With Glenn Whelan suspended and Stephen Quinn injured, there's a fairly big hole in the Irish midfield waiting to be dominated by the likes of Toni Kroos and Ilkay Gundogan. It's not exactly ground breaking analysis to say that if Ireland are to come away with anything from the Aviva on Thursday night, we'll have to nullify the German attack.
If that is to happen, there's inevitably going to be a bit of last ditch defending but, for the most part, Martin O'Neill is going to have to hope that Ireland can stop the German attack at source. And that means packing the midfield. James McCarthy is a certainty in there and it looks like Jeff Hendrick will continue a little further forward after his star showing against Georgia.
That leaves the Whelan role that probably would have been filled by Quinn had he not been injured. In reality, the only logical option left is David Meyler and judging by Roy Keane's comments yesterday it seems certain that he will duly take up that position.
The Ireland assistant was asked whether the like of Meyler and Hendrick should be looking to enjoy the clash against the world champions and while he did conceded that was important, he didn't shy away from what a big task it would be for the Championship pair.
There has to be a bit of tension, a bit of nervousness and that’s good from a player’s point of view; it keeps you on edge, it’s good for your concentrations levels.
While the midfield may be all set, the attack and defence is more in the lap of the football gods. We're none the wiser on whether Coleman, Wilson and Hoolahan will be fit to start so until Thursday evening we'll just all have to cross our fingers and hope.
