It has been far from smooth sailing for Stephen Kenny during his tenure as Ireland manager.
The defeat to Luxembourg means it is now ten games without a win for him in charge of the national team, the type of start few could have envisaged when he first stepped into the role. Ireland have looked really poor at times in recent months.
That's not to say he hasn't also experienced his fair share of bad luck.
His squads were ravaged by injury and covid related issues for much of 2020, with even the current international window affected by the loss of some key personnel. A couple of results during that run also could have turned out very differently, something that would have put a different light on the undoubted progress the team has made in some areas.
During all of this, Kenny remains committed to the vision he set out when he first took the job.
He wants to change Irish football, doing so by dragging it into the 21st century. Exciting football played by young talented players is his mantra, one that is very different to many of the Ireland managers before him.
In recent days, some have been making noise that Ireland need to get back to basics: cut out the highfalutin ideas that we can play a type of football above our station and concentrate on what we were supposedly good at.
Those aforementioned young players are the present and future of Irish football. Some believe too many have been introduced, but Stephen Kenny disagrees. With one eye on the future as well as immediate results, he is excited by what some of his former U21 players can bring:
All those players are really talented players. Whether or not they become top class internationals only time will tell, you can't be certain of all that.
They are going to have very, very good careers. A lot of them really have the potential to be very good. What's more important is loads of them have exceptional attitude and are really hungry to do well.
They've got great leaders like Seamus Coleman, who is an immense captain and it's great to have him here in the camp. They can learn a lot from him and the other senior players. That's really important...
We have a huge amount of talented players coming through, we have a lot of very good professionals, experienced professionals as well. We will integrate the two and make ourselves better.
There is a clear tactical shift, there is no doubt about that. I do think that we've got to believe in these players. That are a lot of very talented players that are going to come good, I do feel that they are going to improve.
This was always going to be a rebuilding job. Ireland have been on a steady decline over the last five years or so, one that has only accelerated in recent times.
The short-term thinking that had brought this about was the major issue, Kenny's appointment in itself was an acceptance of that fact. He has been tasked with changing the very mantra by which Irish football has defined itself.
This was never going to be an overnight success.
As for Kenny, he very much still believes in what he is doing despite the setbacks. After all. he is hoping to build a team that Ireland supporters can be proud of.
We can look at other teams over the years, even in recent history. It was pointed out to me that Mick McCarthy's team that got to the World Cup didn't win in their first seven or something and they had some brilliant players at the time.
It was pointed out that Michael O'Neill's Northern Ireland team had a long long, unsuccessful run. They lost to Luxembourg as well in 2013 and that was a turning point.
Sometimes (that can happen) when you are introducing players like we have done, and there can be a criticism that you are introducing too many too quickly...
I want to build a team that really exhilarates Irish football people. That's it. It's nothing more than that.
We want to be much better. We hit a low the other by getting beaten by Luxembourg and we've got to take that on the chin.
Some of our play has been nothing short of brilliant against Slovakia and Serbia and we will continue to build on that and get better again. That's the way I feel about it.
There is no guarantee that things will work out the way he hopes, but the short-term issues they are currently going through will be worth it if Kenny's vision can be achieved.
We can only hope that will be the case.
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