Just what the doctor would have ordered. A bright start, a very good start, precisely what Steve Staunton and his players would have looked for. And for people who wanted to be impressed straight away, who wanted to be convinced that the "new regime" offered new hope, it was perfect, writes Mark Lawrenson, Soccer analyst

This, though, is where I begin to sound like a killjoy: if you seriously analyse the game Sweden had a couple of early chances when they could, and probably should, have been in front. They didn't take them, their performance wasn't up to much after that, and we took full advantage. It was, of course, encouraging that we did that, but for me the result doesn't hide the simple fact that we're still short in so many departments.

If you're a manager about to play us in a qualification game, if you're the German or the Czech manager, you'll look at us and you'll see that we'll be strong down the wing. Damien Duff is playing, so you look after that threat, and then you get nice and tight on Robbie Keane - and, in all honesty, we might not be able to come up with too much beyond that.

Shay Given was, undoubtedly, our best player in the World Cup qualifying campaign - which tells us something - and while Duff and Keane started out brightly they petered out towards the end. And because we are so, so reliant on them when that happened, really, our hopes faded.

They are the two people we have who can turn a game, really and truly we don't have anyone else who can do that if you're up against opposition smart enough to nullify them - and that's pretty much most opposition these days.

But the best - and nicest - thing about last night's game was the response from Duff and Keane. In many ways their performances showed just how enthusiastic they are about this manager's appointment.

There was a spark from both of them that was missing, probably, in the last three, four games of our World Cup campaign. Staunton needs to get that out of them game in, game out, he desperately needs them to be fit and in form because so much of our hope rests on them.

Yes, there were some decent performances last night, but we know - and we have to accept - we are still quite a way short. Steven Reid and John O'Shea did alright in midfield, Joey O'Brien did alright at the back, as did Ian Harte, but however well he does, the simple fact remains, he has no pace. It was important that the likes of Kevin Doyle and Joey O'Brien were blooded, it was another game for Stephen Elliott, Liam Miller came on and scored a great goal, Staunton is shuffling the pack and seeing what we've got. All positive, all good. All of those players, to some extent, enhanced their reputations, without really saying: "I'm going to be the next big thing."

Of the new, or newer, breed Stephen Ireland has a chance, no doubt, as do Elliott, Doyle, O'Brien, maybe even Miller, but we might be lucky to get even one of them actually turning in to a really, really good performer. They're all promising, but whether or not any of them can develop into the quality of player we desperately need, I'm not sure.

I would still look at this team and say at centre back, centre midfield and up front we're still short - and I felt that again watching them last night. If we could unearth players of Duff and Keane's quality in those positions then we'd be looking at something completely different. But we're very samey. Can you imagine us going to Germany without Duff or Keane? All we'd have is a decent Championship team/average Premiership side, that would be the quality we would be left with.

So, without wanting to rain on anybody's parade, we're short of players, that's it. And while, say, the German and Czech managers will be impressed with that result, their view will remain the same: take Keane and Duff out of that team, mark them out of the game, and Ireland are pretty much Championship fare.

Of course you want to be more optimistic than that, you can feel the willingness about the place for the team to succeed, for Staunton to succeed, and, yes, last night, of course, was a promising start, great for team morale, but the underlying problem has not gone away. So, while last night was positive, not least because of Duff and Keane, I wouldn't, in all honesty, be booking my hotel in Austria and Switzerland just yet. We're three, four players short, and that's the simple truth.