Paul McGrath argues Brian Kerr should take a leaf out of Jack Charlton's book and put teams under pressure

A strange week but in the end it wasn't as bad a week as it looked like it was going to be. Brian Kerr put a brave face on things but you knew that deep down he was more disappointed than anyone about Tel Aviv. We'd gone away. We'd dominated but we hadn't capitalised. After an early goal we didn't test them.

I thought Israel were rubbish against us and slightly better against a bad French team on Wednesday. If we'd got away with a one-nil, I wouldn't have thought it was a good performance. A good result maybe, but not a good performance.

In the end it was two points dropped against a team who you can't seriously imagine winning the group but who are being allowed to hang in there because everyone else is playing with fear. Israel must be starting to think that if they played, well . . .I think the Israelis are the sort of team you need to have a real go at. The second half of the qualification programme, when things get desperate, will show that. I think they'll fold. Everyone I have seen so far just stands off them.

I saw a lot of us in the Israelis this week. The way we used to be. They set themselves out tough, picked big players. They bullied us a bit. That used to be the Irish style. Damien Duff spent a lot of the first half hour on the floor. Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison were bouncing off people. There were a lot of tackles flying in.

Avraham Grant, the Israeli manager, had done his homework. Up front we didn't test them.We picked conservatively. Israel deserved what they got just for persevering. They battled back into a game they should have lost.

After 80 minutes or so I was just saying two things to myself.

Firstly, these guys are going to sting us. Secondly, why don't we just do the Jack Charlton thing, put it back in behind them, make them chase? Just do the closing down in their half. If it is always going to be around our area there's always a chance of it coming back out, rolling to an attacking player, nobody charging him down and a sweet shot or a deflection ending in our net.

Strangely, playing nice, thoughtful football has taken a little of the madness out of the Irish game. I'd be the last to say that Jack was the be all and end all when it came to international tactics. We had a system then of hunting in packs. One player would go and charge at

somebody, closing down his space and hustling him on the ball and, as a group, the rest of us would react. We'd chase people around, niggle them, take their space. Eventually a hurried ball would be played to a guy who hadn't enough space. It was quite an exciting thing to do when we operated as a group. We saw better players, real world-class players, getting frustrated.

I'd like to see us get back to that a little. I don't mean lose the football side of it, which Brian has brought, but when we haven't got the ball we should really attack it and bully them.

Once in the first half when Shay Given had to make a brilliant save and once in the second half when they scored, I thought we should have had players charging down the ball. A couple of times in the second half

they cut through our defence and nobody moved. I'd liked to see more urgency closing things down, everyone flying at things, making sure we'll win.

We had a player like Richard Dunne on the bench. The way he's playing he's always going to be charging at things. Just look back to Amsterdam for what he can do. I think he's a throwback to the old centre half where they'll charge out and get hit in the face or the nuts or whatever.

We needed a bit of that. In the middle of the park, with Roy Keane and Kevin Kilbane, we suffered from that tendency of experienced players to think conservatively. One-nil up and away from home, you slow it down a bit. Central midfielders like that; they control the tempo.

That's tricky. You have to change your expectations sometimes. The tendency is to take the sting out of the others, slow it up, frustrate them and come away with the win.

As the away team it's sometimes hard to know what to do, especially when you surprise yourself and score early. The game plan is to be patient. It's hard to just switch that when you realise the opposition aren't up to much.

Steve Finnan is a fine player but I would have picked Andy Reid. If you have Robbie Keane up front you need somebody who'll put it on a sixpence for him. Andy sees things nobody else would see. As it was, the number of clear chances we created was a bit pathetic.

Morrison scored two fine goals this week but in Tel Aviv he was struggling from early on. Usually he buzzes and looks for little spaces but he was tired. With him struggling and the tempo flagging I thought using Gary Doherty for the last 20 minutes was an option. He's a bit of a thug in the area. I mean that in a nice way - he puts himself about.

Sometimes defenders need an out that isn't just playing the ball into a crowded midfield. It doesn't always have to go to the forward, but for the last 20 minutes Gary would have held the ball up for us and made us a bit unpredictable.

I'd want the ball in their half with us closing down in their half. Forget about the shapes and the diamonds and the business of bringing it out to corners. Play it in their half. Still, I can't see France beating

us on their current form. With Zinedine Zidane gone there's nobody spotting the passes for them. It'll be a bonus if David Trezeguet is suspended but, with the lack of imagination in their midfield, I wouldn't be too worried about them.

The main danger is that the French will decide that enough is enough and change manager before the summer. A guy with a new broom might make them a different proposition come the autumn. Group Four is there for the

taking though. It's a poor group and at this stage I think the bravest team will win it and, anyway, no Irish team ever went through a qualification which at some stage hadn't got everyone shaking their heads. We're still in a very, very good position. We have a smart manager and a talented team and we have the key games in Dublin.

Nothing should frighten us. Well maybe the FAI should frighten us. The friendly on Tuesday was a shocking idea. I couldn't see the point. Asking the likes of Kenny Cunningham to come back and play another

game. Or Duffer. Knowing the season they've had. They played Saturday. They spent a day on a plane on Sunday. Shocking. Hopefully, using top players in a nothing game after a competitive match won't have too much impact on the goodwill we'll get from clubs in England.