“Despite the possession that Denmark had, I didn’t think they caused us many problems but that’s not the point,” he said. “We can still push out a few yards and we should be trying to dispossess them further away from our goal at times. That’s what we’ll try to work on between now and Tuesday night. We definitely need to have more possession of the ball. When we did have possession and kept it for a little while, we looked comfortable with it. So the idea is, rather than to have little pockets of that, to extend that play. That’s what I’m looking to do. Obviously it takes a little time.”

O’Neill’s definition of the timeframe required appears to hinge on his belief that he will be afforded the opportunity to continue to rebuild ahead of the start of European Championship qualification next year. But, depending on the outcome of tomorrow night’s Nations League game, the Irish fans and the FAI may beg to differ.

“We are trying to get ourselves prepared, the competition does start in March time and the draw is made in December,” he said. “The overall picture is obviously the qualification games but in the meantime Tuesday is very important.”

As he seeks to get Ireland back to winning ways, the manager appeared to suggest that the personnel he currently has available tips the balance in favour of deploying a 3-5-2 formation.

“Seamus Coleman is essentially a right-back, although he loves to get forward at club level and if Seamus was playing, we might have a different approach to it,” he said. “Although we played against Poland with three at the back and they were comfortable with it — and we did little games here in the days we had before Sunday’s game — I wanted, as much as anything else, for (Matt) Doherty to be comfortable in the environment. So he had the little bit of help that Cyrus (Christie) would give when (Pione) Sisto had the ball. I know he has played left-back for Wolves before but here he has found a niche for himself so I was thinking about that. But please, I’m not here just to accommodate one player — players can play — but Cyrus has proved he can play in a few positions.”

To the criticism that operating as a wing-back inhibits James McClean’s attacking instincts, O’Neill responded: “The thing about wing-backs is regardless of whether or not they are attacking wing-backs — and I had them at Celtic and Leicester — those gaps that I talked about before, where sometimes the left- or right-side centre-half is slightly uncomfortable going out to that position, means that the wing-backs become full-backs for a period. What they want to do then is just to hold things up for players to re-adjust their positions. James can do that.

“I think there are plusses and minuses to it, like everything else. We probably need three players in the middle of the field. Outside Cyrus we might not really have the legs to play a 4-4-2. We’ve seen that before. So we probably need three in the middle. If we can get help from having the two wing-backs close to them, then fine. If they don’t get that help, then it can still be a long evening for them.”

On Saturday, McClean eventually got to play further up the pitch after Enda Stevens came on to take over as left wing-back, having previously impressed for Ireland in the 1-1 draw with Poland.

“He obviously plays that role for Sheffield United so it’s not a problem to him,” said O’Neill. “Like everything else, he’s adjusting. This is a big step up, no matter what you say. You’re playing Championship football each week and then you step up and are playing a side that got beaten on penalties by the team that got to the World Cup final. Those are the things you have to take into some sort of consideration.”

O’Neill revealed that he substituted Harry Arter on Sunday as insurance against the midfielder picking up a second yellow card — after incurring what the manager called “a very cheap booking” early on — and he praised Preston’s Callum Robinson for an encouraging cameo off the bench.

“I thought that he gave us a little bit of life which was nice,” he said. “He was taking some players on and the crowd took to him.”

Ireland’s only new injury concern ahead of the game against Wales is Callum O’Dowda who appeared dazed when requiring treatment in the first half against Denmark. The midfielder did continue but was substituted at half-time, with O’Neill saying the player had felt “dizzy”.

Yesterday, the FAI issued a statement saying O’Dowda “continues to be monitored by the medical staff after feeling unwell in Saturday’s game”.

Meanwhile, Portsmouth striker Ronan Curtis has linked up with the squad after featuring for the Ireland U21s in Israel last week.