Damien Delaney believes Stephen Kenny should stick with the three-man midfield which Ireland lined up with against Scotland in Dublin and Ukraine in Łódź.
Ireland played with a two-man midfield of Josh Cullen and Jeff Hendrick in the defeats to Armenia and at home to Ukraine before switching to a three-man midfield of Cullen, Jayson Molumby, and Jason Knight for the victory over Scotland and the draw with Ukraine in Łódź.
"You can't forget about those games," the former Ireland international Delaney told Virgin Media on Tuesday about the defeats to Armenia and Ukraine.
"At the end of the manager's interview there, he says 'We're really disappointed that we haven't got more points in this window'. I'm disappointed he hasn't!
"If he plays that shape against Armenia, we win that hands down, as comfortably as what Scotland won it tonight.
"We opened up the pitch, underestimated or didn't respect Armenia and went there with a real 3-4-3. We had two central midfield players.
"He said, 'Jeff (Hendrick), go and join in, no worries, you go and help the front players. When we're attacking, you get involved'.
"(Josh) Cullen was in the middle of the pitch on his own. So when they won the ball back, they had a lot of joy. That was that one written off.
"Then we do the same against Ukraine in Dublin, and get absolutely hosed in possession. They had their way with us."
Delaney continued: "Then he changes it. We get a good result against Scotland. There's a happy medium between going gung-ho like the Armenia one, and solid and compact in games where you're thinking a draw here isn't a bad result.
"The manager has come in, and it feels like he's learning on the job. We thought we turned a corner at the backend of the World Cup qualifying campaign when we thought we had that nice system where the opposite wide player dropped in to help the midfield players. We thought that looked good, solid.
"It's a hill I'll die on: You cannot play two players in the middle of midfield in international football - any level of football - especially when the opposition are playing three in there. You cannot do it. We thought we learned that lesson, but then we go into the Armenia game, and go back and do it again. I don't understand why. I still have questions over that.
"Tonight was an OK performance. We could have nicked it, they could have nicked it. The Scotland game was brilliant, but we wasted the first two."
SEE ALSO: Stephanie Roche Returns To Ireland Squad For World Cup Qualifier
