Giovanni Trapattoni has come out fighting about Irelands style of play in last Fridays defeat to Russia. The manager who has come in for some serious criticism even from his own players most notably Richard Dunne has defended the instructions he gave to the team. Dunne was crtitical about our reliance on long balls during defeat and said he felt there was no plan B.
Trapattoni said on www.rte.ie/sport
'We wanted the ball in the last third of their park and then to compete for it there. But I don't forbid them to play. When they have the ball, I want them to pass.'
'They had three, four, five strikers,' 'We have Keane and Doyle. We look every Sunday for another striker. Maybe in November we will bring in Walters from Stoke.'
He was asked why Walters would not be brought into the squad now but he said
'It is normal to give men time. I will give them time and a chance. Usually they are shy. That is the nature of the player.' 'Sure I'll look for one or two fresh players. But for two years our system worked very well. I am not sure we have the potential, technically, to play one striker.
'We need to use our mentality, our performance, our application. But I am very confident for Slovakia. Our team is not bad. We don't have as many creative players but we have solid players.
'The team is a block. It is not an individual. Yesterday, Russia played like a team.'
"We were inferior. But in the second half we showed we can compete with a strong team like Russia.'This is the first game we have lost in two years of qualification. That confirms our good position. It will not always be a crossbar going against us, a deflection going against us.
"But we don't look for excuses. It is important today with the players that we review this situation and how we allowed them to win. We have time to again reach the top of the table.''