Shamrock Rovers' squad does not require a major "facelift" but they must rediscover the Midas touch of champions that has carried them through recent seasons, according to former Republic of Ireland, St Patrick's Athletic and Drogheda United midfielder Keith Treacy.
The last few weeks have been difficult on the pitch for Stephen Bradley's side as they endure a run of four defeats and one draw from their last five matches.
That blip has resulted in the Hoops being knocked out of the Sports Direct FAI Cup by Dundalk on Sunday, days after their Champions League journey was brought to an end at the first hurdle by Icelandic side Breidablik.
Rovers remain top of the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division by four points and are still involved in Europe.
The latter sees them face Ferencvaros in the Europa Conference League second qualifying round, with the first leg on Thursday, but just last season the Hungarian champions outclassed them on the way to a 4-1 aggregate victory in their Europa League play-off tie.
While a repeat run to the Conference League group stages appears a tall order for Shamrock Rovers, Treacy told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast that the Hoops are missing their ability to eke out wins when not playing well.
"I remember watching Shamrock Rovers last year and there were periods when they didn't play well and we were thinking maybe Derry could catch them but they won," he said.
"They just kept winning games, even when they were on the back foot. You're just thinking they've just lost that way to win horribly or not really turn up and still win the game."
Treacy feels their under-par league form carried into their European tie against Breidablik, proving costly.
"Against Breidablik, it's just not good enough and they're our Irish champions and we want them to do well in Europe. They were carrying the flag for the league (in the Champions League) so turning up and not playing that well was a big, big disappointment," he said.
"But I don't think there's a facelift needed on the team. I just think there are a couple of people that need to be motivated and play football in the right areas and just being able to get back to winning when they don't play well because that is a real sign of champions.
"At the minute, I know it's quite contradictory because we all expect them to win the league, but Shamrock Rovers are going to be held to a little bit of a higher standard with the amount of talent that they have in their team and what we all know they're capable of."
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