Defeat down to wrong line-up

ANALYSIS/Mark Lawrenson: Well, it happened, didn't it? For Ireland, it was what I termed beforehand a "dreaded must win game" and we went out and lost it. Ireland didn't just lose either; we were basically outplayed and, if it means a long, cold winter wondering what the future holds, the truth is that qualifying for the finals in Portugal is now an extremely difficult proposition.

Not impossible, mind, but extremely difficult. To make it to the 2004 finals - and I wouldn't advise anyone to book their tickets - it means Ireland will have to beat Russia at home and beat Switzerland away. Not only that, but Ireland will also have to pick up near maximum points from their other games and also rely on other teams to do them favours. It's going to be a long, hard road, that's for sure.

Last night's performance was very, very disappointing. We huffed and puffed but, apart from Damien Duff, achieved nothing. The two goals we conceded were awful. The first one, especially, was frightening. For a ball to be floated in some 40 or 50 yards over a defender's head - I hate to say it, but it was Gary Breen's - is just unacceptable. In that situation, the ball either goes into the stand or it is dealt with. It is as simple as that.

I've no great problems with Mick McCarthy's decision to put on Gary Doherty as a forward and take off Ian Harte, a defender, in going after the game but, still, the defending for Switzerland's second goal, was terrible. Ireland got what they deserved in many respects because we were caught again and again. However, coming after we got a somewhat lucky equaliser, it was even harder to take. Once we got it back to 1-1, at least we were getting something out of the match. Then, to concede another poor goal was just really hard to take.

The defence as a unit was poor and we have got problems in that department. I still can't understand how a player like John O'Shea can be left on the bench and someone like Gary Breen is picked ahead of him. For 90 per cent of the game, Breen was actually quite good. But for the other 10 per cent, it was the same old story of waiting for a mistake to happen. At this level you just do not get away with making mistakes. Ireland have a lot of good players but only a few quality players and, for me, someone like O'Shea is maturing into a real quality player.

I don't know what it was about last night, but the whole atmosphere seemed to be a bit strange and it has certainly been a long time since Ireland were outplayed in midfield as they were on this occasion. The Swiss are a good footballing team with players willing to work for each other.

One thing I will say, however, is that the pitch was hopeless and definitely didn't suit us. It needed cutting and, last night, it seemed that every one of the Irish players needed an extra touch on the ball.

The real reason for the defeat is that we got it wrong in the line-up and the team that was picked didn't deliver. Kevin Kilbane has not suddenly become a bad player but he is a player who is having a tough time at his club and is obviously playing with a lack of confidence.

The worst thing about this result is that we didn't give ourselves the best options that would have helped to win the game. Duff, for one, should be playing on the left wing all the time. He did his best work when moved there.

I wouldn't fault Colin Healy either. He is more accustomed to playing in a central midfield role but he did okay in his first competitive international. But, apart from Duff and Healy, other Irish performances of any note were few and far between.

We've now got five and a half months of licking our wounds until the next qualifying match. The best thing to do is to let the dust settle. I expect Mick McCarthy to be around to continue the job - unless he is offered a Premiership job, but those vacancies are few and don't come up too often - and the only good thing for him is that, by then, the team will effectively be picking itself.

He'll have to go with those players who are delivering for their clubs and the old loyalty card will be gone.

In an interview with Philip Reid