Time to put best foot forward, believes Robson

Bobby Robson feels there is now no room for experimentation for Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton. The 73-year-old was in the Lansdowne Road stands to oversee Ireland's closing game of the season, albeit with Staunton's side losing 1-0 to Chile.

Following a successful four-day training camp in the Algarve, which Robson was unable to attend, Staunton put his own ideas into practice against the South Americans.

However, the 3-4-3 system simply did not work, even if Robson rightly pointed out players do not require a high level of intelligence to switch from four to three at the back.

But come the final friendly before the European Championship campaign starts in Germany on September 2nd, Robson is urging Staunton to field his strongest line-up and formation for the visit of Holland just 17 days before then.

"He [Staunton] has to do that and go as close as he can to the team that will face Germany," insisted Robson. "We don't want to lose to Holland. We need a good result to set us up for the game against Germany, who will be a tough nut.

"So we will look at Holland, as well as Germany at the World Cup, see how they play, then think about our team and our best 11 and play it, the one we think will play Germany - injuries permitting.

"We need to get a strong run from the lads against Holland so we go into the game with Germany full of confidence. I'll give him a report of what I saw last night against Chile and we will have a few meetings.

"The quicker we get down to our best team, playing it, practising the system in training, the better."

Despite the dejection felt at the defeat, Robson believes the future is rosy.

"I'm glad I was here to see us lose. If I hadn't have come then I would have thought 'oh, what's gone wrong?'" added Robson. "I needed to see the players, to see what we have, where we can improve and what is the best style for us. But it's not all doom and gloom. We didn't get thrashed 3-0, and we weren't outplayed.

"It was disappointing, but the good thing is the lads were sick and very unhappy about losing. That shows they care. To their credit they didn't give it up. They went out fighting, the crowd was with us, and there was more enthusiasm, tempo and desire at the end.

"So we can't be depressed because there are some fantastic matches coming up, we've some fine players."  Agencies