Heimir Hallgrimsson has had just over three weeks to process the humiliating loss to Armenia, and the Ireland manager finally offered a detailed post mortem of proceedings, which put the national team's World Cup campaign in real jeopardy.
Impossible to articulate what happened in the direct aftermath of such a devastating defeat and unexpected performance, however, now the manager has had time to reflect on the 2-1 defeat in Yerevan, and he attempted to explain what he thought went wrong.
Hallgrimsson was happy to take responsibility for the result but did not go so far as to take the blame for the sub-par performance, as he felt that "nothing clicked".
In fact, the manager was unable to point the blame at anything in particular, neither the weather, the traipse across the continent, nor the substandard playing surface, which had also hosted a game three days’ previous.
Such was the condition of the home side’s pitch, neither team were allowed to train on it, as is tradition, on the eve of the game.
Hallgrimsson, no doubt, expected the Spanish Inquisition upon arriving into Dublin to announce the squad for next week’s double-header against Portugal and Armenia, and he did not shy away from any question posed throughout an extended media briefing.
"If we talk only Armenia, we wanted to be compact," said Hallgrimsson, when asked why his well-documented principles failed in Yerevan. "They, on occasion, split us up open maybe three times. Three times in the game, one pass and split ourselves open.
"That came more or less from us in possession, losing possession. We never could string together four or five passes. We never got into our attacking positions.
"When we lost it, we were open and that's where they did hurt us, so it's not like the defensive organisation.
"Second half of that game, we wanted to go higher, 1v1. We thought we had superior players than them. So going 1v1 would make an advantage to us. And to be honest, we made them lose possession really quickly in the second half.
"But we lost it at the same speed, so we always were struggling in possession in that game. And that's why we looked vulnerable when we lost it."
And when asked about how much blame could be attributed to the manager and coaches, Hallgrimsson admitted that he was still struggling to really work out how things went so drastically wrong.
"In Armenia, the reason why we didn't perform is hard to point out, one single thing. Because we thought before this game we had a really good preparation.
"First of all, tactical. We ended the game in Hungary really well. Happy with that, continue with that. And then it kind of didn't work out.
"We tried to change. If it was fatigue, we thought, OK, maybe it's fatigue. If it was a tricky trip, a difficult game against Hungary, tricky trip, it wasn't the pitch.
"We thought, OK, if it's fatigue, let's do changes. We've never done so many changes so early. So I think it was two half times to a 60th minute.
"But it didn't seem to change anything. Normally, when we've done the changes, it has impacted in a positive way. Nothing clicked in this game.
"It's unusual for a coach. It's normal to have one or two or three players not playing their best. But I don't think anybody can say, 'I had a good game against Armenia’.
"So overall, was it the coach? We don't see what we did wrong.
"It looked like we were struggling with the pitch. And I don't want to pick excuses, but I'm just trying to explain it's tough for us because we thought our preparation was good.
"I wouldn't point at me and say, this was my fault. But obviously, I'm picking the players. I'm picking the tactic. So I take responsibility on that performance.
"When you watched it again, it felt like they were lacking the edge. They were lacking winning duels, sprints, etc. You tend to think fatigue, what makes you tired? Is it the heat? Is it the pitch? Is it the flight? Is it the preparation? Is it the last game? There can be a lot of things."
Whatever the reason, the manager has named a similar squad for the October window with 14 of the 16 who were involved in Yerevan remaining – Jason Knight is out injured, while Killian Phillips, who played the last 20 minutes, has been left out.
And Hallgrimsson is expecting the side to want to atone for the defeat, while adding that he still has the belief in this group of players to qualify for the World Cup.
The manager also emphasised the importance of putting in a performance in Lisbon to attempt to restore a modicum of confidence to bring into the must-win Armenia game at Aviva Stadium.
"It was a one-off, hopefully, a one-off in Armenia," he said. "So should we then just change course and do something totally different and pick other players? I think that would be a wrong thing to do, definitely.
"Secondly, I think the players will relish and will be looking for this camp to answer for Armenia. And I would like to give them the chance to answer for Armenia. That is one of the reasons why we believe in this group of players.
"I think, for one, that they have the quality to qualify for the US in the next summer. But what I think and what I say is not the most important, is what they believe, what they believe is the most important. And they hopefully will show you in this camp that they deserve to be here and play for this nation."
Whatever the result against Portugal, Hallgrimsson is happy to admit that three points are the absolute minimum in the return game against Armenia, and while he said that he did not consider walking away from his position after last month’s defeat, he challenged the media to ask him again should things continue to go downhill.
"I've been honest from the beginning. I think we should qualify for the World Cup. I've said that. I've not gone hiding in that one," said Hallgrimsson.
"I still think we have a good chance of qualifying. Three points, we need to do that. If not, then yeah, I would consider that's a big loss.
"Before last camp, we said we were going to do contract talks after the camp. After the last game, I talked to David [Courell] and the president and said, let's postpone that until after the tournament.
"Let's just move that away, because I don't want to be where I'm not wanted.
"After this, if it's an unwinnable, what's the situation? I know that will come anyway.
"But I think now we still have a chance. And even with three points, we can still qualify for the World Cup. So let's not start to cry now, absolutely not.
"We need persons and players and staff to believe in what we are doing. That's the most important thing now. And look at this game as a challenge and an opportunity against Portugal to restore dignity, pride, confidence in the team."
Watch the Sports Direct FAI Cup semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Cork City v St Patrick's Athletic on Friday from 7pm and Shamrock Rovers v Kerry on Sunday from 5.30pm. Both matches also on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport.
