Reid and Carsley fall through the trapdoor

IF THERE had been any lingering doubts about the international career prospects of players like Andy Reid and Lee Carsley during the remainder of Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign, they were effectively killed off yesterday at Abbotstown where the Italian named his squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

Both men were omitted from an initial panel of 25 and Trapattoni has sought to bring an end to the persistent questioning of their exclusion by declaring the matter to be “finished” in his eyes.

Trapattoni’s justification of his selection seemed at times to be a little confused or contradictory with, for instance, the Italian initially stating he had no need of players who featured for “only 20 minutes”, yet Liam Miller retains his place in the squad having been involved in three games prior to leaving Sunderland last week compared to the 23 in which Reid has featured so far this season.

The numbers, of course, amount to little more than nit-picking at this stage. The veteran manager has made a choice, as he is entitled to, but in doing so has purposefully deprived himself of a significant measure of tactical flexibility. He made it abundantly clear, however, that the sacrifice does not concern him.

“I have chosen a squad and a system,” he said. “I have thought about Carsley and Andy Reid and again about Stephen Ireland but now it is about qualifying and so we need a situation like school: Repeat, repeat, repeat.

“People are talking about these changes but last year in the easy games some players were not available for me to try and now it is the qualifiers. It is not the time to change. My team for Georgia will be 90 per cent the team that played in the qualifiers last year.”

Inevitably, the mention of Ireland prompted further questions which, in turn, solicited one of several slightly grumpy interventions from Trapattoni’s assistant Liam Brady. Not for the first time, the Dubliner didn’t seem to be in the best of form and when one journalist asked, after Trapattoni had clearly stated the understanding with the Manchester City midfielder is that he should get in touch whenever he is willing to come back, whether he might simply be included in a squad in order to “see what happens”, Brady took it pretty badly.

“We just said that we agreed when we went to Manchester, we agreed that Stephen Ireland, he said he would contact us when he was ready,” said the former Arsenal midfielder. “Is that not clear? Is that not clear? Is that clear? We agreed that he would contact us if we he wanted to come back, okay? There’s no timescale . . . have a bit of respect for your country. . .”

This final remark caused a bit of confusion with opinion divided on whether it had been directed at Ireland or the journalist and clarification was later sought. The FAI media department helpfully confirmed in no time at all it was the reporter rather than the player who had been Brady’s target, thereby avoiding the possibility of a repeat of the slightly unseemly slanging match that developed between Don Givens and Ireland early last year.

Reid, Carsley and Ireland aside (nobody even bothered to mention that Rory Delap had been better than Glenn Whelan for Stoke at Chelsea on Saturday), it was upbeat enough stuff, with Trapattoni insisting that his men will beat Georgia on February 11th if they show the same sort of spirit they did last year – even if, he cautioned, it will not be easy.

“It will not be the same Georgia that we played last time. Before that game Hector Cuper had just 10 or 15 days to get to know his players who played in Germany. Now he knows them much better.

“I watched the game against Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria and he made many changes, they were a different team but if we show the same mentality then we will win, I am sure of it,” said Trapattoni.

Despite the thigh strain that has sidelined him in recent weeks and delayed his Premier return, Steve Finnan is included in the squad along with a number of relative newcomers including Caleb Folan, Noel Hunt and Alex Bruce.

Asked about the success stories of his first year in charge Trapattoni mentioned, with a little prompting from Brady, the defensive partnership of Richard Dunne and John O’Shea, both of whom would, barring mishaps, be expected to start next month at Croke Park. Dunne has had his problems at Manchester City this season, with Saturday’s sending off against Wigan his latest setback. It means the defender is unlikely to see any competitive action for the club between now and the international break.

City have struggled collectively in defence but Trapattoni insists the problems are not the responsibility of the back four, with the Italian contending that the balance between attack and defence was not right at the club.

“Every team needs balance between the offence and the defence. Maybe the situation in England is very difficult. City have a good offensive balance but the football in England is too fast. Dunne for us is safety. When he comes back for us he will benefit from the fact that we have a different balance in the team.”

The FAI, meanwhile, have announced that there is to be 1,500 seat “singing section” for fans in the Davin Stand. Tickets for this area of the ground will be made available at the FAI ticket outlet at 43 Parnell Square from January 22nd, priced €50 each.