We don't know what kind of football he's going to play or what kind of style he's going to adopt.

When Jack Charlton came in, we were in no doubt that there was going to be a lot of long-ball stuff. Before that, when Johnny Giles arrived, we knew that we'd be getting it down and passing it and moving it through midfield.

Even when Brian Kerr took over, you knew there'd be a cautious, conservative approach. But with Steve, we don't know anything really.

It'll be very interesting to find out.

His first job will be to make an impression on the players next week and I don't see that being much of a problem. I would think the players will be very welcoming to him anyway . . . he was a very popular member of the squad when he was playing in it and there are still plenty there who would have played alongside him. They'll all be keen for him to succeed and should be united in helping him do so.

After that, he has to start stamping his mark on the side with his knowledge of the game and his decisiveness.

He has to make it clear from the off what way he wants things done, how he wants to go about things himself and how he wants his players to go about them. He won't necessarily have set everything in stone by Wednesday night but he'll have to make his impression on the players within the space of his first two to three games. All this is so that by the time the Germany game comes around in September, the squad has belief in their manager. I think that's very important.

For that to happen, there have to be as few distractions as possible and it's for that reason that I hope we don't spend the week hearing about Bobby Robson. I think it's best that he stays out of the way, keeps a low profile and has a watching brief. I'd hate to see him in the thick of things because I think if he is, it will have a detrimental effect on everything. You can't have two voices, especially in a week where the most important of those . . . Steve's . . . is trying to establish a firm footing from the start. I still don't buy the idea that Steve wanted him on board and I remain to be convinced that he represents anything more than window-dressing from the FAI. I hope I'm proved wrong.

The result clearly isn't life or death against Sweden. A win certainly wouldn't go amiss . . . it'd be nice to get the confidence up by beating a team that's going to the World Cup and there's a lot to be said for starting an era as you mean to go on. But the reality is that the real test of management is how you respond to set backs. The next week is going to be about Steve dealing with what's ahead of him, whatever that might turn out to be. Win or lose, the players and staff have to come away from the week encouraged by what he's done and what he's said.

Although it's a new era, I think talk of a complete overhaul of the team is wide of the mark. We simply don't have the players to do that.

There's no doubt that there are areas of the pitch in which we're lacking but it's wishful thinking to assume that we can just magic up replacements out of thin air.

Kevin Doyle should certainly come in and be given a chance to partner Robbie Keane up front. He's made a massive impression on the Championship this season with Reading and I think he's probably got more go about him than Clinton Morrison.

He's young, he's hungry and he's clearly chomping at the bit to play for his country. Of the other newcomers, Stephen Ireland and Joey O'Brien have been very impressive in recent months and both look to have a bit of steel about them.

But beyond those, I see the other newcomers as squad players to begin with. I'd imagine he'll introduce three new caps at the most. It would be too much of a risk to throw them all in at once and hope they're all ready. I see there's talk of Stephen Carr coming out of retirement at some stage before the summer and I'd welcome that. A qualifying campaign takes over a year to complete and injuries will definitely play their part along the way.

When they do, you don't want to be sending a load of rookies out into the deep end. You need the experience to go with the youth. So I hope Carr comes back. I even hope they have a word with Kenny Cunningham just so they know that in an injury crisis, they can call him up.

What's arguably more important . . . and vastly more achievable . . . is to lift the spirit of the squad back up to the levels it routinely used to be at. People tend to dismiss that factor but in a country with such a small playing pool, it's what used to keep us up there with the bigger fish. If we don't have it, we have no chance.

Jack's squads had it, Mick's squads had it but I don't think there's any doubt that it became diluted under Brian.

It would seem that Brian was too fussy, a bit over-organised. It looked like he never really understood the mentality of international players coming back home to play for their country. We've got to make up for the lack of worldwhere they lacked commitment to the cause of the national team and it's a long, long time since you could have accused an Irish team of that.

Even if the players have to take a certain amount of responsibility for that, it's the manager who's the catalyst for it all. Brian didn't get to grips with that situation and I don't think bringing Roy Keane back helped in that regard at all. If Steve can get to grips with it . . . and I sincerely hope him and Roy haven't been texting each other about another comeback . . . then he'll have won half the battle.

It's that half of the battle that he's going to have to concentrate on for a while because I honestly don't see us qualifying for Euro 2008.

Germany and the Czech Republic are two well-organised sides and the only way I can see Ireland squeezing past one of them is if either has a bad World Cup this summer and we catch them on the hop. The size of the achievement it would be if Steve took Ireland to that tournament is hard to overstate.

That's for the future, though. For now, he just has to concentrate on getting off to a decent start.