Joe Schmidt says the issues affecting his squad are being addressed on both a mental and a technical level.
Ireland have won two of their three Six Nations games but have failed to hit their straps as they did in 2018, and are realistically out of contention in the title race.
The head coach was at pains to point out how the small things have gone wrong, with numerous uncharacteristic handling errors and lineout malfunctions being the obvious work-ons from the Scotland and Italy wins.
"We always want to be really well prepared mentally," he told RTE Sport as he named his team to face France on Sunday.
"We use a little bit of support externally and we have a pretty thorough way of trying to make sure everyone is on the same page, that the confidence is there, the belief is there because you've got to have trust at this level.
"The mental preparation that you are ready to do your job and that you are going to trust others and that you've seen that they are doing the same preparation, that's part of what we've always done.
"I know there is a lot of people saying, 'what can we change?' A lot of what we did last year is just as relevant if we want to win games as it is for Sunday.
"We've just got to make sure that we can deliver on it and be more accurate.
"I was really happy with a lot of what happened in the Scottish match. We could have been more accurate.
"It was a little bit the same in Italy. We are not as cohesive as we'd like to be at the moment, based on our last three performances probably, but I don't think that's going to effect what we deliver on Sunday."
Schmidt was also asked about Steven Hansen's quip in November in the immediate aftermath of Ireland's victory over New Zealand, when the All Blacks head coach said: "We'll see how they cope [with being favourites all the time]".
Has that pressure fed into the stuttering performances?
"Probably, the All Blacks are the only team who consistently stay at the top," said Schmidt.
"You consider England, Six Nations Grand Slam, they get the Six Nations the following year, and the year after that they are fifth.
"How does that happen with most of the same personnel?
"It is one of those things that it is a little bit difficult. I know even talking to Franck Azema in Clermont, champions one year and 10th the next. How does that happen?
"It's not apathy, it's not overconfidence, I'm not sure how you might explain it. But there's a real forward-thinking about the group," he said.
"So what's happened last year is certainly last year.
"Because last year's results don't help you win anything this year.
"In fact, if anything, I think Steve is suggesting it hinders you winning things this year. It certainly puts a target on you.
"There's no way that people come here and don't want to beat a team that's ranked where we are or a team that achieved what we did last year."
Meanwhile, the former Leinster coach says he is unhappy with some of the reporting of his squad selection.
Hooker Sean Cronin was dropped from a 37-man training squad after a poor showing on his first Six Nations start, against Italy two weeks ago, while Sean O'Brien failed to make the match-day panel after a similarly poor effort in Rome.
"It's disconcerting for us the way that some of the words are irresponsibly bandied around like 'axed'," Schmidt told Michael Corcoran.
"What, that means terminated, never to be involved again? I think it's the wrong message being sent and maybe it's difficult to actually explain how we need to have four specialist hookers."
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Ireland: Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (capt), Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, John Ryan, Ultan Dillane, Jack Conan, John Cooney, Jack Carty, Jordan Larmour.
Follow Ireland v France on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) via the live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the News Now App, or listen live on RTÉ 2fm, with commentary from Michael Corcoran and Donal Lenihan.
