Ireland striker Jon Walters says he won't be afraid to mix it up with Estonia's defenders if required by Giovanni Trapattoni during the Euro play-off's.
The Stoke City player is vying for a starting birth with Simon Cox, for Kevin Doyle's place and is adamant that he will play whatever role he is asked to in Friday's away encounter.
Walters said: "I am not the sort of player to shirk out of anything, I'll go wholeheartedly into anything so if that's putting myself about or doing whatever needs to be done, I'll do that.
"I have the scars on my head and eyebrows to prove that. I'll get involved and get mixed up in whatever needs to be done."
28-year-old Walters played just over 10 minutes of the last group game but may have done enough to pip Simon Cox for a starting place in Tallinn.
He is also Stoke's joint top scorer this season with five goals in 21 appearances, compared to Cox's one goal in six games for West Brom.
With Robbie Keane having come through three games with LA Galaxy after his injury, Walters is hoping that he gets the nod to partner the Irish captain in attack. He says that his ability to play with different types of strike partner may give him the edge.
"I've played with so many different strikers over the past few years, five or six in the past year while I've been at Stoke. I think that adaptability is one of the attributes of my game and playing well with different players and linking up," he said.
"Whatever the manager asks you to do or how to play, you try and if it's a different job I am asked to do - whether it's to hold it up or flick it on and behind, I'll try my best to do that.
"[In the last game against Armenia] after about 30 seconds of coming on, Doyler got sent off so that changed what I needed to do. I went up there just to hold up the ball and keep the pressure off our defence for a little while, that was my job and hopefully I did that quite well."
"Obviously, it's only the halfway point after the first game and we've got to concentrate on getting through. but getting a goal away from home is always important and with such a good defensive record, that we have as a team, if we can get a goal it can be enough.
"They've done exactly the same as we've done to get where they are. They're not going to be pushovers and they're not going to be easy. We may not have heard of them so much in world football but you tend to find players from countries like that are technically very good.
"As soon as you underestimate teams you get a kick up the backside. So that's the last thing anyone in the squad will be doing. It's the worst thing you can do."
with Simon Cox - man of the match in the last qualifier against Armenia - for Kevin Doyle's place and is adamant that he will play whatever role he is asked to in Friday's crunch encounter.
Walters said: "I am not the sort of player to shirk out of anything, I'll go wholeheartedly into anything so if that's putting myself about or doing whatever needs to be done, I'll do that.
"I have the scars on my head and eyebrows to prove that. I'll get involved and get mixed up in whatever needs to be done."
Tweet
