Matt Doherty warned his Republic of Ireland team-mates they need to grow up fast after a chastening 3-0 defeat to England at Wembley.
Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and a Dominic Calvert Lewin penalty put the Boys in Green to the sword on a night where the gulf between the sides was simply too big for the visitors to bridge.
Stephen Kenny was missing Enda Stevens, Aaron Connolly, Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy and Callum Robinson, but England were able to rest a lot of their front-liners and still run out easy winners.
Spurs man Doherty admitted it was a tough night at the office, but he suggested the visitors did not dig their heels in as much as they could have.
"You still have your own pride, your own personal pride," he said. "You can still work hard and get around the pitch. It felt like we gave up a little bit tonight once the second goal went in, like there was no way anything possibly good could have happened in the game.
"That shouldn't be the case. You should still be solid and wanting to do things right. I felt that wasn't the case, especially in the second half."
Doherty also did not accept that the presence of some younger players in the squad was an excuse for result.
"We're men at the end of the day," he said. "We're all playing first-team football somewhere. This is international football. I guess you could maybe say put your arm around people here and there but at the end of the day you have to figure it out yourself.
"You have to see the situations in games, you can't just rely on other people to do it. You have to try and take games by the scruff of the neck... you can't mollycoddle everyone. It's just not going to work out. We're not playing kids' football here."
A clinical finish from Jadon Sancho doubles England's lead at Wembley #ENGIRL #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/b4WxJpbzxv
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 12, 2020
Ireland now go into two Nations League games, against Wales on Sunday and then Bulgaria the following Wednesday, with Stephen Kenny still waiting on his first win after six games in charge.
They have scored just one goal under the new boss, and Doherty said a change in mentality is key to putting that right.
"It kind of seems to be the trend at the minute where we're not taking our chances and then getting punished. It's not like we're not creating anything, we're just not putting it in the net.
"I don't know if we have the belief to, every time we get in the position, really believe we're going to score.
"People just have to do that in their own mind - believe that when they have the chance that they're going to score. Maybe it's more of a mentality thing.
"It's disappointing. I feel embarrassed at times when we come off the pitch because we're losing games and not scoring goals. It's not nice."
Ireland are now in serious danger of slipping back to being third seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw after their world ranking points took another hit. They must win their next two matches to have any hope of getting into the second pot for the draw - a fact Doherty said the players are keenly aware of.
"We know exactly how important they are. We know what;s on the line. We're not going in to the game blind to what the losses could do.
"We know we have to go and win the games. We know how important that is for the ranking going into the group qualification draw for the World Cup."
"You still have your own pride, you own personal pride. You can still work hard and get around the pitch. It felt like we gave up a little bit tonight once the second goal went in, like there was no way anything possibly good could have happened in the game. That shouldn't be the case. You should still be solid and wanting to do things right. I felt that wasn't the case, especially in the second half.
