Forget Tbilisi, bring on Serbia, urges Walters

As honest off the pitch as he is on it, Jon Walters isn’t looking to sugarcoat the bitter pill Ireland were forced to swallow in Tbilisi.

“Look, it’s tough, letting them have possession,” he says. “I’m playing right of midfield and ended up playing right-back most of the game. It was similar for James McClean. We didn’t lay a glove on them as such, but if we can keep possession a bit better we’ll be a lot better. But it’s easier saying it now than doing it on the pitch. For whatever reason we didn’t.”

Walters may have described the problem, without necessarily analysing its cause, but then, in the way of most footballers, he’s already thinking about the possibility of redemption in the next game.