And with it, a thousand little parts of a roomful of football writers died.

It's not that we media types didn't expect to be blamed for the low ebb at which the national side finds itself at some stage, it's just that we thought maybe we'd be given a little more time. Where's the love, Stan? Does the term 'honeymoon period' mean nothing anymore? Is there no leeway, no wiggle room? It's only been four games, after all, and this is a team in transition.

Oh, go on then. It's okay.

This is the dance we dance. In the life of any Ireland manager, it will occasionally balm a sore to take a swipe at the press and if it makes him feel better in himself to do so, then hey, whatever. But just so we're clear, no 4-0 defeat was ever made worse by what the newspapers, television or radio had to say about it and the idea that public expectation hinges more on a banner headline than the team's inability to execute the offside trap is as silly as it is disingenuous.

In fact, there's probably even an irony to be found in the fact that the most savage attack after the Holland game . . . The Star's 'Staunton Must Go' headline . . . served to, if anything, strengthen the manager's position. He was never going to depart after just three games and certainly not at a newspaper's urging.

All the same, the expectation question Staunton swerved is worth exploring.

If the rumblings of discontent which followed what was an undeniably improved performance in Stuttgart are an indication, there is . . . and not for the first time . . . a real danger of folk getting carried away with notions of Ireland's place in the general scheme of things.

By pretty much any standard, last Saturday was a creditable result for Staunton.

Consider a putative tale of the tape. Germany came third in a high-class World Cup; Ireland didn't make the play-offs in qualification. Germany's 20 defeat to Italy in that glorious semi-final extra-time was their first at home since England beat them 5-1 in 2001; Ireland have only beaten Cyprus, Georgia and the Faroe Islands on their respective own patches in that time.

Eight of the 13 players Germany fielded last Saturday will be playing in Champions League in the coming week; Ireland will see three out of their 14 in action.

In that context, to expect anything better than a narrow defeat was surely to cross the line between optimistic and unrealistic. To then excoriate them for coming home beaten seems needless and unfair.

A wholesale resetting of the dials is required when we talk about this Irish team. It's a team, after all, in which its best player is its goalkeeper . . .

an indictment in itself. A team in which its two most celebrated attacking threats are frequently marginalised because a well-drilled opposition can simply keep the ball away from them for long periods, causing them to more often than not move into less threatening areas of the pitch just to gain possession. A team with no definite idea who either of its central midfielders will be from game to game. A team, indeed, which started last Saturday's game with two mismatched players in that sector, neither of whom was in his natural position. And a team, above all, with a manager not just new to the post but to the career.

The debate over whether or not Staunton is the right man for the job is wholly irrelevant just now. While it's true that he's neither the most eloquent defender of his actions nor the most whizz-bang retainer of facts, it's also true that there's no prospect of him either jumping or being pushed before the end of this campaign, however clouded the picture becomes. Calling for his head at this point is like agitating for a taoiseach's removal shortly after his first cabinet is announced.

And anyway, his stock must rise at least a little after last Saturday. The listlessness that so weighed down the performances against Chile and Holland was replaced by purpose and energy across the pitch in Stuttgart. Germany built their World Cup campaign on early goals but Staunton's side took the play to them from the off last week and led the corner count 4-1 after 20 minutes.

You had to go back almost two full years to alight upon the last time an Irish side played with the sort of resolution and doggedness they showed in that first half, back to the scoreless draw in Paris in October 2004.

These may sound like laughably small mercies for which to be offering up thanks but to anyone who remembers the apathy of the performances against Cyprus and France at the end of the last campaign, they represent a start at least.

And just as being in the job means Staunton must take the heat for the Holland game, it also means deserving the credit for an improved display like last Saturday's.

So, for one match at least, we can take heart in the size of the fight in the dog again.

Staunton's next task will be less straightforward, involving as it does the introduction of gameplans and tactics and all those things they teach you on coaching courses. For all the renewed vigour last week, there was precious little sign of anything that would scare the horses of a retreating opposition defence.

For all Kevin Doyle's willingness to run and chase, he and Robbie Keane looked at times like the result of a malfunctioning dating agency computer programme, a problem laid bare by the fact that Ireland's best chance was Richard Dunne's last-minute header from a corner. But the blank scoresheet was just the most obvious symptom of the illness at the heart of the midfield. Kevin Kilbane and John O'Shea offer minimal attacking threat in there beyond the odd gallop forward by the former and in truth, their major contribution can only be containment. Until and unless a central midfielder with a vision and a pass is found and inserted, Ireland won't get Keane or Doyle or Damien Duff into the game enough.

Staunton must have every finger and toe crossed that Stephen Ireland raises his hand sometime soon.

But, again, this is what we're left with. Hoping against hope that a 20-year-old kid who's never played a competitive international turns out to be a contender because we know that those more experienced than him in the squad never will be. It should be enough to keep a lid on expectations, regardless of what anyone writes.

mclerkin@tribune. ie