Let's hope Nuredinoski pops up in Skopje

SOCCER ANALYST:The way manager Giovanni Trapattoni sets up his team is far too predictable and easy to nullify, writes PAT FENLON

IT WAS an old problem for the Republic Ireland but one that is common in any team sport. The natural reaction of many sides that ease into a 2-0 lead is to relax. This was evident by the string of passing and calmness that descended upon the players after Robbie Keane poked in the second goal.

Unfortunately, and more often than not with Ireland, the pressure tactics hatched before the match were shelved. Any football coach will tell you of the frustration that comes with helplessly watching your team allow the tempo of a contest to drop, because they know it is almost impossible to just switch back on the rhythm that got them their lead in the first place.

Ireland, on Saturday night, entered this Catch-22 realm and it very nearly cost them dearly. On reflection of the whole 90 minutes, victory only came because Edin Nuredinoski is a terribly inept goalkeeper. His seven professional clubs should be able to confirm this. Actually, he didn’t really look like a goalkeeper at all. He couldn’t even kick the ball out properly. We let him off the hook.

Both goals were down to Nuredinoski gaffs so we never got to see Ireland engineer real chances in those dominant early stages – besides Kevin Kilbane’s fine cross that unfortunately led to Kevin Doyle’s knee injury and a Damien Duff shot that Nuredinoski again fumbled.

He looked to be in the horrors.

The crying shame is that Darron Gibson or Glenn Whelan were never positioned to unleash at least one of their trademark shots on him. We can only pray he is on duty in Skopje next June.

Gibson showed some positive flashes but Whelan had a bad night. I was surprised to see the former hauled off for Keith Fahey. No question that Keith needed to come in and liven things up but Whelan looked lethargic even before half-time.

Granted, it is a win and there was plenty of positives from the opening 20 minutes but at that stage I had a real belief that four or five goals would come. They needed to go for the jugular.

The way Trapattoni sets up his team is far too predictable and easy to nullify. The ball never got back to Whelan or Gibson’s feet just outside the box because everything was sprayed wide to Aiden McGeady or Damien Duff.

The Macedonians know all about the Irish wingers. They stacked up the flanks with two men constantly waiting for our tricksters. The play was screaming out for overlapping full-backs to give McGeady, especially, a one-on-one situation with a defender.

It never happened and, as a result, the opportunity to send in some decent crosses or roll possession back inside for any type of shot on goal never materialised.

Still, the opening 20 minutes were hugely encouraging. That is how Ireland should go about their business. The full-backs stayed at home, and overall Kilbane and Kevin Foley did well, but one of the two central midfielders was pressing while Robbie Keane and Doyle, and then Shane Long, were constantly peeling off the stuttering Macedonian centre backs.

Down the other end the visitors adopted a dangerous looking 4-2-1-3 system but in contrast to ours, their front men were looking for ball into feet. Meat and drink for Richard Dunne and Darren O’Dea.

The Irish back four moved out as a narrow, well honed defensive line and it seemed set up for a comfortable night. It also looked made for Gibson to dictate the terms of engagement as their holding midfielders were no where near him.

Damien Duff had a spring in his step, Robbie looked surprisingly sharp (granted, Dunne looked the opposite; the costly yellow card came because Goran Pandev skinned him) and McGeady’s confidence soared after the goal.

But football can change in an instant. Pandev was getting roughed up by O’Dea early on but when he slid a brilliant ball into Ivan Trichkovski the whole night was altered off course. It was the first time the Macedonians dropped behind the Irish defenders.

After Pandev left Kilbane for dead on the right, Dunne initially tried to step out for offside, but when the flag wasn’t raised (and there seemed to be a case) he was caught wrong-footed. Ivan Trickovski showed enough class to turn him and finished past Keiren Westwood.

Speaking of the man tasked with filling Shay Given’s boots, he did just that late on by becoming a big obstacle when Trickovski was presented with a chance to steal a point.

It would have felt like theft but, really, due to the manner Ireland froze, went into themselves, call it what you like, just stopped playing with the necessary urgency after 20 minutes, meant a loss of two points was always a possibility.

With Dunne now suspended for the trip to Skopje and Kevin Doyle out for probably the rest of the Premier League season, there was not too much to be cheerful about.

If we qualify people will only remember the opening 20 minutes (because they were not here last night and will only see the highlights reel) but that won’t happen unless we produce something similar for a more sustained period of time in the summer.

Yet after this performance Macedonia will back themselves to turn us over at home. Trapattoni’s tactics will be ultra-cautious on the road but Ireland must develop a response to crisis situations.

Releasing the full-backs against Uruguay tomorrow night would be a start. Just look how well England have benefited from it.