Walters’ physicality a winner as Doyle to be held in reserve
Although Giovanni Trapattoni will not confirm his team until tomorrow, all his remarks to the media after training in Malahide yesterday pointed to a 12th cap in the offing for the Stoke City man, with Doyle the one likely to lose out.
And Nottingham Forest’s Simon Cox looks like he will come in as a replacement for Damien Duff, with James McClean — who cut short training yesterday as he recovered from a cold — obliged to bide his time before he gets a chance to make the wide position his own.
Asked if Walters was now ahead of Doyle in the strikers’ pecking order, Trapattoni replied: “At this moment yes, because he’s also strong physically. I will ask him to spend all of his energy up front and then we will have the other opportunity of bringing on the pace of Long and also Doyle. We must exploit the strength of Walters. I say to him, ‘you must work, work, work, hold up the ball, and let the team come up’. And when he will be tired we will have another two options.”
Praising the footballing intelligence of Simon Cox, the manager said: “He was the man-of-the-match against Serbia. He is a particular kind of player, like James McCarthy. He thinks before the ball comes to him. In his team he has played many times left or right and we can use him left or right. He can smell the goal. There are players, like Robbie, who can see things before the ball’s coming. James McCarthy is another, he knows before the ball is coming, to pass. Simon Cox is also like this. He has this intuition. And he can also change positions. (During the game) I can also put him up front, with Walters right.”
While Trapattoni is looking for an attacking approach in Astana, saying that “it’s important we win this game”, he also cautioned against any complacency. And he pointed out that Germany were held scoreless in Kazakhstan for the first 45 minutes of a European Championship qualifier in October 2010 before eventually running out three-nil winners.
“Be careful,” he said. “Remember, against Germany it was nil-nil for the first-half and Kazakhstan had opportunities to score. So be careful, because this team has attitude and mentality and it’s also fast. We have to pay attention. We must play like we did in Serbia and better than we did at the Europeans.”
Meanwhile, Trapattoni revealed that he hasn’t entirely given up on the seemingly fanciful idea that Damien Duff might yet be coaxed out of international retirement.
“I said to him, ‘Damien, never say never’. We can wait after these games and maybe before the Germany game, I said that we can speak again. He is a great man and maybe the decision will be made by Damien because his heart is with Ireland. My philosophy is never say never. The players know the situation where we don’t forget anything or anyone. In the future we will speak to him and he can always change his opinion at any moment.”
The Irish squad set out on their long haul journey across Europe to Kazakhstan at 11am this morning and, after a brief stopover in Tallinn, Estonia, are expected to arrive in Astana — which is five hours ahead of Ireland — around midnight local time.
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