No need for Reid, says Trap

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has cited the primacy of his established system as the reason why he opted to call QPR’s Martin Rowlands into the Irish squad as a replacement for the injured Darron Gibson and, once again, ignored the increasingly persuasive claims of Sunderland’s Andy Reid.

“Andy Reid is an offensive player,” said Trapattoni, “Rowlands is a midfielder like Gibson who is missing. I saw the Sunderland Manchester United game and Andy Reid played well against John O’Shea. But at this moment we have a good enough squad with 25 or 26 players. We play well enough and get the results. Reid plays on the left now but we have McGeady, Hunt, Keogh and Lawrence in this position, players who play on the line with specific characteristics.”

Not for the first time, Trapattoni brought up Reid’s absence through injury from the manager’s inaugural training camp in Portugal as one of the reasons why he continues to miss out – even though he was subsequently included in the squad for the opening two World Cup qualifiers. Then came the celebrated falling-out between the two in the team hotel in Germany, although the manager still maintains it had nothing to do with the player’s subsequent non-selection.