Heat and schedule led to sloppiness

After all that's happened in the last week this still has to be regarded as a good result. After a great start things fell apart somewhat, but in the context of the build-up to this game then we still have to be satisfied.

Overall it didn't quite go according to plan because when you are two goals up on a team like Malta then you really expect to put the shutters up and maybe even claim another goal to secure a comfortable victory.

What you have to remember though is the overall context of this game in that it's been a hard three games in the last eight days. It was a very good display against Yugoslavia, then it was all wrong tactically against Croatia, but a good result here even if it came from a very tired performance.

What we often see with a lot of teams in this situation is how things don't work out that way. They were suffering from the previous games, no doubt about that, and they just couldn't find that extra effort for another 15 minutes which could have made it three and give the Maltese no comeback. What happened instead was that we sat off the pace and started doing things which as a team we don't normally do. There was a lot of ball given away and the team as a whole got sloppy. Some of that had to do with a lot of players wanting to get an extra touch, perhaps trying to show how good they are.

Once the first goal by Brian Said went in then we started to panic and looked even worse after that. Before that, we hadn't been that bad defensively, but all of a sudden it looked like Malta were going to score every time they got near the box. We just stopped playing en masse. When players start giving the ball away there is much less movement forward. We started to expose things more at the back and got deeper and deeper. As a result the defence, midfield and forwards were all playing as a different unit and in three separate patterns.

Too many players were isolated in that the midfielders weren't able to help the defenders or the forwards. As a result the side looked ragged and disjointed.

You have to temper that criticism with the fact that all this came on the back of a very hard game against Croatia plus all the travelling and the heat involved in this game. It just shows how much the last two games took out of all the players involved.

It still doesn't change anything with regards to the position in the group. It's still 15 points from seven games and at the start of the campaign that is something that Mick McCarthy would have gladly accepted.

The one thing now is that the lads know exactly what they have to do in the last game against Macedonia. They have to go there to win and I think that is often better than just going there looking for a draw. When it's just the point you need then sometimes you get stuck between two stools, whether you should sit back of whether you should attack. This way we know we have to win and once that positivity is instilled into the players then I believe we will get a better performance.

I know it was frustrating for McCarthy on the sideline, but I think he saw it coming. It's part and parcel of being a manager watching a game like this and you can't do anything about it. You can make substitutions, but then they don't work and after that you're just hoping the referee will blow the whistle and let you out of there with the three points.

What was important is that we got the reply when we did. I've seen so many games like this where you don't make it back unless you get the goal inside 10 minutes of the other side equalising, and if not, then you could imagine Malta going on to win it. It was a perfect response from Stephen Staunton at the perfect time in that it gave us the self-belief to hang on.

Staunton did well, but in terms of individual performances the other two games were better served. We saw a side of some players which can be very infuriating in that they fail to do the simple things and instead look very ordinary.

There is a month now to re-group and hopefully get Denis Irwin and Roy Keane back. Macedonia are not a bad team but they are beatable - and it's certainly better than going to Zagreb or Belgrade needing a win.

As I said, 15 points from seven games is nothing to complain about. If you look at the Premiership and you get two points from each game that's 76 points and that's often enough to win it. So we have to look at the positive side. What does worry me is this Jekyll and Hyde pattern to the Irish team, but we can only hope we get the desired face showing up in Macedonia.

(In an interview with Ian O'Riordan)