I'm nervous about this one. I think it's an extremely dangerous game and most definitely a potential banana skin - the pitch is poor, Estonia will be buoyed by the fact they almost drew with the Dutch on Saturday and we're coming off the back of a bad performance. But if we harbour serious intentions of finishing second in this group, if not winning it, then we have to go there and win by hook or by crook, as the Dutch and Portuguese have done.

It's just important for everyone that we get back to our strengths both individually and collectively. As a team, generally, we're really difficult to play against but you couldn't say that about us on Saturday - if we make sure we are against Estonia I would fancy us to take the points, but I think it's going to be tough.

The good thing for us is that it comes so quickly after Saturday. There's no real time to brood about what happened against Portugal and it gives you a chance to put the record straight, as it were.

The first half an hour will be absolutely crucial because it will tell us if Ireland have got over the hangover from Saturday and it will give us a good indication of how they felt about that game - if they start brightly it will tell us they've gained confidence from that fact that Portugal couldn't beat them.

Against these teams it makes such a difference if you can score the first goal because they then have to change their tactics. Estonia will try and stop Ireland from playing and would happily take the draw - that would be a major result for them. But if we can score early they'll have to change their whole approach. Of course we'll miss Keane, anyone would miss their only world class player, but, assuming he replaces him, I think Mattie Holland is an extremely underrated player who had a really good season. The good thing about him is he gets forward and, like Mark Kinsella, can run all day. Part of Holland and Kinsella's job will be to protect the two central defenders and, as we saw on Saturday, they'll need some protection. Stan (Steve Staunton) has been an outstanding servant for us for many years but even he wouldn't have expected to play on Saturday. But he's kept himself fit and looks like getting his reward with the captaincy and his 89th cap against Estonia, which is fantastic for him. He's not the same player he was three years ago; everybody knows he's lost what bit of pace he had, but if that wasn't his best performance against Portugal there were a lot worse than him. If you tried to be in any way positive about our defence on Saturday he's really the only one you could pick out.

I know there are doubts about the fitness of Robbie Keane and Niall Quinn although, to be honest, I thought most of the team looked a bit rusty on Saturday. If they were both only, say, 80 per cent fit I would play Quinn but not Keane.

As long as Quinn can get around the pitch and isn't struggling the mere fact that he's there will be a problem to Estonia because they won't have come across too many players like him before. It's different with Keane, he needs to be fit so I would opt for David Connolly or even Damien Duff up front because they would be that bit sharper.

It's a game we need to win now so I would be tempted to play Duff ahead of Gary Kelly on the right of midfield - it just makes more sense to go for a more positive line-up, otherwise you're handing the initiative to Estonia. When you have Holland and Kinsella, who have great engines, in the centre of midfield you can allow your two wide players to be a bit different - if you have Kelly in there it's all much of a muchness. You'd imagine our wingers might have a bit of joy against Estonia so I'd go for it and start the game with them - McCarthy could always change the formation later in the game if needs be.

I'm sure the players won't underestimate Estonia. As long as we approach the game in the right way I would fancy us to take the points because we have an honest bunch of players who understand that when performances are below par they have to raise them. And they need to raise them tonight.

In an interview with Mary Hannigan