John O'Shea says Republic of Ireland are determined to avenge their Greek tragedy when the two nations meet in Dublin next week.
Stephen Kenny’s side suffered a crushing blow to their Euro 24 qualification hopes with a 2-1 defeat in Athens in June.
Even more than the subsequent losses to France and the Netherlands, that performance is one Ireland's assistant coach is intent on fixing.
"That one sticks out. We didn’t perform anywhere near where we know we can," said O'Shea.
"We were just disappointed with how we went about it. We felt we were in shape for the game. It’s something we want to put right and I’m fairly sure we will put it right on the night."
Ireland’s disastrous start to qualifying has cast doubts over Kenny’s future in the job but O'Shea insists the pressure is no more than usual ahead of the clash on Friday 13.
"I wouldn’t say it’s a different pressure than playing France or Holland. It’s going to be a tough game but one we feel we can win, like against anyone at home really.
"If you want to be qualifying for tournaments, you have to start winning some games.
"(Criticism) is natural in football but you have to have a bit of realisation too of what opposition we’re facing and what we have to go to war with.
"If you weigh all those things up, then you’d have, you’d hope, a bit of common sense but we’ll see.
"What’s next is Greece at home. Win that, we have Gibraltar away, and let’s see where we are then."
The long-shot possibility of a play-off via the Nations League standings requires other group results to go Ireland’s way. Those permutations won't distract O’Shea’s focus from improving their own results.
"The stats men are (keeping an eye on that) but the big thing is we know we need some wins on the board."
Since being hired last February, O’Shea has been working closely with Ireland’s centre-backs. It's an area growing in strength and depth.
The newest option is Jake O’Brien, who made his Ligue 1 debut for Lyon last weekend.
The 22-year-old Corkman was initially signed by O’Shea’s former Manchester United teammate Laurent Blanc.
"I sent Jake a message and I said, 'Don’t worry, Larry White will look after you!’ What a man to be learning from."
Blanc was sacked last month but O’Brien has continued to make progress under another World Cup-winning defender, Fabio Grosso.
"They had a poor start to the league but what an experience for Jake. People, myself included, thought that he was going to go on loan but fair play to him. He just gets his head down and works hard."
Festy Ebosele is another getting first-team football at Udinese and will expect to feature when Kenny's squad is announced on Thursday.
"He’s playing at an incredible level. You see him playing against Napoli, Fiorentina, and the big thing is he is getting 90 minutes under his belt.
"He seemed to always get a half or 60 minutes but they have a trust in him now and that’s brilliant to see.
"Federico Balzaretti is the sporting director there. I was on the UEFA course with him and I got chatting to him. They really like Festy."
O’Shea had his own European adventure on loan at Royal Antwerp as a teenager. He believes that change of scenery can stand to Ireland’s young guns.
"They've got to force their way in at their clubs. If they can do that, it'll just be a huge benefit to us.
"It just makes that difference for decision-making, those little details in games that are going to get you over the line to win a game.
"If lads are doing that week in, week out at a higher level, I think it'll just get us over the line in a real close game."
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