Belief all but lost in the cult of Trapattoni
Friday evening’s face-off between Richard Sadlier and Liam Brady was compelling enough to suggest Ireland might now be as bad as they were when Eamon Dunphy demanded to know whether Bill would let Steve Staunton drive the train to Cork.
Listeners to Off The Ball on Newstalk frequently complain that Brady should not be on the panel any more because he is too close to Giovanni Trapattoni to give unbiased perspective. That is missing the point. Brady knows Trapattoni better than anyone in Irish football and it enhances the coverage to include a pundit who is well equipped to argue things from the manager’s point of view.
Unfortunately for Trapattoni, even Brady is no longer able to make a very convincing case.
There were a couple of revealing rhetorical questions asked on Friday night. When Sadlier asked Brady whether he believed we would qualify with Trapattoni in charge, Brady shot back: “Do you think we’d qualify with anybody in charge?”
The point seemed to be that it is futile to criticise the manager when the real problem is that our players just aren’t good enough.
It would be more depressing than surprising if the manager shared Brady’s view on that issue.
Brady’s other line of argument was that there was a responsibility on the players to go to Trapattoni with suggestions as to how the play could improve. It turned out that at least one of them already had. While Brady was speaking on RTÉ, Trapattoni was asking his own rhetorical question of a group of journalists in Astana.
James McClean had wanted to know why he wasn’t in the team. Trap had explained that he needed players who were more of a goal threat, strikers, natural predators — like Simon Cox. It was plain that McClean didn’t fit the bill. “How many goals has he scored?” Trap asked, as though to seal the argument.
The answer, somewhat awkwardly for Trapattoni’s intended point, is that since McClean’s first appearance for Sunderland last December, he’s scored more goals than any other Irish player in the English top flight. When a journalist pointed out that McClean had already scored twice in three Sunderland games this season, Trapattoni had no response other than to repeat, somewhat lamely, “he is not a striker”.
We know Trapattoni seldom bothers travelling to watch his players, but when he says something as strange as this, you have to wonder whether he’s even bothering to watch them on TV.
McClean thinks more highly of himself than Trapattoni does (maybe because he sees himself play every week). When you combine that with his tendency to say what he thinks rather than think about what he says, you get an outcome like Friday night’s tweet. His little outburst annoyed the manager and some team-mates, and probably cost him a place in the starting XI tomorrow night at Craven Cottage. But while McClean has apologised, he’ll remain as angry as ever if Trapattoni keeps leaving him out for reasons that don’t make any sense.
Most of the players just want to keep their heads down, but the sense of growing frustration borne out of confusion is manifest. Kevin Doyle was in one of his charmingly self-effacing moods after the match on Friday, declining several invitations to cause more trouble for Trapattoni. He explained that he could not complain about starting on the bench because he was playing in the Championship with Wolves while the likes of Jon Walters and Shane Long were playing well in the Premier League.
Doyle’s polite diplomacy thus drew attention to another confusing paradox. Friday night’s team was full of lower-division players who were preferred to some Premier League alternatives. Sean St Ledger, Darren O’Dea, Stephen Ward, Simon Cox and Robbie Keane all started while the likes of Marc Wilson, Shane Long, Seamus Coleman and McClean stewed. Doyle’s argument was that a manager will logically pick the guys who are performing at the highest level, but that’s not the logic Trapattoni employs.
The team selection for the match against Oman looks pleasingly progressive, with Seamus Coleman at right-back, Meyler and McCarthy in midfield, Long up front and a debut for Robbie Brady. It’s only the illusion of progress because this is only a friendly, and next month’s qualifier against Germany will see a reversion to type, with all the familiar contradictions restored. Few fans still believe in the team, and if the events of the last few days are any guide, many of the players are no different.
