Trap may stick with tried and trusted

Despite all of the new faces who responded when opportunity knocked for them in Fulham last night, Giovanni Trapattoni indicated immediately after the game that he doesn’t expect to make more than one significant change to his usual first 11 for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Germany.

“We need to pay particular attention to Germany and I also want to see their victory over Austria in Vienna,” he said, adding that he would have preferred a draw in that other Group C game last night which the Germans won 1-2. “But after tonight’s game for us, I now know better the young and other options. Germany are strong on the wings and it was interesting for me to see how well Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson did as full-backs.”

The manager was asked about the eye-catching debut of Manchester United’s rising star Robbie Brady.

“I have always said that I want wingers who can score goals and Brady is definitely an offensive player,” he observed. “But who we choose depends on the tactical approach for the game against Germany, whether we are strong enough to attack or whether we need to play a different game.”

The manager is contemplating a three-man midfield against Germany in Dublin next month, which would almost certainly mean a start for James McCarthy alongside Glenn Whelan and the returning Keith Andrews.

“McCarthy plays differently, he is more technical,” said the manager. “Andrews has physicality and experience. I have to think about this. I know well Germany, and it is possible we may have to play with a strong midfield and one striker, but then we will need full-backs who will attack and defend. It’s too early to say.”

As for last night, even allowing for the relative weakness of the opposition, Trapattoni was cheered by the quality of the Irish performance.

“Victory was important but more important we saw good individual performances from the likes of Coleman, Wilson and Brady. From the first moment, we played well, scored goals and I think also we had better geometry and better technique than we had in Kazakhstan. We lost a little bit with the substitutions but that’s normal.”

Trapattoni also took issue with a journalist who suggested that he had been “angry” with James McClean.

“I was not angry, absolutely not. I had 2,000 players in my career. If I got angry with my players, I wouldn’t be a coach. Will he feature against Germany? Probably not. I think about (Aiden) McGeady and other wingers. Every manager must think of the opponent and think who is strongest in my team to confront them. Tweet or not tweet, I don’t watch tweet.”

Finally, the manager clarified the injury which forced Simon Cox off was a heavy knock to the foot, rather than the ankle, and not thought serious.