Jason Knight has backed Stephen Kenny to turn things around after the Luxembourg horror show.
The young Derby midfielder earned his fourth cap in Saturday night's shock home World Cup qualifying defeat and, against a backdrop of widespread criticism of the manager, Knight has given the Dubliner his full support, having see Ireland progress at under-21 level under his guidance.
"I've been with Stephen since he brought me into the under-21s camp and I've seen the way he's worked for quite a bit now," said the 20-year-old.
“We got some really good results with the 21s and unfortunately just missed out on qualification for the 21s European Championships. I've seen him for quite a long time now, so definitely still behind him.
“After the game and taking into account the result, it was a really disappointing time for Irish football.
"But we've got another game coming thick and fast and we can put things right against Qatar tomorrow night.
"We can all see as players that he's trying to implement an attractive style of play for the senior international team and that's going to take time, like anything does.
"But we're really behind the manager at the moment and it's looking good so far - obviously not the results, but we can see we're going in the right place.
“Definitely it's a results-driven business that we're in and that's ultimately what matters.
"But you want to put good performances in ultimately as well and we're trying to blend it - but get the right results, ultimately."
Kenny is still looking for his first win since taking over almost a year ago and after 10 internationals, and will be hoping that comes tomorrow night against Qatar in Hungry tomorrow night.
Asked if he felt that Kenny had the quality of player required to play the game he wants to play, Knight responded: “We've got some really, really talented players in the squad, so I don't think that's true at all.
"I think we can play a really good footballing system and we're just trying to bed it in.
"Definitely, that was the frustration, we could have done so much better with the performance and the result but thankfully there's another game coming thick and fast and we can go and put that right against Qatar.
"I think it's an opportunity for us (tomorrow) as a squad to go and win a game, that's what we're trying to do.
"Us players need to go out on the pitch and perform and get a really big result."
As for skipper Seamus Coleman's strong reaction post-Luxembourg that players weren't vocal enough during the game, Knight insisted that was a criticism that the players must address among themselves.
"I think that's something we can do as players more so than the manager," he remarked.
"It's down to us to want the ball and move the ball quickly and show for each other.
"That's something we've got to fix internally as players."
Knight, who didn't play against Serbia but started against Luxembourg, spoke of the frustration of Saturday night but added that with the quick turnaround and trip to Hungary, there had only been time for a small debrief.
"We've got to analyse it a bit more and then we'll move straight onto Qatar," he said.
"It's obviously not a great result and there's not a great mood from that, but there's a real energy to put things right and you can sense that around the group."
"I think there's always specifics and individuals we can improve on. As a team it's to try and go out and do our best for the team and then collectively put a really good performance in."
Knight is among a group of young players who are not long out of the under-21s but he insists that's not an excuse.
"I guess you can say that but us young lads coming through need to step up now, this is the international stage and you're here for a reason so it's down to us to ultimately perform and perform when we are asked to."
