When Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane were installed as the Ireland management team in 2013, O'Neill joked that he was going to be the 'bad cop' and Keane the 'bad, bad cop'.
At a press conference today, Roy has certainly fulfilled that role.
After last night's loss to Belarus at Turner's Cross, he and O'Neill wanted to kill some of the players.
Roy in box office mode today. Asked did they need to push players harder "we wanted to kill some of them last night"
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) June 1, 2016
Aiden McGeady, who played 75 minutes last night before being replaced by the spritely Callum O'Dowda, came in for some sharp criticism.
Roy on Aiden McGeady: "I think he can do a lot better than last night, but maybe that's the story of Aiden's career" #OnOurWay
— eir Sport (@eirSport) June 1, 2016
There were some poor performances last night, in particular by Cyrus Christie, David Meyler and Jeff Hendrick all of whom are heading for France.
Keane on Belarus performance: "A reality check for one or two players who thought they were good players"
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) June 1, 2016
When asked about Murphy and Hendrick's lack of game time lately, Keane sniped that it was easy to tell.
Murphy had one glorious chance to open his goalscoring account for Ireland. But after 21 games, it still remains blank.
"You can tell" says Keane when it's mentioned to him that Murphy & Hendrick haven't played much lately with their clubs
— Stephen Doyle (@dubsoulrebel) June 1, 2016
An aspect of Ireland's play which especially riled Keane was the inability of some players to control the ball.
Roy not happy with last night: "Your playing international football, control the bloody ball. Run back, control it and pass it to your mate"
— eir Sport (@eirSport) June 1, 2016
Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
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