Paul Corry found Heimir Hallgrimsson's tactical approach for the World Cup qualifier against Armenia far too conservative, and he doesn't hold out much hope of the Republic of Ireland making the play-offs.
Ireland need at least four points from their final two games against Portugal and Hungary after a scrappy 1-0 win over 10 men in Dublin last night but the RTÉ soccer analyst saw few signs that will be possible after a sobering international window.
"There's not a huge amount of positives outside of the fact that we picked up three points," he told 2fm's Game On.
"A strange setup, a strange performance, and a strange feeling around the ground in general. I don’t think people had much expectation but probably expected a better performance that what we got.
"The sending-off changed the game and we created a couple of chances in that period of time. But it’s hard to know where we’re at with this side and this manager.
"We were full of hope heading into this group campaign and that was based on the performances that we had against Bulgaria [in the Nations League play-off].
"I know that's nothing to get too excited about but I even thought that in the friendly against Senegal we showed signs of a setup and a formation that we somewhat knew what we were going to do in and out of possession of the ball.
"It's very hard [now] when you look at this group in particular to know what setup we have or what we are. We're not exactly a very difficult team to play against. We don't cause teams problems in wide areas, getting the ball into the box or threatening in behind with blistering pace.
"So it very hard to make sense of what Heimir’s building towards. Not a huge amount went right, outside of the heart, effort and grit that the team showed in Lisbon."
"When he picks five defenders and three centre halves, he is sending a message to that team"
Corry was bemused by the manager's decision to retain the 5-4-1 formation that almost secured a point in Lisbon, for the visit of a team ranked 103rd in the world, albeit one that beat Ireland 2-1 at home last month.
"It's much easier to set your team up when you're going up against a powerhouse like Portugal," he said. "We're going to have our two banks, our back five, and then our four midfielders, and we're going to defend the 18-yard box with everything that we have.
"We can force the ball wide and when crosses go into the 18-yard-box, you've got Jake O'Brien, Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea, who can then go and attack it. We didn't offer very much going forward. I don't think we had a shot on target that night.
"The expectations then have to shift when you move into the Armenia game that we're going to have a little bit more of the ball, impose ourselves, and eradicate the errors that we made in Yerevan. And that didn't happen.
"He did try to warn us in advance of this game that he would've taken a scrappy one-nil win. That was his message to say, I'm going to go with five at the back. We're going to keep it really tight. We're going to ensure that we keep a clean sheet and we're going to try nick one at the top end of the pitch, whether it be through a moment of magic or a set piece.
"And it astonished me, because looking at the game in the first half, the real problem that you have when you play five at the back against Armenia is their one centre-forward was occupying our three centre-backs.
"What that means is when we're in possession of the ball, you are affording Armenia two extra men. So it's very hard to initiate a press. It's very hard for Jayson Molumby or Will Smallbone to get tight to an Armenian player because they always have that out ball. As the half wore on, Armenia pushed us back and they had the freedom of Lansdowne Road last night.
"Really, what should happen in that situation is one of our centre halves should push on into midfield and engage. Push Smallbone or Ebosole further up, or Finn Azaz close to Evan Ferguson and try to turn possession over. We didn't do that and it was very frustrating because anytime we did initiate any sort of a press, Armenia showed that they weren't capable of really playing out from the back. They are a very ordinary side.
"There's a fragility, I think with Nathan Collins and Dara O'Shea. They feel as if they haven't got the legs if it becomes a foot race, that they can't squeeze the game up too high because one ball in behind can make them look very ordinary. And that's a real problem because we end up dropping deeper and deeper.
"So the performance last night, you can criticise individual players, but a lot of that comes from the setup from the manager. And when he picks five defenders and three centre halves, he is sending a message to that team that we want to try to contain, and make sure that we don't concede or cause any errors like they did in Yerevan."
Corry was particularly disappointed with Ireland's failure to score more than one goal after Tigran Barseghyan was dismissed for a headbutt on Azaz with over 40 minutes remaining.
"Another team would have taken them to the cleaners when they went down to 10 men," he said. "We should have scored more goals last night. And that sort of mentality of protecting what we have against 10 men, Armenia, worries me and what worried me on top of that is how long it took Heimir to change it.
"When they went down to 10 minutes, he took 10 minutes to make a change. We did not need three centre-halves on the pitch at that moment in time. It was calling out for a Chiedozie Ogbene, Mikey Johnston or Troy Parrot to come on and try to open it up.
"We were one-nil up and for the last 10, 15 minutes, we should have been thinking goal difference is going to be important in this group. We should have been going at Armenia for a second and a third and trying to bridge that gap between ourselves and Hungary. We sat back against the 10-men Armenia team.
"Their keeper pulled off a couple of unbelievable saves in the second half to stop us extending our lead. And In fairness, we got the goal. Evan Ferguson has put numbers on the board in this qualifying campaign with very little service.
"But there's no hope, I don't think, that we're going to be able to clock up the points in the last two games. There's no signs of it within this group. I think Hungary will beat Armenia and that'll be us."
