Stephen Kenny won't be adopting a horses for courses approach in Slovakia as he claims he couldn’t look himself in the mirror afterwards.
Last night, the Ireland boss gathered the majority of his squad at the team hotel and urged them to be 'the best versions of themselves' in Bratislava.
A Euro 2020 playoff semi-final that should have been played in March and then June is finally upon us with Kenny in charge rather than Mick McCarthy.
It will only be his third game and some sceptics were concerned by the flat performances against Bulgaria and Finland last month.
But Kenny remains adamant that with more club games in their legs, his players will be more in tune than the pre-season fare in September.
And he has no intention of adopting a more pragmatic tactical approach in order to nail down a playoff final appearance against Northern Ireland or Bosnia next month.
Kenny said: “We have a lot of good players and we must not underestimate ourselves, that’s very important.
“Our mindset will be to approach the game in a positive way. We know the prize. We're only at a semi-final so you have to put it in context.
“But it's one of the great prizes that you could ever have, to have the European Championships in Dublin.
“That’s an incredible motivating force for the players and they understand that.
“Life is short and as a coach, after your team plays, you have to look in the mirror and know that you didn't compromise what you felt was right and that’s important.
“That can be extended as well because you want to give the best version of yourself as a player.
“You don’t want to be inhibited when you know the possibilities that exist, for the families of the players, the nation as a whole, to have the Euros in Ireland.
“When you know all the possibilities that exist and the impact that could have, you don’t want to sort of leave anything behind.
“You don’t want to be inhibited and not give everything of yourself. I don’t mean that just in terms of effort because the players always give 100 percent.
“I just mean in terms of really showing what they can do and it’s my job to create an environment and way of playing that helps them to do that.”
Unlike last month’s Nations League games, UEFA have ruled that teams in the Euro playoffs can make - at least - five substitutions in Slovakia rather than three.
And that’s music to Kenny’s ears because, with extra-time and penalties possible on the night, players are still building their fitness in these early stages of the season.
“We actually have six substitutes as we can use a sixth in extra-time,” explained Kenny.
“We only had three against Bulgaria and Finland and I could have done with making changes to the midfield as we ran out of steam.
“We were a little experimental in the Finland game as well so we learned some valuable lessons.
“But looking at teams since the lockdown, I thought the five subs was nearly a hindrance to some teams, the unnecessary use of them.
“But in extra-time it could become a major thing because there’s no doubt players are flagging and it comes a big factor in extra-time, for sure.”
While Seamus Coleman is out and Harry Arter is a doubt, Kenny’s is eager to see how Robbie Brady and Callum O’Dowda train after their recent injuries.
O’Dowda started both of last month's internationals but injured his groin against Finland last month and hasn’t played since, but was on the bench for Bristol City at the weekend.
Brady fractured ribs but was also an unused sub on Saturday, in Burnley’s defeat to Newcastle.
Kenny said: “O'Dowda is a very fit lad. He’s had a full week's training at full tilt and he will train with us over the next few days.
“Robbie's in a different situation. We're trying to get Robbie fit, he did really well coming on against Bulgaria and I think he's a really good player.
“He just needs eight or nine games in a row and you will see the best of him and improvement in his play as he has a lot of quality.
“The fractured rib is something that caught us by surprise a bit, it's just one of those things and we’ll have to review him but I’m sure he’s champing at the bit.”
