Trap hails ‘champion’ Keane’s Spurs return

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has welcomed Robbie Keane’s return to Spurs as good news for the striker and for Ireland, and hailed the Irish captain has one of the best players he has ever managed.

“Robbie is a player who thrives on playing regularly,” said the Ireland manager when asked about the player’s move back to White Hart Lane after his unhappy experience at Anfield.

“Going to Spurs will give him regular games. That is good for Robbie and it is good for us.”

And the veteran Italian added: “In my career I have managed players of great quality like Platini and Boniek at Juventus, Gomes at Benfica and Diaz at Inter to name just a few. To win you need great champions. Robbie is one in this category. He is a natural captain and of great importance to the whole squad.”

Answering questions in an FAI fans’ forum, Trapattoni also responded to criticism of the narrow nature of Ireland’s 1-0 victory over Cyprus in their last World Cup outing, recalling what happened against the Cypriots in the last European Championship qualifying campaign. “Cyprus is the side in Group Eight that has put all teams, including Italy, in difficulty,” Trapattoni pointed out. “Having the mentality, as sometimes happened in the past, of abandoning the balance of the team in order to push up might give you a 10% chance of scoring, but it leaves you wide open to counter attack and a 90% chance of conceding. That is no use to anyone.

“Let’s not forget the time we did push up against Cyprus and lost 5-2. Every team in our group will tell you that Cyprus are very fast and very dangerous. If you give them space they will skewer you like a chicken.”

Turning to Wednesday’s game against Georgia at Croke Park, Trapattoni suggested that it would be wrong to read too much into Ireland’s win against their opponents in Germany last September.

“They will be strong opposition and are not the same team we played last year in Mainz at all,” he said. (Manager) Héctor Cúper had only just taken on the job, but since then they have improved substantially. I saw the match they played against Romania in November (a 2-1 friendly loss in Bucharest) and they were a very well distributed, well organised side.”

Once again, Trapattoni declined the opportunity to consider experimenting with his tactical system when asked if Ireland should play 4-3-3 and “go for it from here on out.”

“We have a strong formation as we play at the moment. We have plenty of attacking options through McGeady, Duff, Keogh and Hunt. The balance of that formation and consistency, so that the players are all at ease in their positions, is fundamental. If we were to play 4-3-3, we would have to sacrifice either Keane or Doyle and that is not my preferred option.”