Trap’s reluctance to blood new talent mystifies Staunton

Former Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton has urged his successor to blood fresh talent — or expect his tenure to come under further scrutiny after Euro 2012.

Giovanni Trapattoni has eschewed the opportunity to have a look at some fringe talent against his native Italy in Poznan tonight, a decision that has not found favour with Staunton.

He told the BBC: “Although we have some promising young strikers like Shane Long, I don’t know much about where the next goalkeeper, defenders or midfielders are coming from. That is the downside of Trapattoni being so reluctant to blood new talent.

“Looking ahead was part of our agenda when I had the manager’s job — we had ‘B’ internationals and a younger crew of players champing at the bit. We tried to put things in place so that new players were pushing the older ones, and also so they would eventually be ready to replace the established internationals when the time came.

“I don’t know what the structure is now, or what Trapattoni has in mind for the next campaign, but it might come under greater scrutiny after what has happened in Poland.”

Staunton has also put Trap’s tactics under the microscope, suggesting that the formations “didn’t do ourselves any favours against Spain or Croatia. Spain are the best team in the world but we could have made it a lot harder for them to win that game in Gdansk on Thursday than we did. For me, we have to be a bit more honest about where we are at and say ‘look, we are not better than these teams, we are going to have to make it tough for them’.

That was always our forte when I was playing for Ireland — we always made it difficult for whoever our opponents were. Unfortunately, that has not happened at Euro 2012. Against Spain, we should have packed the midfield, which is what all the good sides in the Champions League and Premier League or at international level do what they are playing each other.

“Even when Jack Charlton was manager of Ireland, we would sometimes play a five-man midfield because Jack realised that, tough as we were to beat anyway, there was a need for us to put an extra man in the centre of the park.

“He knew that it didn’t matter whether you played six at the back or six in midfield, you always create a chance, from a set-piece or whatever.

“So it is all about staying in the game, something we have not done at these finals. Looking towards the 2014 World Cup, I think it is vital that Giovanni Trapattoni gives some experience of this sort of stage to some of his younger players.”