Carla Ward said her Republic of Ireland players strayed into "chaos mode" during their scrappy Nations League defeat of Turkey at Tallaght Stadium.
Ward's first game at the helm was no classic; the Turks made it a slog on a heavy pitch that hadn't recovered from Shamrock Rovers' Conference League battle with Molde on Thursday.
Kyra Carusa's first-half header settled it, and though Ward praised her team's resilience during a wobbly last ten minutes, she admitted greater composure is required if they are to adapt to the possession-based style she intends to implement.
"Calm and belief," she replied when asked what single area Ireland can improve on.
"I've said it quite a lot, they're really good footballers, a really good group of people and I think sometimes we can just relax and believe a little bit more and that's my job to get that into them.
"A player said it to me there at the end that it's always been our problem, that we always go into chaos mode, and that's okay. It's up to me and the staff now just to get them to relax a bit and believe that they are top footballers, because they are."
"There's no way we could have built in the way we wanted to on the pitch."
When asked if that nerviness might be a hangover from December's painful play-off loss to Wales, Ward said: "Maybe, yeah, that's natural right? They're human beings and that was a tough moment for them but this week the spirits have been unbelievably high and like I said they executed what we asked them to do.
"The belief bit, there is naturally going to be some hangover but seeing that over the line will be massive from a mentality point of view."
Ireland's early intentions were clearly to get the ball down and play but there's no doubt they were undermined by a bobbly, uneven pitch. Ward admitted that the poor surface forced a tactical rethink.
"It's part and parcel of the game," she said. "It's difficult when there is a game on it last night. The ground staff have done the best that they can do but you know what its like when any stadium has two games in 24 hours, particularly at this level.
"It was difficult but look credit to the players, just before kick-off we had to change the build-up in a way because there’s no way we could have built in the way we wanted to on the pitch so they bought into that and they executed it."
It's on now to Slovenia this Tuesday, another tricky test to bring the curtain down on an intense week.
Leanne Kiernan's calf injury will continue to be assessed while Megan Campbell will be monitored too after she came off with "a niggle".
This is Ward's first taste of international management. She's had to field a lot of questions about Colin Healy's fallout with the FAI, scout home-based players and introduce herself to a new squad still hurting after that loss to the Welsh.
Despite the challenges, the 41-year-old insists she's loved every minute.
"I wouldn’t often admit this but there was a little bit of nerves before the game," Ward added.
"In the WSL, you know every single thing about every player, you know everything about everyone. This is slightly different. You never really know how it’s going to go. You want to get your first three points, but in the last ten, 15 minutes I was thinking, 'welcome to international football’. Scrappy, not pretty but most important is you get three points on the board.
"Being really honest, I've had a great time. I joked earlier, said if we win tonight, it feels like we can continue being on holiday camp. I've loved it. I love it because it's 24/7 and I'm an intense individual that likes to work 24/7. It suits me down to the ground.
"It’s where I want to be, competing on the world stage.
"This is a really strong group of players that are ambitious, that want to kick on, that want to move forward. Ideally we would have got the second goal and it would have been a little bit more comfortable, but we know that's football, and I was just delighted to hear the final whistle, to be honest."
