Northern Ireland boss Kenny Shiels has come in for criticism after claiming women's teams sometimes concede goals because they are “more emotional than men”.
Shiels was speaking after his side crashed to a 5-0 defeat to England in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday night.
It was an emotionally charged night as Windsor Park hosted the biggest ever crowd for a women's game in Northern Ireland, with over 15,000 fans watching the game in South Belfast.
Read more: Northern Ireland vs England as it happened at Windsor Park
Shiels said: “I thought they were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going two up.
“In the women’s game you’ll have noticed if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal they concede a second one within a very short period of time.
“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.”
Northern Ireland conceded three goals in the space of nine minutes against Austria on Friday.
England opened the scoring on Tuesday through Lauren Hemp in the 26th minute but Shiels’ side kept the deficit to one goal at the interval before conceding four times in 27 second-half minutes.
“When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it right down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads. That’s an issue we have,” Shiels added.
“It’s not just in Northern Ireland, but all countries.”
Many fans took to social media to slam the Northern Ireland manager's comments, while talkSPORT presenter Laura Woods said Northern Ireland's results were based on tactics.
She said: “The fact is the game in England is leaps ahead of other countries.
“You just have to look at these World Cup qualifiers.
“He talks about patterns of conceding. There is a pattern actually with his team because in the first half of the other game against England they kept it at 0-0 in the first half and they did it again this time.
“So there’s something to do with his teams that he manages to set them up very strongly defensively in the first half then they capitulate in the second so maybe it’s the game plan.”
Northern Ireland needed to avoid defeat against Group D leaders England to keep their slim hopes of progressing to Australia and New Zealand next year alive.
While they can still move level on points with second-placed Austria, Northern Ireland’s inferior head-to-head record has extinguished any chance of leapfrogging their rivals into the only play-off berth.
The Irish FA has been contacted for comment.
Read more: NI captain Steven Davis tipped for Ibrox exit door as part of major Rangers rebuild
Read more: NI teenagers Dale Taylor and Jamie McDonnell make cup history with Nottingham Forest
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
