McCarthy to start against Serbia

Marco Tardelli has confirmed James McCarthy will start for Ireland in Belgrade tomorrow night but whether as part of a two-man or three-man central midfield remains to be seen.

With Giovanni Trapattoni dropping hints about a possible system change for the friendly against Serbia, his assistant manager confirmed the squad tried out a 4-3-3 formation in training at Gannon Park yesterday. But asked if Ireland would adopt that formation in Serbia, he replied: “I don’t know. But, yes, it is possible. We can try during the match and change back.”

Echoing previous comments by Trapattoni, Tardelli said the short time the management team has with the players makes it hard to work on a different approach. But when pressed on the issue, he was quick to turn the tables in defence of 4-4-2.