Five senior players out of Italy game
Giovanni Trapattoni has allowed five of his senior players to leave the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of Tuesday’s friendly with Italy.
Kevin Kilbane and Shay Given had agreed to participate in coaching sessions before the friendly with Italy was organised, and as a result Trapattoni has allowed them leave. He has also given permission to captain Robbie Keane to depart on an early holiday after his five goal haul in the last week. Keith Fahey has withdrawn with a knee injury, while John O’Shea is travelling to be with his wife as she gives birth to their first child.
Speaking to reporters, Trapattoni said that he would not call replacements into the squad despite these recent withdrawals. “We have 26 or 27 in the squad originally, now we will give priority to those who came and played. I don’t forget about Gibson or Wilson or any of the others but obviously they have to deserve their place back.”
“I was worried about Robbie before the game,” Trapattoni, “because he sets the tempo for the team, he allows the team to think with his personality. I didn’t think it was possible for him to work as hard as he did in this game.” The Italian also admitted that Shay Given had to be given an injection at half-time last night because of a groin injury.
He was also happy with his players’ performance against Macedonia last night. “The team played the way we wanted it to. The important think now is to maintain that, because if we can do that we can play against anyone.
It may be possible to the answer the question after the two games in September but in my opinion it may come down to the last game.”
Related posts:
Suspect we’ll start forde
Mcshane-sledge-o’dea-ward
Coleman-foley-andrews-mcgeady
Keogh-long
Make that 6. McGeady has been recalled by Spartak Moscow.
keogh does not deserve to be in the squad let alone start a match against quality opposition for us.shambles
Ireland lineup tomorrow is apparently going to be:
Forde
McShane [c], St Ledger, O’Dea\Kelly, Ward
Coleman, Andrews, Foley, Hunt\Lawrence
Keogh, Long
Up against an Italy side consisting of:
Viviano
Cassani, Gamberini, Chiellini, Criscito
Nocerino, Pirlo, Marchisio
Montolivo
Rossi, Pazzini
Slightly worried that we’re going to get thumped here. Very difficult to see the point of this match.. We already got to see our fringe selection in action twice in the Celtic Cup games and the appetite for yet another fixture eating into summer holiday time for the players can’t be all that high. I suppose it’ll be a good experience for players like Coleman, Ward, Long and Foley who didn’t get to play against Italy last time around.
A perfect opportunity to test out players like Hoolahan, McPhail, Sammon, Rooney, Murphy, Noel Hunt and possibly Steven Reid, most of whom would be more than delighted to travel to Liege but Trapattoni is too stubborn.
As it stands, we have a total of three stikers and two central midfielders in the squad.
What are friendly’s for?
Trapattoni has lost a degree of trust in McCarthy, Wilson, Gibson, Walters, Folan and Best.
Why then doesn’t he give other players an opportunity to prove that they are more loyal and professional?
[...] McGeady has been recalled by Spartak Moscow, becoming the sixth absentee from the squad which won 2-0 on Saturday. Millwall’s David Forde will make his first start in [...]
Would like to see Conor Sammon get a shot. As to Caleb Folan, he can barely score in the MLS – played 9 games, only scored in 1. He is not international quality.
Steven Reid said he was done playing for us. He wants to focus on his club career. Anthony Stokes probably will never play for Trap again. Stokes clearly has an attitude problem.
Terrifying that we are starting Keough and McShane against Italy. We could really get wiped out here. Coleman I think will shine though.
Leave your response!
Upcoming Matches
Recent Posts
Links
Archives
Latest Updates on Twitter
Share this site
Most Commented
Most Viewed