IN times of trouble, real men come to the fore. During Friday's game, Richard Dunne stared defeat in the face and refused to accept it without a fight. After the match, he arguably did his team an even greater service by choosing to highlight Ireland's problems rather than bury them. His words, which he initially made in a post-match interview with RTÉ and then elaborated upon yesterday, might make for uncomfortable reading for Giovanni Trapattoni this morning but if they're reflective of the squad as a whole, the Italian should take heed.

Dunne started by bemoaning Ireland's inability to control games. "As soon as Shay [Given] gets it [the ball], we all turn our back on him and run forward and see if Kevin Doyle can head it and see what else Kevin can do," he said.

"I think as a team we've got to help each other out a bit more and look to try and get the ball. At the moment we're just going forward, then defending, going forward, then defending. We're never going to control games if we play like that. We've got to put our foot on the ball at some state and string five or six passes together and create chances that way rather than from set pieces or long balls all the time."

At least part of the reason behind the reliance on the long ball on Friday was down to Dick Advocaat's instructions to his team to press Ireland high up the pitch. But that is not an excuse to hoof the ball long on. The two full-backs, for example, and central midfielders needed to take some responsibility for getting on the ball in their own half, even if they had an opponent within five yards of them.

Dunne rejected the suggestion Trapattoni doesn't allow his team to play passing football, a point that was backed up by Liam Brady in the RTÉ studio and the manager himself yesterday. Yet for the player, the team turning their back on the ball is even more frustrating because this Ireland have shown against Italy and France that they can actually string a few passes together when the occasion demands. "That's the thing, we've proved it but we've not followed up on it. Whether it was a one-off, or a fluke, whether we can do it on a regular basis, we still haven't proved it yet."

Dunne's next criticism was a touch more veiled but directed at the manager rather than the players. Two-nil down at half- time, having been outplayed and outthought, Dunne was asked what was done by the manager during the interval to change things around tactically. "Not a lot," was his response. "We had a game plan at the start of the game and we tried to continue it in the second half and then they scored again."

So while Rome burned, Nero Trapattoni fiddled. Aiden McGeady even hinted that Ireland hadn't researched Russia properly. "We hadn't seen too much of their DVDs but we know what we're up against now," he said. It was the first time in his Irish reign that the manager looked fallible, the first occasion where his 71 years appeared a burden rather than a boon.

Where he needed to be decisive, he instead dithered. The problem appeared straight-forward from early on. As was the solution. Russia played with three men in midfield: Igor Denisov in front of the back four, with Roman Shirokov and Konstantin Zyryanov stationed 15 yards in advance of him.

For most of the night, when Denisov received the ball in his own half, one of Glenn Whelan or Paul Green went to close him down. The problem was that the other central midfielder then had two men to mark, which gave the intelligent Denisov the regular opportunity to find one of his midfield buddies in acres of space. From there, there was a domino effect. If either Liam Lawrence or McGeady tucked inside to mark in midfield, the Russian full-backs were left free, which is what happened for the visitors' second goal. If either Dunne or Seán St Ledger stepped forward to close off the space, Russia's three-manfrontline were left one-on-one with their opponents. But the solution wasn't rocket science. All Trapattoni needed to do was instruct either one of Robbie Keane or Kevin Doyle to sit on Denisov. That would have plugged the gap. That instruction, however, wasn't given until McGeady was asked late on.

The only other time where Trapattoni had a real decision to make as Irish manager was away to Italy in the last qualifying campaign. In Bari, with Italy having been reduced to ten men, the Irish manager decided in the 22nd minute to replace Andy Keogh with Caleb Folan and switch to what was essentially a 4-3-1-2 formation, with Keane playing in the hole. The change worked a treat as Ireland dominated possession for the entire game and duly got their reward of a draw with a late goal from their captain. On Friday, Trapattoni needed to do something similar – remember, there were 18 full minutes between Russian's first and second goals – but where in Bari he grasped the nettle, here he seemed afraid of the sting. Even the comeback had little to do with him. As Ireland piled bodies forward, he stood still in his technical area. There were no gestures to push up, no signals of encouragement. The players seemed to have decided all on their own that a 3-0 home defeat just wouldn't do.

One comfort Irish supporters supposedly had with Trapattoni in charge was that while their team were never going to be fantastically entertaining, they weren't likely to be heavily beaten by superior opponents either. That has now evaporated. Now, a negative result against Slovakia on Tuesday – where Trapattoni suggested he might make up to three chances to his starting line-up – and Ireland will have an uphill struggle for even second place in the group. The rules of engagement have changed.

"I suppose you can take the last 20 minutes and say the lads finished the game well," said Dunne in desperate search of some positives. Going forward, his honest words might prove the most valuable aspect of the night.