Heimir Hallgrimsson appeared cautiously confident as he spoke to the media at the Hristo Botev Stadium on the eve of Ireland's Nations League play-off with Bulgaria.
Having come through six quick-fire games to kick off his tenure from September to November, Hallgrimsson has had four months to plot the next chapter of his Ireland journey with all roads leading to this year’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
Two games with Bulgaria to start the year, followed by a couple of June friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg, before the three-month campaign for a place at the 2026 tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Hallgrimsson will, of course, be taking as many positives from the first six games as possible to take into the year ahead, however, that final 45 minutes in London will surely have occupied a large space in his mind throughout the dormant winter months with no football fix available.
The manager was always going to attempt to exude confidence following such a humiliating result, shipping five goals in that Wembley second half, but the timing of the play-off against a lower-ranked side should allow him to back up that confidence with a positive performance on the pitch tomorrow night.
Despite the high-profile injuries and suspensions, Hallgrimsson appears quite content with his assembled unit boasting many numbers who are playing week-in, week-out at club level.
A perennial problem for Ireland managers, such is the competition for places at club level, especially those who are plying their trade in the Premier League, however, this time around Hallgrimsson has the options to name a match-fit eleven even if it leads to a tough choice or two.
Top of the list of important players lacking match time is emerging striker, Evan Ferguson.
Hallgrimsson has attempted to build his attacking unit around the young Brighton striker, who is currently on loan at West Ham, however, Ferguson’s move for regular football has yet to take hold and he has spent a lot of time watching from the sidelines.
Troy Parrott, in particular, as well as Adam Idah have been playing, and scoring, consistently and Hallgrimsson will surely look to reward either one or both with a start tomorrow night.
Hallgrimsson even dodged a question about building a relationship between Parrott and Ferguson, which also suggests that the young Meath man will again have a watching brief at kick-off tomorrow night.
"I believe he can start," said Hallgrimsson, when asked was Ferguson fit enough to start, before adding, "if he will, we will see".
"But I believe he can start. If he can do 90 minutes, we need to see that.
"Obviously like all coaches, not only national team coaches, you like to have your players playing day-in, day-out, so a little disappointed he hasn't played more minutes after changing clubs, but his time will come for sure."
"I've seen most of the games in Europe," said Hallgrimsson, when moving onto Parrott’s club form.
"What is good with Troy now, he's match fit, he's playing 80 plus minutes every game now, two games a week. It's been impressive. I think he's growing like the coach says. I think his confidence has grown as well. He's been impressive.
"Personnel is not the issue here," added Hallgrimsson, speaking about the potential of a Parrott-Ferguson strike force.
"It's can we play with two strikers, or a striker and a ten? That's just it. We can switch between within games. Who plays with whom, I think everybody in the squad can play with each other."
And speaking of the number 10 role, Hallgrimsson dropped a big hint that he could, once again, call on Finn Azaz to work between midfield and attack, aim to control the tempo, find space, and create chances.
"The strength of him is finding spaces, finding these gaps, creating chances, scoring goals, and he has been on fire of late for Middlesbrough," said Hallgrimsson.
"So he's in a good place at this moment, his job is creating up front, finding the killer pass for the goal, that’s his role in my mind, he's an impact player."
When it comes to impact players in the squad, Ireland are severely limited, however, the manager does place young Rocco Vata in that category.
Hallgrimsson said that he saw Vata as a potential matchwinner at last week’s squad announcement, and he re-emphasised the point at the pre-match press conference, although there was also a sense that he was thinking further down the line rather than during this week’s games.
"Basically, he has just done one training (session), and that was yesterday. That’s the only session we have prior to this first game," said the manager.
"The kid has something. Like I’ve said before, he can show up and do something that you look at and go, 'wow’. That’s this kid. He can be a match-winner for us in the future."
Hallgrimsson has an abundance of choices in defence with real strength in depth right across the back line, however, he does not appear to favour the idea of getting as many of them on the pitch as possible in order to threaten at set-pieces.
"You say it like a centre back is the goalscorer for us," responded Hallgrimsson to a question from the press.
"I think strikers are good at set-pieces as well. No? And we have centre-backs like Jimmy (Dunne) playing at right back for his club, big Jake (O’Brien) is playing at right back for Everton, we can have a centre-back playing in another position.
"We have height and really good aerial strength in our team. Whether we need to fill the team with centre backs, I don’t think so."
Watch Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live commentary on an extended 2fm's Game On.
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