GROUP EIGHT IRELAND v ITALY: Trapattoni has got as much out of this Ireland squad as any manager could and he deserves his new contract with the FAI

BEARING IN mind the closing stages of recent campaigns, when there was nothing but uncertainty about the future of the manager, it’s a relief Giovanni Trapattoni and the FAI have agreed an extension to his contract.

Rather than getting mired in arguments about whether the manager should go, the focus has actually been on the final group games, so that’s been a welcome change.

And, for me, the new contract makes perfect sense. No, Trapattoni’s teams aren’t often thrilling to watch, and I worried when I saw last month’s desperately poor performance away to Cyprus, but I still don’t believe any other manager could have got any more out of this group of players in this campaign.

Look at the table. Unbeaten in eight games, with just two to go. Still mathematically in with a chance – slim and all as it might be – of catching Italy and automatically qualifying for the World Cup. To be in that position, at this stage, is a real achievement.

Some might argue that because Italy have been in decline since they won the 2006 World Cup – and that is undeniably true – we should have pushed them even closer in this group.

But that is to exaggerate our strength. And while it’s far from the strongest Italian team ever, they still know how to get results, that’s the bottom line with them. That’s why they lead the group. Same as it ever was.

Going into a game needing just a point to secure qualification? No team on earth would be better suited for tonight’s challenge than Italy, it comes naturally to them, it’s in their DNA. And that’s not to overestimate them, it’s simply acknowledging that they have a habit, even in their not-so-great years, of always being able to do enough. Cliches, after all, are usually cliches because they’re true.

There will, of course, have been no stone left unturned by Trapattoni going into this game, he’ll have thought long and hard about it and used his “inside” knowledge to prepare the team. He’s certainly not a gambler, as we know, so I don’t think his choice of Liam Lawrence over Stephen Hunt is any great risk on his part.

There’s only a Rizla, in all honesty, between Lawrence and Hunt. They have much the same work-ethic, although I think Lawrence has the edge in terms of delivery from set-pieces. He’s done well for Stoke the past couple of seasons, I think he’s earned his chance. It will be interesting to see how he does against this opposition.

The rest of the team pretty much picked itself, and although there might have been some hints that Kevin Kilbane would lose out, with Trapattoni talking up Eddie Nolan, I’m not surprised to see him keep his place.

A game of this magnitude would have come too early for Nolan, who I know from Preston. I think Trapattoni was always going to stick with the experience of Kilbane, regardless of his recent struggles.

In light of the withdrawals of Damien Duff, Steven Reid and Darron Gibson, I can understand why people were so puzzled by Trapattoni’s refusal to call up Andy Reid.

He will never, I assume, pick him for a central midfield place, but while Reid might not have the same energy levels as, say, wide players like Hunt, Lawrence or Aiden McGeady, he remains one of the few we have who has the quality to be able to create something out of nothing.

He has been playing extremely well of late on the left side for Sunderland, so much so that Steve Bruce, a manager I admire, has moved Kieran Richardson to left-back – and he doesn’t look particularly like a left-back to me – to accommodate Reid in the side.

If he can carry on playing in a top-10 Premier League team on a regular basis, and continue to make things happen in games, then he must come back in to the squad. He has to, despite what reservations Trapattoni may have. We’re always short of players with real quality, so he simply cannot be overlooked if he keeps on playing and performing.

That issue, though, is for another day. My hunch for tonight’s game is that it will be a draw.

Enough for Italy to go through, enough to leave us just needing a draw against Montenegro – assuming Bulgaria win their last two games – to go into the play-offs.

And that, for me, would more than justify the awarding of a new contract to Trapattoni.