Wales players believe the fury of Ryan Giggs can provide the fuel for victory against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday night.
Defender Ben Davies has revealed that manager Giggs angrily confronted his players at half-time during last week’s 4-1 home defeat to Spain.
That showdown, believes the Spurs defender, has re-focused the team on the job of securing points for their Nations League campaign in Dublin.
Spain were 3-0 ahead inside 29 minutes last Thursday and Davies revealed strong words were spoken in the dressing room at half-time.
Asked if Giggs had given the players the ‘hairdryer’ treatment, Davies said: “Yes, of course – and I think he was right to.
“We weren’t at it and teams like Spain are going to punish you. That’s what they did.
“The goals we conceded weren’t anything special, that’s the disappointing thing.
“The words that were said will stay in the dressing room, but we have to do better than we did and hang on in there.
“We have to make sure we are at it against Ireland.”
David Brooks has been backed to fill the Wales void left by Gareth Bale’s absence. Bale has been suffering with what Giggs has described as “muscle fatigue” and missed the defeat to Spain.
Wales had been hoping Bale would recover in time for the tie in Dublin, but he returned to his club Real Madrid on Saturday for further examination.
The loss of Bale, the country’s record goalscorer, is a huge blow for Wales, but Davies believes Brooks will cause Ireland problems at the Aviva Stadium.
The 21-year-old has made an impressive start to his Premier League career at Bournemouth, scoring in his last two appearances for the Cherries, and was Wales’ best player after coming on as a second-half substitute against Spain.
“Gareth is a massive loss for any team and we’ll have to adapt,” added Davies. “But he (Brooks) is a top player.
“He has a lot of ability and talent that defenders just don’t want to come up against.
“We’ll have a good attacking threat in him against Ireland.”
Wales are expected to reshuffle at the back and revert to a four-man defence after playing five defenders against Spain.
Ethan Ampadu and Chris Mepham are both injured and James Chester should resume his partnership with skipper Ashley Williams at the heart of the defence.
“I’m sure Ireland will be looking to turn the result from the last game,” Chester said, reflecting on Wales’ 4-1 Nations League win in Cardiff last month.
“We’ve had some good games against them recently and this will be no different.
“It was tough against Spain – a realisation of how good you’ve got to be to get to the top in international football.
“But the Ireland game was always the most important when we came into camp.”
Meanwhile, Chris Gunter is confident that Wales can handle Ireland’s combative style.
“Over a long period, I don’t think a lack of fight or desire can be labelled at this squad,” said the 90-times capped Reading defender.
“We have enough credit not to be accused of that.
“We gave away goals early and then Spain kept the ball. It looked worse than it was.
“Ireland will be a little more physical, but we have stood up to them before and we can look back at those experiences knowing we can deal with them.”
Wales overpowered Ireland in September when Bale was among the scorers in an exhilarating home performance. And Gunter feels the short turnaround in fixtures will help Wales to get their Spanish inquisition out of the system.
“Sometimes in international football you don’t get a chance to put it right so quickly,” he said.
“But we are in a good position as we have this chance now with another important game.
“In my experiences of last couple of years we have been without key players a few times and haven’t done too badly.”
