If the Republic of Ireland's friendly against Latvia on Wednesday ends up with an underwhelming performance, fans of the Boys in Green should factor in that manager Stephen Kenny will be testing out tactics with an eye towards next Monday's France match according to former Dundee United, Drogheda and Shamrock Rovers defender Graham Gartland.
When the fixture schedule was finally settled last October, 27 March and a French visit to the Aviva Stadium was rubber-stamped as Ireland's first outing of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
While World Cup runners-up France have the Netherlands in Paris this Friday before they fly to Dublin for Monday's fixture, Ireland were afforded some breathing room part of which has been filled with Wednesday's friendly against Latvia to aid preparation.
And given that Ireland are likely to have less of the ball against the French, Wednesday could see a more counter-attacking approach used at times against Latvia despite the fact that the Boys in Green will be clear favourites to win emphatically.
"I think you'll probably use the first 60 minutes to work on stuff that you're going to roll into the France game," Gartland told this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast which also features former Ireland striker Stephen Elliott and French football journalist Philippe Auclair.
"The France game is more important than the Latvia game obviously so you have to use that to see can we implement things that we can then bring into the France game.
"So if it is working on counter-attacks or working certain things that mightn't come up as much and might frustrate the fans [who may think], 'Why are you letting Latvia have as much of the ball here?', that's the way it goes, you're preparing for a bigger fish to fry going into the weekend.
"So things like that where you ask for understanding and patience from the fans from that point of view but then work on how you can hurt France and break them down and implement that in the Latvia game to build confidence from that and build a bit of momentum."
Players who may not be as match sharp will also need the friendly fixture to get up to speed according to Gartland, which may factor into the pace of the game and overall performance.
"Get minutes into players that maybe aren't getting enough minutes, the likes of Nathan Collins and Matt Doherty, lads that might need minutes in their legs as well just to get their eye in, so [the Latvia game] can be used for that as well," he said.
"I think there has to be a level of understanding around the game. But you obviously want to have a positive result to go into the France."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Latvia in an international friendly on Wednesday from 7pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra
Watch Republic of Ireland v France in Euro 2024 qualifying on Monday from 7pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on 2fm's Game On
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
