Staunton: I'll take criticism on the chin

Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton has vowed to take the fierce criticism flying his way “on the chin”.

As if calls for his head were not bad enough following Saturday’s embarrassing 5-2 Euro 2008 qualifying defeat by Cyprus, Staunton’s injury troubles continue to mount.

Paddy Kenny and Stephen Ireland have both today undergone scans on hamstring injuries, while Andy O’Brien is also extremely doubtful with a severely swollen ankle.

With Richard Dunne suspended following his dismissal at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia for two bookable offences, Staunton faces the prospect of being without his most experienced centre-back pairing for Wednesday’s visit to Lansdowne Road of the Czech Republic.

Many critics will argue that may be no bad thing following their displays against Cyprus, although it would mean Staunton being forced to turn to the likes of Preston’s uncapped Sean St Ledger.

When asked whether he felt there was a curse hanging over him at the moment, Staunton replied: “There seems to be.

“We’re not having the best of luck, but we have to get ourselves together and regroup because we owe it to the fans who travelled to Cyprus, and to all those who support us.

“We’ll wait and see what happens with the team I pick, but we’ve great fans, and I know they’ll get behind us.

“The boys are trying their best, although you can’t legislate for errors. We just have to regroup and get on with it.”

On the back of four successive defeats, and with the humiliation in Cyprus so alarmingly acute, the supporters are turning against the 37-year-old despite his pedigree as a player.

However, he is unconcerned by the criticism, adding: “I’ll take it on the chin.

“There’s nothing you can do. As I’ve said before, I can’t go out and buy players, although I feel we have a good squad here.

“There’s obviously a lot that could be here that aren’t here, but what can I do? We just have to get on with it. I know in the long run everything will be okay.”

In addition to Kenny, Ireland, O’Brien and Dunne, Staunton is also without Shay Given, Steven Reid, Graham Kavanagh and Stephen Carr, while Ian Harte and Joey O’Brien are long-term injury victims.

Kevin Doyle who is making progress from an ankle problem, but remains doubtful, so it is no wonder Staunton feels luck is not on his side.

Unfortunately, neither are the demanding public, despite the fact the 37-year-old is being forced to turn to his youngsters.

“I’ve not given up on my players,” insisted Staunton.

“I think we have some smashing lads, although they’re being blooded a lot quicker than I expected.

“But when you have 10 of your main players out, they have to come in, and to be fair to them they’ve done very well so far.”

Others would disagree, and when you call a team meeting to assess where matters are going wrong – as happened yesterday in Cyprus – it shows all is far from rosy.

Staunton at least felt the hour-long session at the team hotel in Limassol was more beneficial than a planned warm-down.

“It was useful in putting things behind us and moving on, not only for myself, but the whole squad,” said Staunton.

“We were going to go training, but we felt it necessary to get in a room and discuss matters. It was very fruitful.

“We’ve been picking the lads up. They are all bright, breezy and looking forward to Wednesday night.

“We know we have to be hard to beat, try and score a goal and try and win the game. That’s what we’ll have to do.”

If Sheffield United goalkeeper Kenny is out, Brighton’s Wayne Henderson – who has two substitute caps to his name – will be thrown in at the deep end against the Czechs.

With Ireland also struggling with a hamstring injury, Staunton assessed: “There was a bit of tightness when they woke up this morning.

“That could be because of the long flight back we had yesterday, so they’ve had scans and we’ll have to see what the report is.”

As for O’Brien, he “rocked his ankle” twice in Saturday’s game, while Staunton confirmed Doyle at least trained more than in previous days, but his ankle “is still pretty tender”.

The only positives are that Andy Reid is available again after he remained behind with Charlton to undergo an extensive fitness regime, as is Alan Quinn who missed the Cyprus game after the death of his mother.