Originally Posted by Keith Andrews
It was very restrictive. Glenn Whelan still gets stick now which is absolutely ridiculous. Every week you check teamsheets - whatever game I'm working, you'd obviously have one eye on the Irish lads. Every single week, for how many years, he's been in the Stoke team. Good player. But the thing that fans don't realise, is that certain people in the squad were pushed to one side because they wouldn't buy into what the manager wanted you to do.
So, on those one-off games, when we're either a little bit desperate - in Paris where we know we have to come back from a goal down. Or Estonia, where we kind of feel, 'This is our opportunity,' in the main you can't be going and doing your own thing to a degree, in our 'philosophy' shall we say under Trapattoni.
[But] I think the players took it upon themselves, realising the situation and the scenario we were in. We had really good leaders in that team. I loved walking out of the tunnel next to Shay, Richard Dunne - I felt like a gladiator walking next to him [Dunne]. When he put on that jersey he was like a man mountain. Robbie, Duffer obviously, I loved playing with. I just felt we had those leaders within the group. We always seemed to play better when we played together.
Was the football superb to watch? No, of course it wasn't - in the main. But in terms of results, and how productive that period was, I genuinely think it was a success.
