Eamon Dunphy believes that the Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane's "war" comments in advance of the Austria qualifier backfired and was a gift to the visiting side.
At a press conference in Abbottstown last Friday, Roy Keane said that Ireland were "going to war" in the World Cup qualifier and it led to plenty of reaction from the opposing camp.
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Speaking on RTÉ 2FM's Game On, Dunphy said this rhetoric presented a motivation to the Austrians.
The RTÉ Soccer analyst also questioned Keane's prominence in the media.
"All that 'war' talk out of Keane on Friday. That's wrong. I don't even know who the England assistant manager is and I doubt if you do," he said.
"But to be giving press conferences and to be talking about people giving their lives up for their country and all that stuff. You're only giving a present to the opposing team coach. There's something seriously wrong with that administration."
Dunphy had more caustic comments about Martin O'Neill's team selection and said it was a random selection of players that lacked any consistency.
He stated: "As soon as I saw the team sheet, I knew... and I said it. Leaving Jon Walters on his own up front, he simply can't do it as his age. No Wes Hoolahan. There were two centre-halves who'd never played together in a competitive match.
"One of them has played three games in the Premier League. John O'Shea was sitting on the bench. Robbie Brady is no good in midfield. He's a left back and he's a brilliant footballer. McClean was playing as an auxiliary centre-forward. And Jeff Hendrick was playing in a position he's probably never played in his life, with his back to goal.
"If you put the names of the whole squad in a hat and picked blind, you might have picked a better team."
Dunphy argued that if Ireland select the same central defensive partnership in the future, they will get ripped apart by stronger teams.
A trenchant critic of Giovanni Trapattoni's stewardship of Ireland, the analyst asserted that Sunday's display was on a par with some of the bleaker days of the Italian's reign - almost.
"It was shocking. It was worse than Trapattoni. I suppose you couldn't be worse than Trapattoni. But it was pretty awful. And it didn't improve much in the second half except we just have the most amazing spirit in that team."
