Katie McCabe has added to the speculation surrounding her exchange with Vera Pauw.
The Ireland skipper added to the fall-out of the incident and took to Twitter to send a message containing just a zipped mouth emoji. Fans were quick to react, with many coming out in support of McCabe and some suggesting that it was confirmation of a rift between players and the manager.
Pauw confirmed that there was an exchange between herself and McCabe during the second-half of Ireland’s World Cup clash with Nigeria. McCabe called for “fresh legs” on her side of the pitch, according to Pauw, with Sinead Farrelly apparently being the target of the Arsenal star’s request.
Farrelly saw out 90 minutes for the first time in a green jersey, having played just over an hour against Australia and Canada. Pauw said: "Why would we change? If Katie McCabe says that she wants a change that doesn’t mean... She’s not the coach, eh? Everybody was doing so well. I said ‘what do you want Katie, take our best player off?’
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“We made the changes when they were necessary.”
She insisted that she had no problem with McCabe’s call - but added that she would always make the final decision.
“A player is allowed to be emotional, is allowed to say that, it’s fine. But during the game, I step back and analyse and make changes that are necessary,” said Pauw. “And if you wanted to know why we made the changes? I’m happy to.
“We have brought on Abbie Larkin and Marissa Sheva, Marissa Sheva to have the power forward, to get the pace we needed over there. I think that was a brave decision because she has only played there for only a spell. But she brought that into the game and into the training sessions.
“And Abbie Larkin can play there because there were more spaces between those lines, so we were able to switch play because we couldn’t switch play anymore. So to have a proper player in front with Denise who could switch play, again the pressure forward was starting to lack.
“That’s a change that paid off, because immediately from the start, she understood her role and we gave her that message, to constantly change the way. It led to more pressure forward.”
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When asked again if she refused McCabe’s call, Pauw said: “No, no, no, because a player doesn’t ask and you refuse. A player can ask always, but as a coach it’s not a refusal, as a coach you make decisions on what is necessary.
“A player can say anything to the coach, at least to me.” What did McCabe say? “That she wanted fresh legs. Yeah. On her side,” Pauw replied.
And on her reason for not making the change, she explained: “Because everybody was doing so well. Sinead Farrelly was arguably the best player on the pitch at that moment, so I was not prepared to take the best player off.”
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