Trap to send for goalbuster

Having seen his side create a number of clear-cut chances against Wales only to draw a frustrating blank on Wednesday night, Giovanni Trapattoni was almost channelling Ray Parker Jr yesterday: If there’s something weird and it don’t look good, who ya gonna call? Goalbuster.

Or to put it another way, Robbie Keane will come straight back into the team for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Sweden – a home game in which, with three points the target, at least one goal is mandatory. And, as we know, Keane hasn’t often been found wanting in that department.

Not that Trapattoni was being anything other than sympathetic to Shane Long, who failed to put away a couple of inviting chances in Cardiff.

“This can happen when a player is young,” said the manager yesterday. “When Robbie was in Italy aged 20/21 he played well but sometimes he too had this angst. It is normal. Shane had time to take a touch and it would have been easier. The same with James McClean. This is typical, the young can be a little bit rushed.

“The president of Juventus, Giampiero Boniperti, was one of the best Italian strikers. Once when I missed a goal and put it over the bar, he said to me, ‘Giovanni, I have missed from five metres in front of goal’. This is a great man and a great striker, so it is possible for it to happen to anyone.”

It tends to happen less to Ireland’s record goalscorer than to any of his international team-mates, however, which is why Trapattoni will look to the experience of Keane for the visit of the Swedes. But Long will almost certainly start too, playing ahead of the skipper as he did in Stockholm, Trapattoni believing there is a lack of pace in the Swedish defence which the West Brom striker can exploit. “Long’s speed could be important,” he said.

All of which would mean no place in the starting line-up for Wes Hoolahan who, uncharacteristically, failed to shine in the 4-4-1-1 formation deployed against Wales.

“Wes was a little bit tired,” said the manager. “I asked him to help in midfield as well. He doesn’t have this habit of working over 80 metres; usually for his club he plays mainly in the last 20 or 30 metres.”

Trapattoni still insisted Hoolahan had “played well” – and pointedly refused to rule out the possibility of him playing behind Keane against Sweden — but a smiling reference to the Norwich schemer weighing only “50 kilos” perhaps also revealed a deeper concern that the player was seen to lose possession a couple of times in Cardiff by being knocked off the ball.

If failing to score was the major downside of Ireland’s performance in Cardiff, the contrasting positive was that the defence kept a clean sheet for the fifth time in eight games this year.

“John O’Shea has experience and Clark has pace and increases his personality,” said Trapattoni. “Now we hope St Ledger comes back and, in the future Dunne if he plays. And with O’Dea as well, we have enough options. If we concede too much space we can be in difficulty with the counter-attack but not if we are compact.”

Trapattoni had praise for full-backs Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson but, stressing, as he always does, the need to have the team “in balance” and working as a unit, he suggested Robbie Brady hadn’t entirely fulfilled his offensive/defensive brief on Wednesday night.

A fit Aiden McGeady would be expected to come back into the team for the Sweden game while the combination of attacking threat and physical presence supplied by James McClean when he came off the bench in Cardiff has probably now put the Derryman back ahead of Brady in the pecking order of those waiting in the wings.

As for the very last line of defence, Trapattoni suggested David Forde would need a couple of games under his belt at Millwall before regaining his place next month. If he doesn’t, Trap is confident in Keiren Westwood’s ability to step in. “He probably felt like he was under examination,” the manager smiled. “But with the goalkeeper we have not a problem. If needs be, we continue with Westwood.”

In the wake of Tuesday’s scoreless draw, however, the main talking point was the graphic contrast provided in Stockholm as Ireland’s group rivals Sweden beat Norway 4-2, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagging a hat-trick.

“I hope he has run out of gasoline now,” Trapattoni chuckled. “There are players like Messi, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic who can always score a wonder goal. But we also have good defenders and if our team is in good balance I think we can do well against Sweden.”

Longer-term too, the Italian found some striking encouragement in a lively cameo in rookie Paddy Madden.

“It was a good opportunity for him,” said Trapattoni. “He showed he is quick and intelligent with the potential to be very dangerous. He has a good instinct and is like a mix of Cox and Long.”

One for the future then, as the Italian often says. But make no mistake that, as far as Trapattoni is concerned, the one for the immediate future continues to be Robbie Keane.