Victory hides serious flaws
Whatever happens over the next few days, the manager can point to the fact one rot has been stopped; the run of historically poor humiliations is over.
After a last five competitive games in which Ireland produced the worst ever international performance, narrowly avoided a disaster in Kazakhstan and then endured a biggest ever competitive home defeat against Germany, Trapattoni’s side ultimately beat an initially spirited Faroe Islands side with relative ease.
Then again, when you’re pointing to a result that should be routine as some kind of relevant counter-argument, you know you’ve reached something of a plateau.
The other problem was that this wasn’t a game without a certain degree of embarrassment anyway.
At various points, and for decent periods, Ireland were being outpassed by the Faroe Islands.
And, really, that is the big problem.
Right from the start, there was a very surreal feel to this game — and not just because of the fact a side that qualified for the most recent European Championships were panicking against one of the worst teams in the world.
The pre-game news that Trapattoni had taken the unprecedented step of canceling this morning’s post-match press conference framed this match as a distinctly curious swan song; the end of something but bang smack in the middle of a campaign; a manager possibly not having a job but the team very much having to win.
Right through, there was an oddly appropriate, if not exactly seamless, mix between old and new. It all points to a transition that, after four relatively successful years, Trapattoni has never really looked fully comfortable overseeing. Just examine at some of the elements that ultimately led to the 4-1 win. First of all, Trapattoni looked to the future by introducing Robbie Brady... only to then offset that by placing him in an outdated approach that involved punting the ball forward with one of the very first touches of the game and hauling him off at half-time. Second, there was the goal count. Ireland scored four for the first time since the manager’s high point of the play-off in Estonia.
At the other end, though, they failed to keep a clean sheet for the seventh competitive game in a row — a far cry from the solid run that ultimately led to Poland.
Third, there was the scorer of the game’s key opening goal, Marc Wilson. A player that Trapattoni has overlooked for so long and even been pointed to as an example of the kind of man-management that has gradually chipped away at his reign triggered the result that may well prove important in any negotiations over the next few days.
Finally, though, there was the general pattern of the game. The Faroe Islands passed the ball well and occasionally looked dangerous with it. Ireland weathered that and ultimately undid them with blunt force rather than finesse.
As regards that, all arguments about the quality of the Irish players or who was better suited to the plastic pitch are frankly irrelevant.
It’s the Faroe Islands.
Quite simply, these sorts of debates just shouldn’t have to be made when you’re playing a country with a smaller population than Waterford Town.
And, against a team of that low quality, this isn’t about the technical ability of the Irish players or lack thereof to play a more expansive game. It’s about the percentage-playing system they’ve learned and been inculcated into.
Under Trapattoni, it’s all they know.
For a long stretch, that system had sufficient belief and assurance to push the team to the very edges of one play-off and then break through the glass ceiling to the European Championships in the next.
But, despite the six points from nine that should have been beyond question against the likes of Kazakhstan and the Faroes anyway, it seems to have run its course.
Too many key elements underpinning it have been eroded. All of the evidence, and the players, point to something slightly different being needed.
Whether that’s also a different manager, we’ll have to wait and see.
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