So, this is where the serious business starts, writes Mark Lawrenson. The honeymoon's over for Brian Kerr, but the great thing for him is that he's had plenty of games to have a good look at things.

And now he's got 10 games and 10 results to prove himself and determine his future. He's made his changes, brought new players in, got rid of some of the old guard. So this is it now; he has everything in place; it's down to results from here on in.

France, naturally, are favourites in the group. Yes, they've had retirements but look at the quality of players coming through. Alright, they're not as good as Zinedine Zidane, but who is? What we'll get now is a new, leaner, hungrier France, with a new manager, with a team built around Henry, Vieira, Pires and the rest.

Their strength, then, makes it imperative that we take something from Switzerland next week and then beat them at home. We're at least on a par with the Swiss, probably better, based on how they were at Euro 2004, where at best they were ordinary. We have to go to Basel and get at least a point, which we're more than capable of doing. Yes, it's early days to be setting points targets but looking at the group that's what we need: four points from the first two games.

It might be tempting fate but in many ways the Cyprus game is a warm-up for Wednesday. We have to beat teams like Cyprus at home - and if we go about it intelligently and play to our strengths we will.

They say Cyprus are more organised now, that they're better than they were - but they'd want to be because they used to be useless.

I remember beating them 6-0 at home and before that scoring against them in Nicosia. Me. And it wasn't even a header; it was from open play. That's how bad they were. Of course you have to respect the opposition, but really, we have to be beating Cyprus at home.

While the effects could be felt more in Switzerland, losing Matt Holland, Roy Keane and Liam Miller shouldn't be a worry for today's game. If Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh or Alan Quinn come in they should be more than enough.

And Andy Reid looks like a proper footballer to me. He gets his head up, picks out a pass, gets forward, he's progressive, he looks to play people through. He is a very, very intelligent footballer, he understands what his strengths are. I have big hopes for him. Watch Robbie Keane's movement when Reid gets the ball. It was like when we had Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool; when you made a run you knew the ball would be delivered to you. Reid has to start - he's ready.

For me the big talking point is Clinton Morrison. He's obviously still not done it at this level. We've had flashes but no more, and he's now struggling at Birmingham. Gary Doherty might be a better bet at this stage; you might get more out of Robbie with him beside him. We know Doherty's ability is limited, but if he keeps it simple he's effective. The key thing is to get the best out of your best striker and I think Doherty could be the man to get the best out of Robbie.

I'd definitely go for Andy O'Brien alongside Kenny Cunningham. He's played so many games now in the Premiership, he's ready too. He's just not as accident-prone as Gary Breen. Time has moved on. Breen is on the wane, while O'Brien is getting better.

He still has to convince me he can kick on to the next level. For me a good Premiership defender is one who dominates the opposition and I don't think O'Brien does that yet. He's probably suffered from having so many defensive partners at Newcastle, and we're still waiting for him to truly establish himself. I think it will happen; it's just taking time.

Today's game might end up 2-0, or something close to that. That would be fine. Tack a point on to that in Switzerland and "happy days". A great start to a qualifying campaign I honestly believe we're more than capable of getting through.