ireland, thought Pauw was "definitely trying to deflect a little bit" of the blame.
"It's disappointing for a manager to be trying to deflect the blame onto the players at this stage," she said.
"They can only do what they are told to do, and play in a structure and formation that they are clearly told to do. That's how they train it as well.
"They are definitely not lacking experience and particularly at the back. Saying that 'we always concede a goal before half-time', it's making excuses. The players are well capable of performing.
"It's disappointing to hear those comments. We should be trying to look at it purely from a football side as to what went wrong."
26 July 2023; Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe and manager Vera Pauw after the final whistle following their side's defeat in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Group B match between Republic of Ireland and Canada at Perth Rectangular Stadium in Perth, Australia. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Pauw has said she would like to continue as Ireland manager beyond the World Cup. Sadlier feels giving her a new contract simply on the basis that she helped Ireland qualify for their first major international women's tournament would not be a good decision.
"Some people might look in and say 'It's a no-brainer, she's got us to the World Cup, give her the contract, whatever terms she wants, get it signed quickly'. I don't think that's the right approach at all," he said.
"There's two main questions for me. First of all, what is her expectation of this team in the next campaign? What would her style be?
"This team is now evolving and they've done enough to warrant being treated with a bit more backing this simply 'go out and don't concede'.
"If she's going to stick to a park the bus, defence first, Katie McCabe as a left-back, Denise O'Sullivan as a holding midfielder, I don't think she's the person to take this forward."
He added that it was "just as important" for the FAI to conduct an investigation into Pauw's management style following the questions raised by an NWSL and NWSL Players Association report regarding alleged misconduct during her time as Houston Dash manager.
"We need to find out with absolute certainty that the media reports about Vera Pauw's management style aren't being experienced in any way by the current Ireland squad," said Sadlier.
"However the FAI go about doing that is their own business but it needs to be done where every player has the opportunity to speak in complete confidence to somebody independent so the correct answer can be found."
De Búrca believes that Ireland should move on from the "defensive" back five and that the Nations League campaign is "definitely the time to do it". She also feels that Denise O'Sullivan should be positioned higher up the pitch and that Megan Connolly would be better utilised as a defensive midfielder.
"If Vera was to take charge of the Nations League and send all the players out with a defence first approach, you'd think go 'What a lost opportunity to build on what was achieved in this World Cup'," said Sadlier.
After Vera Pauw mentioned 'having no cover' for Canada's opening goal, @MeabhDeBurca feels the Irish boss is 'trying to deflect a little bit', adding that it's disappointing for a manger to be deflecting blame on the players #COYGIG #RTEsoccer #FIFAWomensWorldCup2023 pic.twitter.com/cqwvqHSHYT
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 26, 2023
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