Richie Sadlier has labelled Vera Pauw’s post-match comments on her Irish team as ‘puzzling,’ and ‘daft.’
Speaking after Ireland’s 2-1 loss to Canada, the Dutch woman rued Irish mistakes during the game. Referencing the first goal as a turning point, she put it down to the fact that it came at a moment ‘where there was no cover.’
Pauw went onto say that her team are ‘growing,’ before going onto describe them as ‘newcomers.’
Between them, Richie Sadlier and former Irish international Méabh De Búrca had issues with Pauw’s commentary.
“To make a comment that ‘the team is still growing and they’re newcomers’, that back five had 453 caps between them,” Sadlier said on RTÉ’s World Cup coverage.
“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,” he said.
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
“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,” he said.
De Búrca is of the same opinion, and says that Pauw should be focusing more on the ‘football side of things.’
“It’s disappointing for a manager to be trying to deflect the blame onto the players at this stage,” said De Búrca.
“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. 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.”
Meanwhile, as regards Pauw’s future as Ireland manager, Sadlier feels there are some issues to raise and discussions to be had first.
“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.”
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