Post-match reaction: Emmet Malonegets the thoughts of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni

IN HIS time so far with the Irish team, Giovanni Trapattoni has grown used to answering questions in his post-match press conferences about the emphasis on avoiding defeat and the performances of the “fammus” players. Last night we had something of a rarity to ask about during his reign, a victory in a friendly and one earned without too many of the “fammus” players at all.

Predictably, then, he was pleased with what he had seen and, as they had the day before the game, the game’s goalscorer Liam Lawrence and young left back, Eddie Nolan got mentioned more than most.

“I have seen them all but I wanted the players to confirm my opinion of them and they did,” he said. “(Darron) Gibson, I’ve seen in games a few times, he had a good performance and Folan also played well while Lawrence and Nolan did what I wanted. I wasn’t sure they show that my opinions of them were right but they did and I am happy with that.

“Together,” he continued, “they have given us hope tonight that we can have a bigger, stronger squad. Sure, the South Africans had a lot of possession but I knew it would be that before the game because I knew the way they would play.

“It was important for us to be compact and I made that clear when we watched a DVD of them playing this morning. I reminded the players of the importance of not making any mistakes and they listened because we did not run any risks.

“It was important after changing five or six players they worked together to avoid difficult situations and they did. I saw a good performance with very few mistakes, there were no distractions, the concentration was good.”

Asked about his decision to ignore the call by his medical people for Folan to be replaced after the striker had been involved in a clash of heads and to play instead for 10 minutes with just 10 men while the player received stitches, he said that he felt the Hull City striker’s input was worth waiting for.

“Sometimes we need the passion of a player and sometimes players are replaced when they are not so badly hurt. Folan was important for us because they were frightened when he went for the ball, he allowed the other players to play. It was a long time with just 10 players,” he added, “but was possible to play that way with just when Doyle plays alone up front.”

The striker didn’t really come anyway close to marking his captaincy with another goal but Lawrence certainly delivered after Trapattoni had apparently put particular work into identifying players amongst last night’s group who could pose a threat from set- pieces.

“I caught it well, luckily it went in and it ended to be the winning goal, so I am delighted,” said the Stoke City midfielder. “We did a lot of them yesterday and practised quite a bit. Quite a few were going wide and over the bar yesterday. But thankfully, tonight it went in.

“Overall, it was really good to get a full 90 minutes under my belt on Irish turf, and I am absolutely delighted with the win as well. Hopefully, it plants a seed in the manager’s head for the next qualifier, hopefully I will be involved again.”

The English of Trapattoni’s opposite number, Joel Santana, is apparently a source of regular humour in South Africa where interviewers are routinely left perplexed and his comments are sometimes even accompanied by joke subtitles.

Last night, he decided against going head to head with the veteran Italian and testing the comprehension skills of the Irish media on the basis that he really only speaks Portuguese and there was no interpreter available.

Quite how that worked with a squad short of Portuguese speakers was not quite clear but team captain Aaron Mokoena of Portsmouth appeared in the manager’s place and expressed the hope that his side might get a return match at next summer’s World Cup finals.

“I hope they are there,” he said, “they’ve done okay so far so fingers crossed, it’s all about winning their last games. It’s a big stage and I don’t see any weak teams in the World Cup. We want to play the big teams and we showed that we can when we played Brazil and made it very difficult for them earlier in the summer.

“I certainly wouldn’t say that Ireland are a weak team. They made a lot of changes tonight but they were still strong.

“They have a lot of players who are well respected in England and it’s the sign of a good team that they can change so many players and still do well.”