It's not so long since we were in Cyprus and on that occasion we struggled badly and were quite fortunate to come away with a win. The problem on that occasion was that we were reaching a critical stage of the campaign under Brian Kerr but even though we are only a game into this campaign, Staunton now finds himself in a similar, critical situation. That's because of the German game and also because of the embarrassing result and performance against Holland. We are going to Nicosia a little fragile and that's where Staunton will have to step up and get his team right. He must get them confident, get their mental strength up, get them believing and most importantly, make sure they don't buckle because of the situation they find themselves in. It's at times like this that a manager has to stand up and show himself to be a leader.

Staunton is still learning, but he has to learn quickly in this job. There were a few things that he did wrong against Germany in the way he handled himself.

While he shouldn't be fazed by the press, the last thing he wants to do is give them extra ammunition. Getting himself sent off did just that and suddenly at a critical stage of a big night for him and the team he found himself away from it all, not able to make the crucial calls and decisions. I remember when I got my first managerial job at Celtic, I found if very hard initially to detach myself from what was going on. But that cannot happen and you have to rid yourself of that attitude because it affects your ability to perform. You have to have a clear mind when it comes to making calls.

He also must conduct himself much better when it comes to press conferences. I said after the Germany game that he needs to realise he is speaking to the public, not just one reporter.

Everyone is listening in and judging him and giving one-word answers won't help him. Nor will getting angry when a question hits too close to the mark, like when he was asked about his reasoning behind the Duff substitution in Stuttgart. He said that every one of his players were magnificent that night which was a stupid thing to say. People aren't mugs and they aren't going to buy into that.

But it is for that reason I think he won't change a whole lot about his lineup. If it were possible I think he'd change nothing. It will be an anxious weekend for him, waiting to see who comes out available after all the games, more so for him because he doesn't have the same resources of a German or Czech manager. But if everyone did come out healthy, I wouldn't make too many changes myself. I would stick with the back four. I thought they didn't do too badly against Germany. Stephen Carr was a big plus and he looked like the Carr in the early days of his international career. Obviously having Steve Finnan at left-back isn't ideal but you can only work with what's available.

In midfield I would take out John O'Shea. He is more comfortable as a defensive midfielder but against Cyprus we need someone dictating things, controlling the tempo and making the space.

Liam Miller might fit the bill and if he did come in, he has to make sure plenty of ball gets to Damien Duff . . . if fit . . . and Robbie Keane. They are the players we rely on to open teams up and they need more ball if they are to do that.

It's an early stage and people can't be judging Steve until the group unravels.

He is new and he has to find his feet. The worry though, is that if points are dropped in Cyprus things could unravel very quickly.

That's the situation now, but looking forward to the future for a minute, it's my opinion we have to have a long-term plan to produce better players for the Irish team. I'd be only happy to speak to the people in the FAI if they wanted because we have to get a philosophy and a culture into Irish schoolboy football to produce better players technically. It's too late having them go to England at 15 and 16 if they are not technically proficient and the English clubs won't be concentrating on it because it has to be there already.

We've got to address that problem ourselves.