Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick noted that he had watched "two different faces" of the Irish team in the opening two rounds of the Nations League.
Rangnick's team land into Dublin after collecting two successive 3-1 wins at home against both Israel and Kosovo and sit pretty at the top of Group 3.
It's been a somewhat less serene international window for Ireland, to put it mildly, with the dismal 1-0 loss away to Kosovo being followed by an extraordinarily chaotic day on Saturday, when it briefly appeared that the players might be about to accede to calls to boycott the fixture against Israel.
They pulled back from that after a four-hour meeting and a team vote and then proceeded to demolish Israel with startling ease in an extremely ill-tempered encounter.
The Austrian boss is wary of his opponents' unpredictability, in that sense.
"We watched both of Ireland's games and seen two different faces." Rangnick said.
"Kosovo, they had almost no chances, Kosovo were the better team. Israel was totally different, Ireland came into the game very offensively and deserved to win.
"My team will be prepared, let’s see what Ireland bring and what solutions we need to bring."
Regarding Ireland's style of play, Rangnick played some of the old hits.
"Ireland are a team that tries to play the ball forward quickly. I also expect a lot of long balls, balls into our penalty area.
"We have to make sure we have the right solutions to counter this slightly different style of play. It’s important that we not only counter their style of football, but also gain the upper hand in terms of energy."
It's been a rather less stressful week for Rangnick than his Irish counterpart, with Austria hosting Israel in Linz amid some protests but comparatively little controversy.
The biggest talking point to emerge from the game was the sending off of Israel's Sayed Abu Farchi for removing the corner flag and pointing it in what was initially widely interpreted as a gun gesture though the Israeli camp later asserted it was a snooker reference.
In Dublin, Rangnick was asked about his feelings regarding playing Israel but wasn't terribly interested in dwelling on the subject.
"We’re not playing Israel, it’s not something I want to talk about. I’ve been in football for a long time, football has an incredible power to bring people together, connect people; in times like these it’s important to emphasise the positive element of football," said the Austria boss.
Austria's results thus far have been impressive in light of the upheaval within the squad with Kevin Danso suspended, Marcel Sabitzer opting out of the international game and David Alaba being omitted due to lack of game-time.
They have used 24 players across the two games with six different players getting on the score-sheet.
"We have four games in 12 days. It’s the same for every team and you want that freshness, and fresh legs," says Rangnick.
"I want to have the best team on the pitch so we’ve had a lot of changes, and a few injuries. But for me, it is about sending out the most fresh team, the most fit team as well. I always want to send out the freshest team."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Austria in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
