Despite a poor performance from Ireland where the last 15 minutes salvaged what was a toothless performance up to that point, the Irish fans leaving the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, and those watching at home on TV, retained the opinion that the visitors were 'no great shakes' and that we could have, and should have, taken all three points.
Despite taking their goal well and creating two or three more decent chances, Austria looked very vulnerable for the most part and never really took hold of the game. David Alaba admitted as much speaking to Goal.com after the game, as he lamented his team's inability to take control.
However, he was also frustrated with Ireland tactics, as he accused the boys in green of looking to go long at every opportunity.
I think it was not an easy game today against Ireland. They play very hard, very aggressive, and tried to push us back.
We tried to play our game, but it was not easy to play our game because they play most of the time long balls from behind to the front. It's not easy to create chances or win a game when you're just receiving long balls.
He's not wrong, but what does he expect? We're hadly going to do keepy-uppies in our own box, and if he saw the few times we did try to play out from the back, he would see why we never do it.
The Bayern Munich man was the one player all Irish fans feared from Austria when the group draw was made, especially as he has badly burned us before, but now that the two games in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers have been played Martin O'Neill will be delighted at how quiet he was kept in both legs.
Maybe it's the long balls that unsettled him. Don't knock it 'till you try it, Dave.
