"It feels like the jersey is too heavy for some players," said Heimir Hallgrimsson, following Ireland's 2-0 home defeat to Greece 12 months ago.
The manager was barely in the hot seat, and more or less handed the reins of that first international window to John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy, as he sat back and pondered the task at hand.
It was the second 2-0 defeat in a matter of days at Aviva Stadium as England had done a job on the team in the opening game of that Nations League campaign.
A lot has happened in the intervening 12 months, and aside from another comprehensive and all-too-facile defeat to England at Wembley Stadium, most of the rest has been fairly positive.
There was just one other defeat throughout the eight games since the opening international window, and that came away in Athens against a formidable Greece side, which Ireland matched for large parts, with a sloppy late goal ending hopes of grabbing an equaliser.
Ireland won the other four competitive fixtures, which saw the Hallgrimsson era kick-start in Helsinki with a late Robbie Brady goal completing a fine come-from-behind win, while there was a home win in the return game against the Nordic side, before back-to-back wins against Bulgaria in the play-off – incidentally both of those games also saw Ireland fall behind but bounce back to win.
Two summer friendly matches aside, Ireland have been champing at the bit for the World Cup campaign to begin, and finally it all gets going tonight as Hallgrimsson’s side kick-off the six-match "sprint" with a home game against Hungary, before travelling to Armenia on Tuesday.
Dominik Szoboszlai is the one name that keeps coming up in the conversation regarding this opening encounter between Ireland and Hungary.
Perhaps the only world class outfield player that will be on show at Lansdowne Road tonight, and a player who may prove the difference between two evenly matched sides.
Mid-ranking European sides tend to thrive when in possession of one of these world class players, whether Gareth Bale at Wales, or Christian Eriksen at Denmark.
Ireland have had their fair share over the years from your Liam Bradys and Johnny Giles to your Roy Keanes and Paul McGraths, and while there is potential coming through this current squad, they are not ready to individually inspire the team through the qualification process.
As a result, Hallgrimsson opts for the power of the collective, which he believes hands Ireland their best chance to succeed.
The Icelander has been hammering home the same simple message to the players over successive international training camps, so that no one is unclear as to what is expected from them.
"Once you know what is expected, you become a better leader," said Hallgrimsson at the pre-match press conference, and it is apparent that these players know exactly what is being asked of them.
Hallgrimsson’s philosophy for the Ireland team is based around a set of principles, which he feels can prove the difference in games between similar sides, and the manager wants the players to be the best at these areas in the performance to really lift their qualification hopes.
In a recent press briefing, the manager went through six of his main principles to offer insight ahead of the qualification campaign.
"We like to be the best organised team, defensively, attacking as well," said Hallgrimsson. "Just structure and organisation, that is something that we can do no matter who the opponent is.
"We like to be the best set-play team as possible, and the best in Europe, hopefully. Slowly by slowly, because that is the key," he added, citing a recent Liverpool game where the English champions' coach said that they didn’t play football, but played set-pieces, from free-kicks, from throw-ins.
"Being good in this area can win you the game if it's tight," said Hallgrimsson.
"We have the best focus in a disciplined team," was another of the manager’s principles, thinking about the bigger picture, not giving away silly free-kicks in dangerous areas, or picking up needless cautions, which could lead to suspensions.
"We like to be the hardest-working team, winning our duels, winning our one-v-ones. In attack, we like to be forward-thinking, fast-attacking, if that's possible. So once we win it, we like to think forward quickly and surprise the opponents.
"And then we like to fill the team with leaders, good characters, that will grow this team, " said Hallgrimsson
"And I think all of these areas kind of represent the Irish nation. I think the Irish are pretty well-organised, they are hard-working, honest people with good character. And we like to represent that."
"We're getting there," was the manager’s appraisal, 12 months into the job, while adding that further principles will be worked on in time, like improving when in possession, becoming the best organisers, the best interpreters, but admitted that those aspirations remained a work in progress.
"Any team is a representation of the manager," said coach Paddy McCarthy, during the week. "And I think you will have seen that in the last number of games."
Tonight’s team will be no different, as Hallgrimsson attempts to pick 11 players that best represent that philosophy, and captain Nathan Collins appears the best example as manager and captain have built up a very strong, trusting relationship.
Collins will marshal the defence in front of another favourite, goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, while Jake O’Brien should be named alongside the captain in the middle, with Matt Doherty at right-back.
With Robbie Brady out injured, Hallgrimsson has a bit of a dilemma at left back and should opt for either Dara O’Shea or Liam Scales to sit in.
Two sixes is the talk from the manager and coaching staff, which means that Josh Cullen should get ample assistance in that engine room when out of possession and Jason Knight is most likely to get the nod, unless Bosun Lawal has been the player impressing at training and gets an unlikely start.
Two from the quartet of Chiedozie Ogbene, Kasey McAteer, Sammie Szmodics and Ryan Manning should be handed attacking roles on the right and left flank respectively, while Evan Ferguson looks set to lead the line.
It leaves one place to fill in the number 10 role, or at least a role to link midfield and attack, and while Jack Taylor has impressed when handed a chance, Finn Azaz should certainly be given that role.
The recently signed Southampton man is key to this new-look Ireland team, and he is growing in confidence with every game in the green.
There is no doubt, that whatever 11 takes the field, it will be the most in-form Ireland team to play in recent memory, and coupled with the fact that a very strong bench is ready to complement the effort augurs well for the opening game.
That man Szoboszlai still has to be stopped, however, and it is clear that he has been occupying the mind of the manager who is fearful that Ireland will come undone, once more, from a shot from distance – a veritable Achilles heel of recent campaigns.
So how do Ireland stop the Liverpool midfielder? Coach Paddy McCarthy offered an insight into how to lessen the opportunities to shoot from distance in dangerous areas of the pitch.
"The key area of the pitch, the most dangerous area of the pitch will be in front of our back four," said McCarthy.
"We have fallen victim to that in certain games before, so we have done a lot of work on it, the roles and responsibilities of the two number sixes, very important.
"We want to get pressure on the ball in wide areas but then, we cannot have both of them out of the frame, so there is going to be a real onus on both of the number sixes on Saturday evening to be in that position to make sure nobody gets a free hit, nobody drifts into that area.
"When it does eventually end up in there, we have someone to press the ball in that area. Absolutely, there is structure about it, principles driven every day and roles and responsibilities assigned to certain players and a focus on the opposition.
"We have a belief on what we do, absolutely. Have we grown? We have fallen victim to conceding goals in that area in the past, and we will learn from that, and we will grow from that."
Hallgrimsson said that the players look taller in training this week, but whether they have grown sufficiently by kick-off tonight remains to be seen.
Watch Republic of Ireland v Hungary in World Cup qualifying on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
