EURO 2012 QUALIFYING: Rep of Ireland (4) v Estonia (0):HE WILL, of course, first want to complete the job of getting the team there and then establish beyond any reasonable doubt that he will actually be in charge of it for next summer's finals in Poland and Ukraine – but Giovanni Trapattoni is already talking about the need to weigh up his selection options between now and the date in late May when he would, all going well, have to announce his final squad of 23 for the European Championships.
The veteran Italian reckons he could be gone by then if he is not offered a new deal by the FAI although he again made it clear over the weekend that his preference is to stick around.
That he’ll get his wish seems rather more likely in the wake of Friday’s dramatic success in Tallinn where the Irish secured their biggest away win in a competitive game for almost 20 years and all but wrapped up qualification at the halfway point of this play-off tie with Estonia.
“This question you can put to our president, John Delaney,” he said with the air of a man whose negotiating position had suddenly received a bit of a boost when asked about his position.
“At the moment, we remain concentrated.”
The Italian seems likely to baulk now at an offer involving a 50 per cent pay cut which, it had been reported, he might be about to face.
However the scale of what the association is in a position to pay him will depend on its talks with Denis O’Brien who flew to Tallinn on Friday from Hong Kong in order to attend the game.
Trapattoni, in any case, makes it clear that his preference is not to move unnecessarily on.
“Many years ago I was very young, a friend said to me that ‘the more woods you visit, the more wolves you find’. I’ve said in the past that we are not only proud about this team, that I would be disappointed and upset if I had to leave because I am sure we can do better, repeat our performances and qualify for the World Cup in Brazil.
“Now we have a very strong young team,” he continued. “If we have to change the senior players then I am sure now that we have young players who give us very strong options.”
Some of those are very close at hand and the manager strongly suggested that the likes of Shane Coleman and James McCarthy might get the chance tomorrow night to come off the bench and start playing their way into his final selection for next summer.
For all their promise, the pair could certainly do with getting a bit more game time under their belts in an Irish jersey for there has been little enough concrete evidence this year to suggest that Trapattoni sees them as being anything like automatic choices.
The likes of Liam Lawrence and Kevin Foley will regret not being available to grab any opportunities that might be going too and there seems likely to be some high-profile losers during the months ahead.
The Italian has used 34 players this year and there are a handful of others who could hope to come into the reckoning although the options for an outsider to play himself into the panel are incredibly limited given that there is only one international date between the start of the new year and the end of May.
That means players hoping to make the plane will have to impress while playing for their clubs which will not be easy considering Trapattoni feels that many play a different style of football to the one he wants to see and he, of course, relies heaving on television to keep tabs on eligible players.
“It’s not possible to see their qualities in their clubs,” he said on Saturday. “There are players playing different systems at their clubs to the ones they play with us and they play better with us because the team is compact; they know the position and the system.
“It’s not a criticism of British football, it is something we have to think about. Anyway, in the spring we can have a friendly game. And while it’s not easy to find a substitute for a player like Damien Duff (chosen randomly, it seemed, as an example of one of his more established stars) but maybe we can look at (Marc) Tierney or (Anthony) Pilkington or others playing.”
The more lively scrap for places is likely to be between players who are already part of the Irish set-up but who have not carved out central roles for themselves.
One of those who has, Keith Andrews, says there is scope for players to play their way into things but he reacted coolly to the idea of outsiders who had previously been reluctant declaring for Ireland now in order to parachute their way into a major championships.
“It will be very tough for the manager,” said the midfielder. “There could be injuries or suspensions and you never quite know what is going to happen. There is a six- or seven month period where young lads like under-21s could come onto the scene or players could make an impression at club level. There will only be 23 places and people will be fighting tooth and nail to get them.
“I’m sure the lads will be aware of how we have bonded as a group, though, and I don’t think they would relish anything like that (new declarations) happening. The lads will stay united and as a group we wouldn’t be keen on that.”
LIKELY/UNLIKELY LADS: The race to make the 23-man squad for Euro 2012
Racing certainties . . .
Goalkeepers
Shay Given and Keiren Westwood
Defenders
John O’Shea, Seán St Ledger, Stephen Ward and Richard Dunne
Midfielders
Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan
Forwards
Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle
On the rails . . .
Goalkeepers
David Forde
Defenders
Stephen Kelly, Darren O’Dea, Kevin Foley
Midfielders
Keith Fahey, Stephen Hunt and Darron Gibson
Forwards
Shane Long, Jonathan Walters, Simon Cox
Need a big finish . . .
Goalkeepers
Joe Murphy, Darron Randolph, Paddy Kenny and Brian Murphy
Defenders
Kevin Kilbane, Paul McShane, Ciaran Clark, Damien Delaney and Marc Wilson
Midfielders
James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman, Liam Lawrence, Keith Treacy, Paul Green, Wes Hoolahan and Noel Hunt
Forwards
Leon Best and Anthony Stokes
And the complete outsiders . . .
Marc Tierney and Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City), Anton Ferdinand (QPR), Richard Stearman (Wolves) and Alex Pearce (Reading)
