Survival of the fittest

NOT for the first time – and probably not for the last – it was players not selected who dominated the exchanges in Abbotstown yesterday as Giovanni Trapattoni sought to explain why he has chosen to leave both Steven Reid and Steve Finnan out of his squad for the World Cup play-off games against France.

It was the manager himself who, right at the top of his press conference, raised the controversy which blew up around his remarks concerning the Blackburn Rovers player’s fitness, widely reported comments which appeared to question the player’s ability to ever recover fully from his knee injury.

“I wish to clarify what I read about Steven Reid,” said Trapattoni.