Heimir Hallgrimsson is hoping that Cristiano Ronaldo does not hold too much sway with officials as Ireland host Portugal in a vital World Cup qualifier later this evening.
The two sides met in Lisbon last month and the referee's performance was criticised by the Ireland manager following the game, saying that he showed Portugal too much respect throughout the contest.
The return game takes place at Aviva Stadium and Hallgrimsson is hoping that the referee does not "play along" with the antics of the superstar footballer and is not affected by Ronaldo’s aura when it comes to making key decisions.
Hallgrimsson felt that Ronaldo controlled both the referee and the vociferous home support throughout that Lisbon encounter, where Portugal eventually broke through the solid Irish defensive wall to win it in injury time.
This time around, it will the vocal Irish home support looking for decisions, but Hallgrimsson is just hopeful that the referee is doing his job.
"It's obviously up to the referee if he takes part in a play," said Hallgrimsson, when asked about Ronaldo’s influence in the last meeting between the teams.
"But the thing in Portugal, he was not only controlling the referee, he was controlling the whole stadium, so all the fans supported his actions.
"The referee just kind of played along. I hope it will be the vice versa now that we are in Aviva.
"Obviously, a player shouldn't be refereeing. It should be the officials doing the refereeing."
Ireland come into the game facing a string of possible permutations as the battle for second place really heats up, and with Hungary and Armenia kicking off, and finishing, ahead of Ireland’s match, there will be plenty for the manager to reflect on ahead of the game.
As for the campaign so far, the Hallgrimsson admitted that the defeat in Yerevan to Armenia continues to haunt him going into the final two games.
And while he has been generally happy with the team’s performances outside of that aforementioned debacle, the manager did admit that he was looking for more consistency from the squad.
"We've talked about inconsistency before," said Hallgrimsson. "I think what surprised us was the first camp in September, it was special because everybody came in flying from their clubs, doing really well. And then we had this poor performance in Armenia that kind of haunts us today.
"But apart from that game, I'm pretty happy with how we've played. I think we're finding our identity better and better.
"Obviously, we've been affected a lot by players being absent, so we've needed to rotate a lot, especially in the starting XI.
"But it's been a little bit inconsistent in my opinion, both the starting XI and then performance. Good halves, worse halves. And then probably what we will talk about is the game in Armenia. That's probably the negative thing in all of this journey."
Speaking of inconsistency, when the form of creative outlet Finn Azaz was being discussed the manager said that the attacking midfielder had blown hot and cold throughout the campaign, but lauded the potential of the player who could be key against Portugal.
"He's a really good link-up player, creative, and he needs to know where his teammates are going, where they are running, how they are running, so it takes time for him when he changes clubs," said Hallgrimsson when asked whether his recent move to Southampton stalled his progress.
"For us, a little inconsistent, but once he's on it, there's not many players as good as he is."
Hallgrimsson also spoke about his options throughout the formation and implied that decisions are yet to be made on the overall look of his starting XI tonight with gaps to be filled as a result of injuries or suspensions.
"He's been more or less in our squad, so he knows what we want, how we want to play," said Hallgrimsson when asked about Jack Taylor’s chances of starting in midfield. "He's been playing at Ipswich for the last games. It's good to have a few games under his belt. He's been struggling with rhythm at his club. Now he's got some games.
"He knows exactly what we expect. We called in Conor Coventry last camp as well, so he was with us in these games. Again, a good, solid midfielder, playing all games for Charlton."
Evan Ferguson is ruled out of this match through injury and Hallgrimsson has to decide whether to opt for the power of Adam Idah or the clever running in behind of Troy Parrott.
Johnny Kenny has been drafted in, so there would be an assumption that the Celtic man can only hope for a cameo role at best in this one.
Either way, Hallgrimsson is happy to have a strong mix of strikers and will be willing to interchange them depending on what is needed from the game and the way things progress.
"Different kind of players," said Hallgrimsson, when asked whether Idah or Parrott. "Johnny Kenny is also a third option.
"It's good to have different kind of strikers. What the game needs, where the space is, do we need the physicality of Adam? Are we getting crosses? He's good there. Or do we need the runs in behind, which is the quality of both Troy and Johnny? It's just how the game will be played.
"We can soon see which striker is fitting best. Do we need to make a change? They have different qualities for sure. Hopefully they will be ready once called upon."
Perhaps the biggest decision that the manager has to make is in the left wingback position with Robbie Brady, Callum O’Dowda and Ryan Manning all missing the Portugal game.
Hallgrimsson still believes he has options, while he also admitted that recalling James McClean was also a consideration.
"There's quite a few," said Hallgrimsson. "Scalesy (Liam Scales) has played there. Seamus (Coleman) has played there, Kevin O'Toole, obviously, is brought in as a left-back.
"So it's a few options that we've been talking about, working on. We're going to keep on today (Wednesday) working on some of those things.
"He was in our thoughts," said Hallgrimsson when asked about McClean. "His playing time has been really limited. But it was in our mind. We talked about him, yes."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Portugal in World Cup qualifying on Thursday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
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