Same old failings come back to haunt cautious Trap

Old problem, different delivery.

The most unfortunate aspect of a double-header in which Giovanni Trapattoni showed an admirable willingness to evolve was that this late setback was, in its own way, all too typical.

It has been rather characteristic of this regime to offset every step forward with another back, and vice versa. The good work of Stockholm is immediately undone. Perhaps even worse, though, the move to more technical football that will be of great benefit to Ireland in the long term brought the short-term mistakes here that may well see the manager revert to type.