A 2-2 draw between Ireland and Austria draw was a fair result, according to former Ireland striker David Connolly.
Connolly said Giovanni Trapattoni got it wrong and should have changed his tactics at half time.
The result means Ireland are fourth in the group but level on eight points with second-placed Sweden and third-placed Austria, while Germany lead on 16 points following their win over Kazakhstan.
Sweden have a game in hand on both Ireland and Austria.
Connolly explains what went wrong in the second half.
He said: "At half time, the manager should have made a change and accept that we were fortuitous to be up.
"But he should have changed his formation, because Alaba played more central and advanced in the second half and he was a huge threat, but nobody picked him up.
"He didn't change the formation and there is only so much pressure you can take, and in the end we buckled."