PUT IT ALL BEHIND US

Cullen urges Ireland to stop trend of losing early goals and instead take the initiative

- BY MARK McCADDEN

JOSH CULLEN is sick of Irish players being praised for their resilience.

All he wants people to be talking about after this evening's World Cup qualifier against Armenia is how sharp Ireland were out of the traps.

It has become a recurring theme in recent times - Ireland fall behind, often to an early goal, and are forced to battle their way back into a game.

It has happened eight times in nine competitive games under Heimir Hallgrimsson.

As well as last Saturday's 2-2 draw against Hungary, Ireland have conceded first against Bulgaria twice, England twice, Finland away and twice to Greece.

Four of those games ended in defeat - both encounters with England and Greece - there were wins against Bulgaria (twice) and Finland, and a draw last weekend.

However, there are easier ways to pick up points, as Burnley midfielder Cullen remarked yesterday.

"Obviously we don't want to go behind in games, that's stating the obvious," he said. "But I think as a group and as a team and as players you just have to approach the game in every phase that it presents you and we can't let our confidence be knocked by a run of conceding early goals.