If Ireland are going to qualify for the World Cup in Russia they are going to have to do it by their traditional route, with one or two underdog victories and most likely, a two-legged play-off victory in November.
The thoughts of Ireland qualifying for next summer’s tournament with a game to spare proved all-too-mythical as the team fell flat on Saturday night in Tbilisi, scraping a point against Georgia.
Ireland always tend do things the hard way, however, so it was hardly a surprise to see Martin O’Neill’s side drop points in the first of half of this week’s double header.
The performance though, was certainly shocking, and now that there has been some time to attempt to absorb that most indigestible fare, the fact that the team came away with one point after such a horror show is perhaps the one and only positive that can be drawn from that particular trip east.
So a big performance is needed tonight as the group leaders come to town and although Saturday’s game is so fresh in the mind, the ever-optimistic modern players will believe that it is the perfect time to bounce-back and get their World Cup ambitions right on track.
However, a stronger Serbia arrive in Dublin compared to the side that Ireland faced in Belgrade a year ago with the return of Nemanja Matic and Aleksandar Kolarov.
Add to that the fact that tonight’s visitors are certainly buoyed from the weekend’s results, knowing they can take one giant step to Russia with a win at the Aviva tonight.
Ireland cannot take anything from recent events to help prepare for tonight’s game, but must, once again, dig deep into the archives and summon the heroics of Gelsenkirchen, that summer’s evening in Lille, or most importantly, the night they beat the world champions in Dublin.
Lansdowne Road has played a big part in Irish football’s success and tonight, more than ever, this Ireland side need the magic of the Dublin venue to return.
Can Ireland beat Serbia?
Martin O’Neill has rarely strayed from his footballing philosophy in all his years of management, so the Derry man hardly spent the last two days devising a new way of playing the game.
The manager relies on hard work, honesty, good attitude, organisation, energy and the odd moment of magic to get the results that he is paid to extract.
Beating and drawing with the World Cup winners in the last campaign, pulling last-minute rabbits out of the hat in many other games, as well as qualifying for the knock-out stages at the Euros last summer by getting past Italy are all, in a large part, down to O’Neill’s style and personality.
However, when it goes wrong, as it did last Saturday, the spotlight reveals Ireland’s appalling approach to playing the game.
So with that in mind, Ireland will need to be at their most effective tonight and that can only happen if O’Neill picks the correct players in the right positions to carry out his game-plan.
The manager has to accept that Robbie Brady has not performed well in any advanced role that he has started in and has proved most effective for Ireland when playing at left-back, while still able to weave his magic from set-pieces.
Another lesson that should have been learned from Saturday’s game was the fact that the defence was put under so much pressure because the ball was not being held up sufficiently to allow the midfield to get forward and support the play.
Shane Long was the lone front man on Saturday and the Southampton striker ran himself into the ground for the cause, however, his energy and enthusiasm is futile without someone alongside him to get their foot on the ball and allow the rest of the team to push on.
Naturally, Wes Hoolahan can play that role. But the Irish footballing public just have to accept that the midfield dynamo is never guaranteed a starting role with this manager.
So in the absence of Hoolahan, O’Neill will have to employ a target man to create a nuisance of himself, hold the ball up, win free-kicks and ultimately allow Long to enjoy the chance of racing in behind the defence.
This Irish team are ever-willing to get up in support and with Cyrus Christie, James McClean and Brady all darting forward, chances will be created.
And while Shane Duffy is still developing as a defender at this level, there is no doubt that his threat at set-pieces is going to be a real asset to Ireland over the next few years.
Saturday’s goal was far from a simple header but Duffy kept his eye on the ball, timed his run to perfection and guided the ball into the back of the net.
The Brighton defender almost grabbed another before half-time and was again in the mix late in the game to nod down to McGeady, whose first touch let him down.
As good as Serbia are from a footballing point of view, they will not be able to stop Duffy at full tilt and with Brady’s pin-point accuracy, the combination is certainly one of Ireland’s best hopes tonight.
Ireland’s XI to face Serbia
The Ireland manager is generally loath to apportion any blame on the players so his comments on Monday that "we are not the most talented outfit that has played for the Republic of Ireland" might suggest that O’Neill feels he was let down by a player or three on Saturday.
The ultimate show of support for his players would be to name an unchanged side for tonight’s game, but if fingers have been pointed, it will reveal itself once the team is named.
Harry Arter was first to receive the curly finger on Saturday as Aiden McGeady was thrown into the attack, but the most telling thing about that substitution was that James McClean was moved into the middle of the park.
But from one to eleven, there can be no complaints from any of Saturday’s starters should they see their jersey handed to one of their colleagues.
Perhaps, yet unlikely, O’Neill might have been inspired by Chris Coleman’s gamble on a young striker at the weekend, by naming someone other than the usual suspects for tonight’s game.
Ireland don’t have a young centre-forward to throw into the mix as Sean Maguire failed to make the final cut, but perhaps Daryl Horgan or Callum O’Dowda could be utilised to add a different dimension to this predictable Ireland XI.
The Opposition – Serbia sense their opportunity
This Serbia side would have been fearful coming to Dublin before the weekend, knowing that they were in for a "war", as the Irish management like to describe such games.
But they will have watched Ireland throughout this campaign and especially last Saturday and will have realised that the technical and creative gulf between the two sides is astronomical and will now back themselves to win the match by playing to their strengths.
Ireland’s impressive performance at last summer’s Euros possibly accounted for the fact that this Serbia side rolled over for the first 20 minutes in Belgrade when Ireland could have and should have put the tie beyond doubt.
But they played their way back into the game to dominate for the majority of the fixture and are probably still bemused that they let Ireland grab a draw and leave with a point.
As mentioned, Nemanja Matic and Aleksandar Kolarov missed that game in Belgrade and will only add to the strength of their side tonight.
Aleksandar Mitrovic has proved the talisman for this Serbia side and while the Newcastle United striker’s style will be suited to the rough and tumble defending of Duffy and Clark in the centre of the Irish defence, the quality coming into attack from deeper including, Filip Kostic and Dusan Tadic will be a real cause for concern.
Serbia would have targeted one point from tonight’s game but on recent performances and the fact that they sense they are within touching distance of Russia, they will be expecting all three.
Watch the Republic of Ireland v Serbia live on RTÉ2, listen on RTÉ 2fm's Game On and follow the action with RTÉ Sport Online's live blog from 7pm
