Seamus Coleman fires back at Keith Andrews over Ireland critcism

Jack O'Toole

Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman has said that Ireland international Keith Andrews ‘didn’t always make things happen’ for the national team when he played for Ireland.

Andrews was stinging in his critcism of Ireland following their 1-0 loss to Wales on Tuesday with the Sky Sports pundit claiming that it’s been one ‘it’s been one of the worst years in living memory’ for the national team and that a lot of their problems can be attributed to Martin O’Neill.

Coleman backed O’Neill who is under increasing pressure to keep his job as manager and the Everton defender felt that Andrews was trying to make his name as a pundit with some of his remarks.

“It’s very easy from a pundit’s position,” Coleman told Off The Ball after Everton’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

“I’ve to bite my tongue at times. Keith has got a job to do, Keith has really taken to punditry.

“He might have been trying to make a name for himself by being a little bit harsh the other night. That’s his job, that’s his role.

“When he was a player it was his job to get on the ball and make things happen and at times he didn’t do that.

“Sometimes it’s hard to take that criticism, Keith would say the same when he was a player, he got plenty of criticism and would have agreed it was hard to take.

“We need to give the fans something to be proud of and 100 per cent, at the minute, our performances have not been good enough but come March we’re hoping to give the country some big nights again.”

Coleman offered his support to O’Neill but stressed that Ireland are going through a transition period at the moment.

“We are all behind the manager. Sometimes players get away with murder.

“It always seems to be put on the manager, that’s something that really bugs me at club level. I’ve seen three or four managers go. It always seems to be them that gets the heat and not the players.

“We need to stand up and be counted. Some of our performances have not been good enough.

“We are going through a transition period, we are playing lads from the Championship and they are all coming into the team and trying to understand what international football is about.

“We have to use these Nations League games to get us ready for March which is important.”