Simply because, well, they're short. Kevin Doyle got another handy hour or so under his belt at a higher level and showed enough in his movement and that leap of his (we counted four flicks that led to good situations, maybe we don't need that target man after all) to suggest there's more to come. Aiden McGeady looked lively and hyperactive when he came on and with some more composure could form a nice double act with Damien Duff. He could be a Godsend hitting teams on the break away from home especially.

Richard Dunne continues to lead strongly at the back, his security guard-after-ateenage-shoplifter chase of Mark Gonzalez a real highlight. And that's that.

Perhaps the fact that it wasn't a competitive game might make it in there as well. Of course we'll qualify all this with the fact that it is effectively the end of season and we do tend to need to be at our sharpest physically to produce.

No, all in all it was a night the phrase "lessons learned" was put out there more convincingly than positives earned. Ireland passed poorly for what seemed like ages, didn't compete enough, and looked the opposite of sharp.

So what did we learn from the game and the week overall? Well we learned, with Bobby Robson's wonderfully honest help, that Steven Reid and John O'Shea are considered the long-term midfield duo though we saw from the game that there needs to be an extra bit of aggression from O'Shea if he's to impact on a game.

Jorge Acuna strutted around the central area far too easily and far too in control for comfort from an Irish perspective, same as the darty number 10, Luis Jimenez, flitted into positions between midfield and defence too often. Certainly there seemed to be more of a presence after the introduction of Graham Kavanagh, more of a fulcrum in that area, and more a possibility of someone having manners put on them with a tackle. O'Shea has the spot for now, but giving Michael Ballack as much room in September would be costly. We learnt (something Bobby pointed out as well) that Robbie Keane needs to be more the version of the last six months than the last qualifying campaign. Too often on Wednesday he was the frustrated Robbie we've seen in the past and it took away from Ireland's biggest threat down the centre. We'd expect him to be much brighter by the time Germany roll into view though. We learnt that Stephen Kelly is probably a good run of consistent games away from really challenging for a full-back spot, and that the side is indeed a touch bare in the centre-half backup department. That's individuals taken care of. Onto formation.

Niall Quinn at one stage in commentary made reference to the main lessons learnt from the game, some of which were prefectly valid.

Sure, Ireland need to start a game at a much higher tempo than they did against Chile, and then they need to maintain it. Yep, there's a time and a place for hitting a Kevin Doyle or a Jason Byrne with a diagonal ball. But does one disaster of a game really mean we must always set out our players in a 4-4-2 system? Surely guys who are working week-in week-out with the likes of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez know a thing or two about flexibility and are capable of adapting their games to suit.

Granted, the three at the back system didn't work out on Wednesday night, not by a long shot, but it wasn't a success for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the thinking behind the system (a formation not unlike one Staunton played in at Villa for a time by the way) was that Ireland would have much of the possession, and that rather than having a spare man in defence serving no huge purpose, that an extra man pushed on in attacking areas would be of more use. For it to work, Ireland needed to be controlling the tempo and the direction of the game. As it was, Ireland were on the back foot for much of the first half, their defenders and midfielders put under pressure on the ball, which meant that when they lost possession they were a man short on the break. Also, the two wide men, Steven Reid, before moving into the central role, and Kevin Kilbane, were caught a little between surging forward in support and covering the space behind them, which left them, Reid in particular, doing neither.

All of which led to the predictable trumpeting of a return to our beloved 4-4-2, the only system the Irish team are comfortable playing in apparently. We're not so sure it's necessarily so. Remember the glee that the fluid 4-21-3 style brought in the win over Sweden all of, oh, three months back. And of course it was a rigid adherance to a certain formation that was listed on Brian Kerr's book of mistakes not so very long ago. Don't believe all you hear about the devil you know.

Now it's more than possible that the Irish team that lines up at Lansdowne in August, and probably pretty much the same 11 in Stuttgart a couple of weeks later, will indeed assume the tried and trusted 4-4-2. But there are other factors at work. The lack of a natural right-sided player in midfield always makes it unbalanced looking.

Robson stated on Thursday that the Irish management see Duff 's best position as in behind the front two. And he added that the major task as he saw it was getting the team set-up to create a lot more chances than it's currently doing. It's a valid point. It was indeed a lack of creative power more than anything else that leaves us sitting on our couches this summer . . .

and it's finding a way of mixing and matching our attacking players to get the most from them that's at the heart of the tinkering.

Simply sticking Duff on the wing and giving him the ball has been shown to be too predictable and too easy to counteract (double teaming) so a bit of imagination is in order.

Some variation of 4-5-1 is very possible come away games in the group, switching to a more attacking 4-3-3 or that 4-2-1-3 when at home. Scoring one goal in four games against Germany and the Czech Republic simply won't be enough in the coming qualifiers, just like it wasn't enough last time against France and Switzerland. Expect lots of work to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Still, with a long month of football ahead, there'll be much to ponder and wonder and analyse for the Irish, not least just what shape suits best and how to get at our main rivals come the autumn.

Just like it should be.