John Giles joined Sunday's Off the Ball to review Ireland's match with Georgia on Saturday.
Martin O'Neill's men struggled to a 1-1 draw which has severely damaged their World Cup qualification hopes.
Despite scoring early on, the Irish sat back and invited the home side on which could well have cost them vital points in the qualifying campaign.
Speaking to Nathan Murphy, the former Irish international said: "I never see a lack of fight in the Irish team but I think one thing you always say is that whatever Martin picks, they do do their best and they fight, and they fight hard.
"But, that's only one aspect of the game and the other aspect is getting on the ball and passing it and keeping it. You go back to the first match in Serbia away...we went in front after two minutes in Serbia and we immediately, from two minutes, started to sit back.
And, they went 2-1 in front of us and could have gone 3-1 in front of us and then we started playing again because there was nothing to lose.
Shane Long dejected after the match. Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"Now I think that was a similar situation the other night. As soon as we scored, again early, we're going to hang on to this instead of going and playing.
"I think Martin was asked one time: 'Do you tell the players to sit back when you've scored?' and he said: 'No'.
"As a manager, you say to the players: 'If we score, you keep playing'...you play the game on its merits. You score early on which is a good brake and then you continue to play. You're not holding on to it because once you're holding on to it - you're giving the opposition the ball.
"And I found even with that side last night that when we got at them to defend they weren't good at all," he added.
The full interview can be heard here:
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