Seamus Coleman insists Ireland are back on track under Mick McCarthy.
The Boys in Green endured a turgid 2018 that yielded just one win in nine games for Martin O’Neill.
Confidence was rock bottom and there was trouble in the camp following Roy Keane’s bust-ups with Harry Arter and Jon Walters.
And the ‘annus horribilis’ concluded with Keane and manager Martin O’Neill losing their jobs and McCarthy returning for a second spell.
This year, Ireland are unbeaten in their four Euro qualifiers, winning three of them and sitting top of Group D.
Hoping to add to that against Switzerland tonight, skipper Coleman said: “If you’re crap on a Saturday and play well the following Saturday you forget what’s goes on.
“And that’s the way it is. There are no lads back at the team hotel thinking about last year.
“At the time, maybe a few lads were more conscious of having to win a few more games as we didn’t win many in the year.
“But they got on with it and there are periods in your career where you go through good spells and bad spells and that was a bad spell for us.
“But we’ve started this campaign very well and there have been no thoughts of that year.”
Coleman continued: “What you see with the manager is what you get. We all know where we stand.
“I’m answering that question not talking about other campaigns, you’ve asked me about Mick and he’s a good man, an honest man, tells you how it is.
“He won’t hold grudges. If you’re crap on a Saturday he will tell you, but on a Sunday it’s about preparing for the next game.
“All the lads coming in are looking forward to it and enjoying being around the place and playing for the country and wanting to go out there and get big results.
“A point away to Denmark was good and now we go into this game wanting all three points. It would be a great head start, but we know it's a tough group.”
Coleman is feeding off the big game vibes ahead of tonight’s clash with Switzerland, the top seeds in the group.
And the Everton ace won’t pretend otherwise that Xherdan Shaqiri’s absence is a boost for Ireland.
The Liverpool playmaker rocked the Swiss camp by claiming he wants to focus on his club career having been a peripheral figure for the European champions this season.
Coleman said: “Look, he’s a dangerous player. He’s one of them who can turn it on and score a goal before you know it.
“Obviously it’s a boost for us that he’s not playing but a team of quality will have people to come in and replace him.”
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