It was a good 10 minutes while it lasted. Ireland were following Giovanni Trapattoni's template to the letter. He himself was following the textbook for mid-tier international teams to the letter. And, in the process, they were eviscerating Russia. The three points that would have given Ireland definitive command of this group after Slovakia's defeat in Armenia looked very much on. In fact, it all made this international football business look easy.

But then, in theory, it should be. Sure, the enduring images are of untouchables like Diego Maradona sashaying through defences or Marco van Basten volleying home improbably – the sort of level you can only dream of reaching – but the reality is squads with big reputations frequently fall well short of them. Stars are often just placed into templates rather than actually taught to play as a team. As Roy Keane so typically put it in his autobiography, the highest-profile international outfits are too often "overrated and fragile".

As such, when they come up against a notionally inferior team that have a semblance of organisation – from defensive discipline to set-pieces or, in other words, the "little details" – the balance is often redressed. The reputations evaporate. Organisation beats ego. It's a theory that's found plenty of evidence in Otto Rehhagel's Greece, Richard Moller Nielsen's Denmark as well as, of course, Jack Charlton's Ireland.

And, on the other side of things, Russia for most of the last two decades. One semi-final and precious little else in recent years is simply not enough for a nation of that size or a league of that wealth. The side that arrived in Dublin for Friday's match had been a case in point. They came with a brimful of players in the Champions League but without the crucial savvy Guus Hiddink provided or any sort of momentum. They had even lost to Slovakia in Moscow. It was set up for the sort of night that only adds weight to Keane's thesis on international football. Trapattoni's strategy was sure to defeat Dick Advocaat's stars.

After all, when a mid-tier team like Ireland are properly following instructions in a functional framework as well as fighting for each other, it suddenly matters a lot less that their central midfielder plays in the Championship for Derby County or that their top scorer can't get a game for Tottenham. Well-drilled organisation can overcome an awful lot.

The problems arise when that organisation comes apart. Which is precisely what happened for Alexsandr Kerzhakov's opening goal on Friday night. For the 10 minutes up to that point, Russia looked the perfect example of fragile egos. Their defence panicked any time Ireland got within 30 yards of goal.

Until Ireland's did exactly the same. The players committed the one error Trapattoni absolutely abhors. They let the little details defeat them. They failed to perform one of the few tasks in football you can actually perfect on a training-ground – defending a set-piece.

And, from there, the game transformed. Ireland suddenly had to reconfigure a framework built up on caution. But that only caused it to collapse altogether. Russia meanwhile only gained confidence from that. It coursed through the gaps in their set-up that otherwise undo them. And suddenly the reasons why many Irish players aren't getting games in the Premier League while Russia's star in the Champions League became painfully apparent. The game opened up and there was enough space for basic excellence to breath. Andriy Arshavin began to run the game, the three-man midfield behind began to overrun Ireland's two.

Without the primary value Trapattoni has instilled in Ireland – defensive discipline – his side didn't have enough to bridge the quality gap. The second goal encapsulated this. Aleksandr Aniukov had a staggering amount of room to motor up the by-line, Kerzhakov enough space to dummy his cross and Alan Dzagoev sufficient leeway to finish cleanly. That made this international football business look easy.

For the first real time under Trapattoni, it laid bare the limitations of this Irish team. But it was still hard to say whether those limitations were exactly the manager's, the players' or both. No, Ireland may not have had the ability to go toe-to-toe with Russia but the chaos that ensued any time the Irish players got near the Russian box illustrated Advocaat's side were there for the taking.

Except for the fact that Ireland were bizarrely reluctant to exploit that. Too often in attack, the Irish midfield was a good 40 yards behind the front two. So, when Alexei Berezutsky or Sergei Ignashevich inevitably made a hash of a clearance, there weren't enough Irish players there to punish them.

It was only when the match bottomed out at 3-0 that Trapattoni seemed to realise this. Ireland pushed forward and almost proved the theory again. For all their Champions League players, Russia didn't have the defensive nous to properly close out the game. And, although the late rally didn't quite come off, it will have at least raised the spirits of the players.

Because, as bad as that 3-0 looked midway through the second half, the real problems aren't that terminal. They're fixable. It may have just been a bad night at the office. One loose thread just caused Trapattoni's tapestry to unravel. Now he just needs to reinstall Ireland's discipline. But he needs to reinstall it fast. A victory in Slovakia on Tuesday would rectify an awful lot of the damage done on Friday.

It's just not going to be easy.