Republic of Ireland ‘sick’ of losing – Collins

Republic of Ireland defender Nathan Collins says that they are “sick” of losing after their 2-0 defeat by Greece in the Uefa Nations League.

Despite a positive first half, the Republic fell to a fourth consecutive competitive defeat at the Aviva Stadium after second-half goals from Fotis Ioannidis and Christos Tzolis.

And Collins, who was captain on the night, admitted confidence is low after another disappointing loss.

“There is a lot of frustration and people upset, and we know that there are too many times we have come in here losing, losing at times when we shouldn’t be losing and we’re sick of it,” he told RTE after the game.

“We’re looking at each other and we need to step it up. We’ve changed the manager, we have changed things and we played our best there in a long time and we still lost so we need to change more.”

‘We need to score when on top’

Collins expressed his disappointment at the manner of the goals the Republic conceded, particularly the first goal.

Ioannidis’ opener came five minutes after the restart as he curled home from outside the area after being afforded too much time and space.

The second from Tzolis with five minutes remaining came from a swift counter-attack and a confident finish.

“I think [for the first goal] we lost our shape a little bit, it was a good finish, but I think there were things we could have changed,” Collins explained.

“I thought we came out sharp in the second half and were on top, but I think that goal took a lot out of us unfortunately.

“When we’re on top and at home we need to find an equaliser and we need to chase it, counter-attacks happen but the first goal was really frustrating.”

Brentford centre-half Collins acknowledged that the Republic played much better than they did in their opening group game against England where they lost 2-0, particuarly in the first half.

He did concede, however, that they need to develop a clinical edge to get anything out of their next two games, an away double-header against Finland and Greece in October.

“I think first half we were very dominant, and they couldn’t get through us,” he continued.

“We were good on the ball and we created loads of chances, but we need to score.

“We need to put ourselves ahead and give ourselves something to fight for in the game.”