Analysis: We've always shown great resolve after a bad result, by nature we bounce back quickly and well, and I think we will do that again tonight. We said about Saturday's game the performance wasn't too bad, just not very clever, but if we can play anywhere close to the same level against the Faroe Islands that really should be more than enough.

Traditionally the Faroes have been dismissed as the Dog and Duck XI, but they've had the odd result in recent times that suggests they're not quite as poor as they once were. And we, after all, only beat them 2-0 at home, France only beat them 2-0 there, and Scotland, well, they'll never be allowed forget that 2-2 draw. But, having said all that, the Faroes aren't ranked at 133 in the world for nothing - behind Ethiopia, Swaziland and the Solomon Islands, and just ahead of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In other words, there are no excuses tonight, nothing less than a win will do.

Yes, the pitch is said to be awful, but while it won't help it really, really shouldn't be a major factor. It will, though, I would imagine, be a consideration when Brian Kerr is picking his team. It will probably make it more likely Gary Doherty will start - the pitch, naturally, becomes less of a factor if you have that aerial option.

With Robbie Keane and Andy O'Brien out, and Roy Keane and Stephen Carr back, Kerr has some decisions to make, but I sincerely hope whispers about a 4-3-3 formation, using Roy Keane, Matt Holland and Kevin Kilbane in midfield, are wide of the mark. We're playing the Faroe Islands, not Brazil. You just don't need all three, in that formation, against this class of opposition.

You go for 4-4-2, playing Andy Reid and Damien Duff wide, the two of them will stretch them for fun - and that's the way you beat these teams. You don't play narrow, that's what they want, a scrum in the centre of the pitch. And I would want to see Duff out wide, rather than up front, it is from there he will cause damage.

Doherty or Stephen Elliott beside Clinton Morrison? Well, because it's about choosing someone to partner Morrison I would go for Doherty. It would be a big ask for Elliott to partner a player who hasn't yet cemented his place in that team and, therefore, is someone who will be trying to help himself out on the pitch. Playing alongside someone like that can make it difficult for a newcomer at senior international level.

Doherty will get on with it, do his job, win balls in the air, which Morrison, hopefully, will feed off. Elliott is an option for later in the game, but the safer pairing, for me, is Morrison and Doherty. Although if Morrison's back scare proves serious Kerr will be left with even fewer options. I hope, though, he resists playing Duff up front.

The key is to just keep our heads, use our brains against this opposition, and having Keane back will obviously help in that department. And, naturally, the earlier you score the easier the game becomes - mind you, we said that before Saturday. But we're not talking Israel here. If we play with the same kind of intensity tonight as we did for most of Saturday's game we will be gifted goals. They'll have nothing like the guile the Israelis have. Nor, frankly, will they be able to cheat as well.

I see that Kerr's message to the players for the game is "forget pretty, just perform". That's precisely what they need to do. All that matters is the win and the points, especially after the disappointment of the weekend, the quality of the performance does not matter whatsoever.

I would take 1-0 now. A scrappy, ugly 1-0 win, just to get those points. Then go away for the summer, and come back fresh for those games against France, Cyprus and Switzerland. It looks like it will all go down to the last "match day", but that's assuming we don't do a Scotland tonight.