Trapattoni considers defensive options

Giovanni Trapattoni is considering calling up an extra defender for Saturday’s friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina with Richard Dunne, John O’Shea and Sean St Ledger all unlikely to be fit.

Assistant Marco Tardelli confirmed this morning that St Ledger has joined Dunne, who has a lower abdominal micro-tear and O’Shea, who reported for duty with an ankle problem, on the sidelines with a groin strain.

The Leicester defender still has a chance of being involved at the weekend, although Trapattoni is unwilling to risk the longer-term fitness of his walking wounded with less than three weeks to go before their opening Euro 2012 fixture against Croatia.

With full-back Kevin Foley having not trained all week because of a hamstring problem, Trapattoni could turn to his stand-by list, which includes Paul McShane and the versatile Seamus Coleman.

However, Tardelli indicated that McShane’s call-up is by no means a foregone conclusion.

In any case, he and Trapattoni are confident any replacement will only be temporary.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Shay Given is unlikely to be risked at the weekend as he continues his recovery from a knee problem with Sunderland’s Keiren Westwood the next man in line.