Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels says “women are more emotional than men” when conceding goals in football.
On a night when Northern Ireland hosted England in front of a record crowd, the focus quickly switched from events on the field to post-match comments from home manager Kenny Shiels.
His side conceded four second-half goals in a 5-0 defeat by England that left them unable to qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup.
“I felt [England] were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going 2-0 up in the women’s game,” Shiels said after the match.
“I’m sure you will have noticed if you go through the patterns – when a team concedes a goal, they concede a second one in a very, very short space of time.
“[It happens] right through the whole spectrum of the women’s game, because girls and women are more emotional than men. So, they take a goal going in not very well.”
England went 1-0 up in the 26th minute but had to wait until the 52nd minute to add a second.
“When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads. That’s an issue we have,” Shiels added.
“Not just in Northern Ireland but all of the countries in the world.”
Northern Ireland were playing in front of a crowd of 15,348 at Windsor Park in Belfast – a record for a women’s match in the country.
The Irish Football Association has been approached for comment.
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