In my opinion, McCarthy would be established in the Irish midfield if Trap had not got the sulk when McCarthy pulled out of the end of the season friendlies in May. For a man as old and experienced as he is you'd think he'd have grown up a bit by now. Trap is as stubborn as they come and there is a huge risk of alienating more worthy irish players from the set up:
Andy Reid - alienated
James McCarthy - alienated (Trap has tested this guy's patience and you would hardly blame him if he defected back to Scotland)
Stephen Reid - alienated (Sunday Times interview 3 wks ago, it was evident at how shambolic he was treated by Trap. Absolutely no respect was shown by Trap.
Andy Reid would have given us an extra option 20 mins to go if things were not going to plan. I'm not saying he would have changed things drastically though.
Having seen McCarthy playing on at least 10 occasions, he certainly would have made a huge difference in our non-existent midfield. The guy is a touch of class.
With his injuries S Reid wouldn't have done much, but having broken back into the WB team recently he could prove a viable option yet if he gets a good run at it. He would not have retired if he had been treated with some degree of respect. Still though he can be coaxed back but don't think Trap's ego will make it a reality.
Don Givens had an amazing skill of bearing grudges and alienating talented players. Trap is the exact same (look back to his Bayern Munich days). How many more quality players will he alienate before he his tenure ends??
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