Vera Pauw said the Republic of Ireland will "dare to be excellent" in their efforts to become more expansive.
The Girls in Green shut out China in a 0-0 draw at Estadio Nuevo Mirador in Cadiz on Wednesday, adding another excellent defensive performance to their collection.
However, creativity and sustained possession are qualities that Pauw admits her side must improve on if they are to make their mark at this summer's World Cup.
Ireland spent the bulk of their nine-day Marbella training camp trying to sharpen up their attacking play leading into today's friendly against the world No 14-ranked Chinese.
There was some evidence of a more concerted approach to playing out from the back, but the manager acknowledges Ireland have work to do on the offensive end of their game.
"The idea was that we were building up," she said. "I don't use the word 'little' much, but a little earlier occupation of the pitch, we wanted to occupy in the pockets with angles.
"A little bit higher pace of passing, to give each other time. A little bit more alert anticipation to what is happening, that can bring us higher up the pitch and creating chances.
"But these are the Asian champions. If you start playing out, you have to dare to be good. What we said in the team meeting is that we dare to be excellent and we knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but this is the first time that we could emphasise our attacking play in the team meeting every single day and not concentrate on our defensive duties.
"And the fact that while doing that, we kept again a clean sheet, that is a huge compliment."
It wasn't a classic in Spain but the result means Ireland have lost just once in their last 14 games - and that defeat came against Russia in last year's Pinatar Cup, when Pauw fielded an experimental lineup.
DA De La Harpe, Marissa Sheva and Aoife Mannion all made their debuts, with Mannion particularly impressing at the heart of the Irish defence.
"She performed really well and gave a calmness in the back and a toughness in the back," Pauw said of the Manchester United player who is still feeling her way back into action after suffering an ACL injury last March.
"She can only grow, but the key thing for her is that we need to keep her healthy and that means not getting injured and from there, gradually grow.
"The [Manchester United] coach wants her to be back at her old level, so he was really happy that we took her even though she has only played with the U-23s. He said 'please, if you feel that she can play more minutes, then give her more minutes'.
"We gave her more minutes than we planned before the camp, but we can do that because her heartrates gave it and she had a really good rehab programme, so she could play more minutes than we expected.
"And now on the bench, we had her live heart-rate monitor and we took her off in the moment my eyes saw that she was getting a bit fatigued."
Mannion offered a glimpse of what she could offer Ireland in terms of distribution out of defence. She showed real composure under pressure with a willingness - and ability - to punch passes through the thirds into the feet of Katie McCabe and Denise O'Sullivan.
That dimension to her game could get her on the plane to Australia, but Pauw was keen to stress the importance of being pragmatic when the situation demands it.
"Barcelona would even play a long ball in that situation probably."
"We all wanted to play out, we all want to be Spain," she added. "But you need to grow to it, it is step by step. What it is I said, if you put on pants too big a size, they fall down.
"If you jump to a level that you are not on yet, it won't go right. And that is not what we want. We are growing gradually, step by step so we control the process and that is achievable what we are asking.
"The moments that Courtney Brosnan kicked long is the moments when they are five Chinese players around her penalty box, so you need to stay realistic.
"Barcelona would even play a long ball in that situation probably. If there is space, we build up, but the start of the build up must be without risks. If there is five in the penalty box, you put a risk on yourself and then you ask for problems. So then, we go long but other than that, we wanted to build up every time today."
