Familiarity breeds content for Trap

AND the big news from the squad announcement for the games against Russia and Slovakia is that, well, there’s no big news really.

Before yesterday’s press conference, Giovanni Trapattoni and Jack Charlton exchanged warm words and posed for photographs together in the lobby of the Clarion Airport Hotel in Dublin. Later, Il Trap admitted that he and Big Jack shared some personality traits. Clenching a fist and smiling, the Italian said: “Jack was tough. I like him. I follow him.”

Certainly, Trapattoni was following the practice of the former Ireland manager yesterday by naming a squad which was wholly lacking in the element of surprise – one all but identical, in fact, to the panel he chose for the games against Armenia and Andorra, barring the inclusion of striker Cillian Sheridan from the off instead of as the late call-up he was for the opening two qualifiers.