2020 was a frustrating year for most Ireland players, with Callum Robinson no exception.
The 25-year old was a first choice player at the start of the Stephen Kenny era, being selected in the starting XI for the Euro 2020 play-off in Slovakia.
However, he has not featured for the country since. That was down to being deemed as a close contact of a coronavirus case in October, before contracting the virus himself the following month.
Since then, he has found himself out of the West Brom team under Sam Allardyce. Despite that, he is raring to go for this week's qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg.
Some major improvements in performance will be required to achieve positive results in those fixtures, with a change in luck also long overdue.
Ireland have been decimated by injury and coronavirus related issues, even losing up to half of his squad during the final international window of 2020.
Speaking to members of the media ahead of this week's games, Robinson said that it is difficult to sum up just how unfortunate Stephen Kenny has been during his time in charge.
It's hard. With the covid situation there is too many changes in the team. You think before that you sort of knew the team, that there would be two or three changes now and again.
Now with covid he is having to change four players, eight players, nine players. By the time I'm sitting on my couch watching the last game (in November) from the time I had walked in on that first day, the whole team has changed.
It's hard enough at club level to make those amount of changes so at international level you know how tough it is.
Fingers crossed for him, the team, and all the staff that we can stay covid free, well and fit, and keep the squad together this time.
Having the supporters in stadiums over the last few months might have helped.
Ireland are often a team that depends on their supporters to achieve that extra gear within games, something that hasn't been there when required in recent times.
Robinson is certainly looking forward to having them back, pleading with the Ireland fans to stick with the team through this tough period.
With the Ireland fans, the games I have played in they have turned up in numbers, especially the away games. I think of the Denmark away game when Duffy scored that header and we got the draw, that feeling.
I don't care what anybody says, you have that extra five per cent in you when the fans are there.
The message to them is just to believe in us. I honestly think we're going in the right direction, I wouldn't sit here and say it and lie to you, I think we are.
I just hope that they can believe in us and we can get the results that they want in these next two games...
Fans make the game. Hopefully fans will actually be appreciated a little bit more now because we have realised what it's like without them.
I would say that 90 per cent of footballers would say that they want the fans back in the stadiums. It's not the same without fans.
Getting a goal or a massive result, like Denmark away for instance, you remember those moments. Where there is no fans you can see in the celebrations and stuff that it is different.
We need to get fans back and hopefully we will be in the World Cup and the fans can be at that!
Hopefully that turnaround beings with a positive result in Belgrade on Wednesday evening.
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