Keith Treacy feels the Republic of Ireland have yet to "nail down" a consistent identity under Heimir Hallgrimsson, and can look to teams like Scotland and Wales as examples of maximising the collective.
The former Boys in Green winger and ex-Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Richie Towell joined the RTÉ Soccer Podcast in the wake of Saturday's 1-0 loss in Portugal when Ruben Neves' late header broke Irish hearts in the third World Cup qualfiier of this campaign.
A defeat though it may have been, the spirited display from Heimir Hallgrimsson's side has raised confidence levels a touch ahead of Tuesday's home game against an Armenia side that turned Ireland over in Yerevan just a month ago.
Treacy reiterated his stance that the Armenia match is the one that has had him more worried than the daunting Portugal task with Ireland seemingly building up a reputation for raising their game against the elite - although without tangible rewards - but occasionally floundering against the so-called lesser lights whilst attempting to be more expansive going forward.
In contrast, other teams of equivalent stature have tended to fare better in those scenarios. Northern Ireland have had a decent campaign, Wales are competitive and while Scotland did not impress against either Greece or Belarus over the last few days, Steve Clarke's side still gained maximum points to remain well in the hunt for automatic qualification.
"I think it's a more simplistic game plan. When I look at the Scottish, the 5-3-2 really suits them and I know people will say they've got (Scott) McTominay), (Billy) Gilmour, (Ryan) Christie and certain players of a level that we don't quite have but you would very rarely highlight the individuals," Treacy said.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
"I look at Wales the same, they're quite dogged in what they do and again, people will say they've got Harry Wilson and one or two others that have that little bit of talent.
"But it's more the collective and they get the most out of what they have as a team and I think that's what we're lacking.
"Scotland sort of lean into what they are and the Welsh lean into what they are, whereas we know what we are but we think, 'we need to do it this way'.
"Managers and these modern coaches come in and think, 'I'm going to play this way, X, Y or Z and that's the be all and end all of it'. But really it's going to be dictated by what's in the dressing room.
"You can go and bang your head off the wall all you want and say, 'I'm a 4-3-3 merchant or this is what I'm going to do moving forward', but if you don't have the tools at your disposal, you're not going to get it right."
On the need for Ireland to find a consistent identity, he added: "If we can eradicate silly mistakes, we can be a harder team to beat and then that will give us a chance to do things in games.
"But at the minute we're not really an attacking team, we're not a possession-based team, we're not a dogged defensive team - the Portuguese performance aside - we're a little bit of everything but we haven't nailed down what we are yet and I think that's probably one criticism you could throw at Heimir is (we're) not sure what style of play, what team (we are) because it's been so chop-changey."
AS Roma striker Evan Ferguson is viewed as the player with the most potential to be the talismanic force for Ireland but unsurprisingly found the going tough in an isolated role in Lisbon.
And Treacy feels it's a scenario that the 20-year-old will have to embrace if Ireland do show a willingness to be more gritty against all levels of opposition, especially due to the lack of guile from midfield to supply him.
"These are the types of games that Evan is going to get more and more regularly in an Irish game where he's feeding off scraps, the ball is up around his jugular and it's mostly fighting balls," he said.
"When he goes (back) to Roma, they'll dominate the majority of games, it will be a little bit easier but in an Ireland jersey, for the forseeable future, I don't see us being a possession-based team.
"We don't have technically gifted players so we're not going to be a possession-based side."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Armenia in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday 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 an extended Game On programme on RTÉ 2fm.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
