Trap plays the waiting game with duo
So, instead, we got the word that both Richard Dunne and Wes Hoolahan are “90%” likely to start against the Faroe Islands, the manager’s reluctance to commit only partly based on the fact that he was talking at lunchtime on a Bank Holiday Monday and the game itself doesn’t kick off until Friday night.
There was also the added complication that Trapattoni was at a sun-splashed Gannon Park in Malahide without any of his players, the manager having given the squad a day off following their 4-0 victory over Georgia the previous evening.
And if a week is a long time in football then so also can be a day, especially if it turns into a long night.
With a wry grin, Trapattoni reported: “I left them free so today I don’t see them. I’m not a magician. Maybe two or three rest, maybe some drink beer or go with wife. Maybe happen accident — I hope not!
“So I couldn’t say to you 100%. When they are all back here, I can be clear. We haven’t trained today. Tomorrow we can put things into focus a little bit more.”
Trapattoni said he had imposed no curfew on the players on Sunday night but expected all of them to be back at the team hotel in Portmarnock for dinner at 7.30pm yesterday..
“No, I let them free,” he said. “They needed the break because of the intensity of the game against England and then the game against Georgia. One day off was important, so that they don’t always see the same faces morning and afternoon.”
After his impressive performance on Sunday, Hoolahan’s place in the Irish scheme of things was a point the media were keen to air again yesterday, with Trapattoni now prepared to accept the player had been overlooked both in the quest for qualification for Euro 2012 and in its immediate aftermath.
The manager said: “When you asked me before, I said Wes Hoolahan was 30 years (now 31) and we wanted to start the new generation for the next season. I said also maybe I ignored him a bit. We achieve the qualification with Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan and Darron Gibson and we were right to continue this. But we don’t forget. We don’t forget (Lee) Carsley, though now he is on a pension. Steven Reid. We keep an eye on every player every weekend. We have another example now — (Stephen) Quinn.
“We change many, many players. There are many players in the Championship who are not famous, we discover these and they play. (Jeff) Hendrick — before, who is Hendrick? He is like (James) McCarthy, he can grow physically and improve more his personality. Like McCarthy, he is a little bit shy but he is also now important to our midfield options.”
Trapattoni was also clearly delighted at the return from injury of Marc Wilson against Georgia, but admitted Ireland had missed the rested Seamus Coleman on the opposite flank.
And with the Irish on a quest for goals as well as maximum points against the Faroes, the manager is hoping for an extra edge to the team’s attacking threat in the World Cup qualifier on Friday.
“I think we could so better,” he said. “With Wilson and Coleman, we have 30% more on the left and 30% more on the right. That is important.”
In injury news, David Forde, Sean St Ledger and Jon Walters have been nursing knocks but Trapattoni said he fully expected them all to be fit for selection against the Faroe Islands.
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