Quote:
FROM time to time you cannot help but wonder what Giovanni Trapattoni makes of us all. The Italian is mostly polite in the face of questioning and any anger that does occasionally escape is usually tinged with a touch of humour so as to take the sting from it. But when the Ireland manager hears that some in the country feel that we are capable of playing more attractive football – and in a more passionate manner too – and still come within two points of securing second spot in a highly competitive qualifying group, does he sit back over an espresso with Marco Tardelli and laugh at the very thought of an all-singing, all-dancing, fist-pumping side tearing the world's best apart with an artistic flourish? Or does he sit there with his assistant and merely feel sorry for the level of delusion that seems to affect a considerable (and vocal) minority of the international side's supporters and critics?
In a briefing with journalists on Wednesday, there were moments of real exasperation in the Italian's demeanour. When talk turned to Andy Reid, Trapattoni wore a face – for a moment, just a moment – that suggested that he could not believe that some people were still pushing the case of an enigmatic, unfit footballer, a hybrid between a winger and central midfielder who is not trusted by his club manager to start and finish a Premier League game. "You sit on the bench and make a team and after you can see why or no, you can see why choose [Reid] or why not choose," he answered one inquisitor in a fiery fashion and not long after he appeared equally angered by the suggestion that he didn't allow his players to pass the ball around. "If you ask the players [that], I want to be there to hear what they say. If my players say that is what I do then that is a different story but if you dream in the night this question, I cannot answer you when the question is not true."
You do have to wonder what Trap and Tardelli make of the whole experience thus far! That article is probably the best reading of the Irish squad i've seen in a while...spot on about people thinking Trap can't see that Kilbane isn't crash hot or the centre mid isn't creative, yet people don't see that he goes with it for a reason.