SOCCER:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI'S time in Montecatini ended on a slightly chaotic note on Saturday evening, when the event staged by the local authorities to honour him managed to block the route of an eight kilometre road race organised as a part of a sports festival, not once but twice.

That things are rather more predictable when the 73-year-old is at the helm himself was clearly underlined last night here in Budapest as he named not only his starting line-up for this evening’s game against Hungary, but also, barring injuries, the one for next Sunday’s game in Poznan.

The manager simply shrugged off suggestions that to do so might be a little premature.

Still a little giddy, perhaps, in the wake of Saturday’s ceremony which had, irate runners aside, been a touching tribute to someone who is clearly much loved back at home, Trapattoni was in good form here. When Robbie Keane was asked what the manager had brought to this Ireland team, the Italian beside him quietly listened to the question being translated then chirpily cut in with a one word answer: “Balance”.

His player paused for a moment then laughed and gave the same answer. “Well, I can’t disagree with that, I want to play next week,” he said with a beaming smile.

In fact, he already knew by then that he will play, for Trapattoni had made a point of announcing at the outset that if everyone comes through this evening’s game without a problem then the same 11 will start against Croatia.

It was scarcely earth-shattering news for, doubts about the fitness of John O’Shea aside, you would have been hard pressed to find anyone willing to offer a prize for guessing the team correctly. But it is still out of step with managerial norms to provide such intelligence to rivals on a plate almost a week before kick-off.

Trapattoni, though, simply took the view that as it is nothing Slaven Bilic does not already know then he might as well extract as much value out of tonight’s encounter as possible and that, he said, meant allowing his first choice players to get more minutes together on the pitch together under their belts.

“I watch DVDs of the other teams and have people at their games and they do the same with us so it makes no difference,” he said. “They know our players and the way we play.

“But many goals in the modern game are scored from set pieces – corners and free-kicks – and it is important that our players get as much practice at these as possible before the championships.”

He added, however, that he had made it clear to the players that they were not to take any unnecessary risks in the game. It is, one would like to think, something they did not really need to be told.

O’Shea, he suggested, might be asked to play for around 70 minutes in order to show that he has fully recovered from his ankle injury and is capable of coming through 90 minutes in Poland next weekend.

The manager continues to sound more positive about the Sunderland defender’s prospects of being his first choice right back in the group stages and, with everyone else, it seems, having persuaded him this week that they are on course to be in good physical condition for the tournament, he hinted that he could start with the same 11 for the three group games “if we do not have injuries or cards”.

That would tend to be slightly at odds with some of his comments about changing things for the Spain game when, he had seemed to suggest, Paul Green might have a role to play in a reinforced midfield – but it is more in keeping with his broader philosophy of sticking as closely as he possibly can to a strong and settled line-up.

There are likely to be changes this evening as he looks to give members of his second string the chance to have a run out but there may be less than the six he made against against Bosnia Herzegovina as the Italian appears anxious to avoid a result that would rob his team of any of the momentum built up over 13 games without a defeat.

“I want to continue this positive trend,” he said.

“The players have done very well in Malahide and Italy,” he continued. “Malahide was about recovery and I saw then in Italy that they had their energy and enthusiasm back; they are in very good form.

“Now, the players know each other very well, we could play with our eyes closed and that for me is the closest thing I can have to a guarantee that we will play well in the championship. I could not make changes now.”

Asked about Marco Tardelli’s comment (a joke it seemed) on Saturday evening at the public question and answer session in Montecatini to the effect that the plan in Poland is to draw with Croatia then beat Spain and Italy, the manager smiled.

“Marco,” he said, “is full of enthusiasm and dreams. But sometimes,” he added, “dreams do come through”.