James McCarthy was the main answer when people looked for someone to blame for today's embarrassment at the hands of Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Co.
McCarthy dove in on Kevin de Bruyne for Belgium's first, allowing the winger free reign to find Romelu Lukaku on the edge of the box. The Everton player made no mistake with a side-footed strike to the bottom corner.
McCarthy was also at fault for Belgium's second as he failed to track goal scorer Axel Witsel into the box, allowing the midfielder to score with a free header.
Later in the evening, in the TV3 studio following their coverage of Iceland's 1-1 draw with Hungary, Joey Barton took some time to analyse the Irish performance.
Regarding the second goal, Barton found fault beyond McCarthy, he felt Robbie Brady - playing on the left side of midfield - failed to properly close down Thomas Meunier for the cross which led to the goal.
I think that's Brady's fault. I know McCarthy's being caned for not tracking the runner, which is fine, but it's kind of after the horse has bolted. If Brady gets out and stops the cross that goal could be avoided.
Barton also outlined where he felt Ireland's approach to the game was flawed along with again criticising Robbie Brady.
The gameplan was flawed. It's easy to sit here and say that now reactively because we've seen the result. It's easy to pick holes in it.
I would like to have seen a lot more counterattacking from Ireland. We've seen sides who tried to absorb pressure. Ireland's defence isn't the most well-known worldwide - I'm trying to be kind as I possibly can to Clark and O'Shea.
[The number of goals Clark and O'Shea conceded per game in the Premier League] Almost two a game and I think John O'Shea was 1.6 a game.
You look at Iceland today, they played a counter-attacking system, 4-4-2. The key to that game is the forwards retaining possession. I felt sorry for periods for Shane Long today because he was like a dog chasing a ball. He couldn't hold the ball up, it just kept coming back. Pressure builds. When we saw Italy do a job on Belgium, they had two forwards. They played a 3-5-2 system, Pelle and Eder played up front for them but they were able to retain the ball to allow the back four to get a breather or the back three in their case. It takes the pressure off, gets Belgium on the back foot.
Ireland just never laid a glove on them. If you want to see what's symptomatic of Ireland peformance and the coaching level... the ball comes out, Stephen Ward closes the ball down, it gets rolled back to De Bruyne and he gets the cross in, Brady never gets anywhere near him to affect the flight of the ball. It's a free header for Witsel. McCarthy has been dug out and he's been hauled off but you've go to get out an affect the football.
You can watch Barton on TV3 below.
A flawed gameplan, worrying future @Joey7Barton on #IRL defeat to #BEL#TV3EURO2016 #EURO2016https://t.co/hOZDPUPeQn
— TV3 SPORT (@TV3SportIreland) June 18, 2016
Video: TV3
