Trap: Ireland at a crossroads
Top of the table on goal difference after two games against Group B’s minor powers, it’s clear that, against the group’s biggest guns, Ireland will have to up their performance if they are to continue to match their results to date.
First, the Russians are coming, smarting from a defeat at home to Slovakia on Tuesday night, an upset which the Ireland manager believes places significant pressure on manager Dick Advocaat as he plots his approach to the game in the Aviva Stadium on October 8.
“You need to know the character of your players,” said Trapattoni. “We must look to win but we cannot go upfront like Indians. He knows that if Russia lose in Ireland he can say bye bye to qualification. But Russia are a great team, better than Bulgaria but not as strong as France or Italy. They have top players playing in England, like Pavlyuchenko, Arshavin and Zhirkov, they have a team which plays football and they have experience.
“Our scout in Moscow (Don Givens) told me that Russia played well and should have won against Slovakia, they had many opportunities to score but were punished when a defender made a mistake. Maybe we will suffer a bit but no team is unbeatable. This game is very important – if we win, Russia will stay behind in the group and then we can go to Slovakia with our confidence increased. We know this will be a hard game but we believe we can do it.
“It’s another exam but we can do well in exams.”
Trapattoni made no attempt to conceal his hope that Damien Duff and Keith Andrews will be fit for the upcoming games but, at the same time, says he “thanks God” that he has better options than were available to him two years ago. “Life is competition,” he said, citing the performance of Aiden McGeady against Andorra as an example.
“In the game against Armenia, McGeady was tired and Keith Fahey went on and, against Andorra, McGeady’s reaction was fantastic,” he said. “He saw that Fahey played well and scored a goal and then Tuesday was one of his best games in two years. He understood better what we asked of him. He saw 30% more of the ball than in another 10 games. It’s always better to have competition.”
Trapattoni believes that it’s taken until now for the new Spartak Moscow man to fully adapt to the Irish system.
“There are the habits that players develop,” he said. “I have told them: ‘I’m not interested in your club system because it’s not my job. In your club, do what your coach asks you to do. But we have a different system and different teammates’.
“At Celtic, it was a different system for McGeady. There, maybe they have two big strikers who are good in the air, so you go down the line, cross and – boom – goal.
“We don’t have this so we ask him to play differently. He has good technique, he is so fast and, if he gets in the box, he is very dangerous. We showed him that in this position he could improve. For example, Fahey scored a goal against Armenia because he got into the box. If Fahey had stayed on the line, he could not have scored that goal.”
If McGeady’s decision-making doesn’t always match his prodigious threat, then Trapattoni suggests that aspect of his game will come with maturity.
“That is only the life experience,” he said. “Look at Ryan Giggs. When we played Manchester United 15 years ago, he was young and a super player. Now, he still is still a great player but he thinks more about what’s the right decision to make. There is more than one way to play. Until now, McGeady has played in one way and is very dangerous. But there is the right moment to help his teammates, to think about whether to pass or to shoot. And I can see that coming with experience.
“Even when he came in for these games, I said to Marco (Tardelli) that I saw a change in him, maybe as a result of his transfer to Russia. In fact, he even trained differently, with a different personality. He is very sensitive. He knows what we ask him to play. He can give us more because his quality is good, he is very fast, he can shoot from left or right. When he has more confidence, he can do more than dribble and cross. That is a metamorphosis.”
While Trapattoni admitted he would prefer if his players were all turning out regularly for their clubs in the run-up to next month’s double-header, he will still pick his most important players even if they continue to lack game time.
“I cannot choose someone other than Robbie Keane, he is the best player for me,” said the manager.
“Obviously, he is a little bit afraid about what will happen in the future but, for now, I’ve told the players that if you don’t play then push it in training. Shay (Given) too is a very, very strong character. In training, he wants it like he did 10years ago.”
Trapattoni said that he would probably introduce a number of new names to the squad for the November friendly against Norway, with Stoke City signing and former ‘B’ international Jonathan Walters one of those being closely monitored. But such friendly talk was clearly for another day; already, Trap has the fire in his belly for the crunch qualifiers that are now just a few weeks away.
“I can’t speak about what I will eat in two months,” was how he put it with a broad grin. “Let me first eat, tomorrow, Russia and Slovakia.”
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