HAVING SEEN the sprawling Luzhniki sports complex over-run with street artists from across the continent last week, Muscovites heading along for tonight’s European Championship qualifier must fear that the spectacle this time will be a little less easy on the eye.

The Russian side, as they showed in Dublin, have pace and a sense of purpose about them. But their Aviva success is regarded in these parts as their best performance of this campaign by some distance.

With regular goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev injured and defensive midfielder Igor Denisov suspended, they are not without problems, and some of their biggest stars have been battling to rediscover their best form in recent months. While few Irish supporters will have travelled expecting a famous victory, the locals have found reasons not to be overly optimistic either.

One problem, it seems, is that the locals appear not to have warmed to Dutch coach Dick Advocaat who took on this job after the far more popular Guus Hiddink.

Advocaat’s team seem to lead Group B almost by default and there is dissatisfaction among press and supporters that the Dutchman has not sought to rejuvenate a team whose performances have, with that one painful exception, been stale.

The coach, of course, points to the fact they are two points clear at the top of the table and, ahead of tonight’s game, in a decent position to take the group’s sole automatic qualifying spot.

Even Zenit midfielder Roman Shirokov described their first-half performance against Macedonia on Friday as “awful”.

Advocaat may not have helped himself by suggesting last week that the Republic of Ireland would be easier opponents than the Macedonians but he was adamant yesterday he merely meant Giovanni Trapattoni’s side are less likely to spring any surprises.

“Not easier in the way of playing,” he said when asked about the original comments, “but easier in the sense that we will know the opponent. They are a difficult team, it doesn’t matter where they play, Dublin, Moscow, Hong Kong or wherever, they play this system.”

The rigidity of that system, he suggested, might make Ireland predictable but it also tends to minimise the damage caused by losing players like John O’Shea or Seán St Ledger. Others come into the side and know precisely what is expected of them. It is, to be fair, much the same thing that Trapattoni says about his team and there was a sense yesterday that Advocaat could readily appreciate why the Italian has adopted the approach given the resources at his disposal.

Getting the best out of his own squad, though, has become an issue for the much-travelled 63-year-old. Few of the Zenit players that make up the backbone of the side have been especially impressive over the course of this campaign and Andrei Arshavin strikes many as having completely lost his spark.

“The people who say this can’t have seen him last Friday,” insisted Advocaat, “because he played really well and was a constant threat to Macedonia.”

The Russian frontline will clearly take some containing, with Roman Pavlyuchenko having the potential to cause major problems if, as expected, he plays just off Alexander Kerzhakov. However, neither striker has had the greatest of years since the game in Dublin with the former struggling to make the impact he hoped for at Spurs while the latter has scored just once for his country since putting them ahead at the Aviva.

It is in midfield, though, that the first game between these two sides was won and lost and Advocaat must be pleased as he observes that his opposite number “cannot change his system in three days”.

He seemed confident Trapattoni can do little to change the outcome over 90 minutes and when asked about Ireland’s recent run of clean sheets he said: “Well, we were probably the last side to score three against them so perhaps we can start that record again.”

It seemed churlish to tell him the Uruguayans had managed it too.