Shock Horror, Trappatoni turns out to be a negatively minded manager!
I was against Trap at the beginning, for a number of reasons
1. I felt the Irish players would not be able to grasp what he wanted from them when they are from a completely different footballing culture; this was going to be made more difficult by the language gap.
2. His football is just awful to watch, and it is hard to know whether it is worth suffering through it even if it brings with it an increased chance of qualifying.
Any yet I would have to say that Ireland are further along now than I had thought they would be; the managerial appointment is far surpassing my expectations. To say there has been no improvement from Staunton is ludicrous.
In Trap's defence:
The standard of player available to him has generally declined with time. No Stephen Reid, no Steven ireland, no fullbacks, indifferent form from Robbie Keane. Based on a player career of 10 years, then you need at least one of 2 decent players emerging every year to keep standards up. Apart from the excellent Aidan McGeady and possibly Kevin Doyle , not a single quality player has emerged in the last 3-4 years. We are woefully inadequate in certain key positions. Central Midfield is obvious, but just as important is the lack of dynamism goign forward, which is the consequence of having such a dearth of ability at fullback, which allows opposition defenders / midfield always to double up on the 2 attacking threats Duff and McGeady. There were 2-3 players marking McGeady each time he got on the ball last night.
Andy Reid; Sometimes a manager has to draw a line over which it has to be clear players dare not tread. An ongoing problem of the last 10 years has been sloppy discipline, and a sloppy approach to game preparation. This drove Roy Keane nuts, and it is no surprise that Trap has taken a tough line with Andy Reid if he feels that he is a bad influence, and at the same time he is expendible. The portly messiah obvioulsy fits into this category in Trap's mind....I think at this point he is being overly stubborn on this point at this stage, but look how long Dave O'Leary (a far superior player) was frozen out under JC....stubborness is hardly unique to Trap; it may indeed prove useful at some stage.
Steven Ireland; who knows what is going on in this man`s brain. I would love to see him in an Ireland shirt, but I do not think it would be dignified to have the national Team coach of Trap's seniority going with begging bowl in hand to get hime back. There are enough other individuals there who are in a better place to take the initiative; Liam Brady, Richard Dunne....I am sure there are any number of people from Ireland's past who could be used to make an attempt or contacted by Steven if he wanted to come back. So bugger it, he is outside the panel for now; it don't really see what Trap can do.
Composition of the panel; Lee Carsely is not going to do anything Andrews, Gibson and Whelan are not already doing. Clinton Morrison, maybe...there are a number of players which may be worth discussing but these are all playeers from the first division in england, so they are very unlikely to make much of a difference really. All the available Irish players (with the exception of aforementioned Messiah) playing in the Premiership are in the squad, so any other discussion, keeps discussion boards going, but is essentially irrelevant.
As for the ineptitude of the performace; every Irish team I have watched has struggled when taking the lead in games. My joy at the early goal last night was tempered by the memory of; Israel home and away under Kerr (when the legendary Roy Keane was on the pitch to dictate things), Holland 2000, England 1988 and so on. So this is nothing new either. I doubt whether the slack passing and terrible lack of movement following the goal can be laid at Trap's door. Any one would have to concede that Ireland were actually better in the second half, once he'd had a chance to talk to them at half time.
1-1 last night was not disastrous for us,it is actually a good result and one I would have taken at the beginning of the qualification campaign. There has however been an unbelievable sense of despondency around after the match. I believe the reason for this is not neccessarily rational, rather it is the result of watching 94 minutes of the utterly joyless football which is Trap's trademark. I can remember watching "good" results with Stuttgart,including a 0-0 draw with Bayern, but feeling somehow empty after the match. Nobody really wants to watch this type of football. Kerr was hounded out because of it, and it was only tolerated in Charlton's time because of the relative success enjoyed.
I honestly believe now, that we are doing as well as we can, I don't really see how he could utilise the "talent" he has any better. At least, the defence is reasonably solid (given the paucity of full back talent, this is a very good achievement). We have also generated chances in each game and could easily have won yesterday. You can say what you like about possession, territory etc, but the freakish goal for Bulgaria was their only real attack of the second half and I think Given made 2 easy saves all game. If Robbie and Kevin Doyle has have been a bit more clinical we'd have a second goal and we'd have had our long awaited win aginst a second seed.
Trap is good value for money, no other manager would do any better, so cheer up and get behind the team. The players themselves might play with a little more belief and confidence, if the entire fan base / media were not moaning all the time.
Besides, what exact alternative did people have in mind?
