Mick McCarthy was not his usual positive self after tonight's loss. Without a point to fall back on, he admitted his team were not good enough tonight.
Of course the campaign is far from over. A win against Denmark puts us in the Euros, but such thoughts seem like a long way away.
McCarthy spoke to RTÉ after the game, where he admitted his team was not good enough for large periods tonight. There was praise for the likes of Glenn Whelan and Darren Randolph, but there was certainly a sense that Mick knew this was an opportunity missed.
Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy offers an honest appraisal of his side's performance following their 2-0 loss to Switzerland in Geneva. #suiirl #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/UTvxGDitlQ
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 15, 2019
We were beaten by the better team, the considerably better team actually. Especially in the first half when we didn't play particularly well.
No matter what system we are playing it doesn't excuse some or way ward passing and some of the stuff we did. We changed it midway through and that settled it down a bit.
In the second half we settled it down a bit and played far, far better. I think it was a performance we could be proud of, especially down to ten men...
(The system) didn't cause us to not pass the ball to each other that's for sure. I said to the lads if changing it was the root cause of it I'll accept responsibility for that, but I'm not accepting responsibility for our inability to pass it to each other in the first half because we were really poor.
McCarthy knows what a big game it is next month. It is a cliche to say it, but it really is a cup final.
Ireland will go for it, and we will hope for another special Dublin performance. McCarthy thinks it will be a big achievement for this team should they qualify ahead of the Danes.
I think from the very start when the group was picked to be in the position we are in now, I'm not going to say we were overachieving, but to get first or second was always going to be an overachievement when you look at the two teams.
We've still got a chance of doing that. A cup final in the Aviva on the 18th of November, I would have taken that before and I'll take it now.
