Trapattoni: I'll quit when I lose the dressing room
Giovanni Trapattoni insists he will only leave his job as Republic of Ireland manager when there are no positives left and the players fail to respond to his orders.
With the fallout from last night’s thumping at the hands of Germany still fresh, a barrage of questions over his future came raining down at Malahide this afternoon.
Quizzed on what the final straw would be for him as manager, he said: “When there are no positives, when I ask the team to do something and they don’t make that situation for me.”
Usually a manager, following such a comprehensive defeat, would be irate with his players. Not Trapattoni though, who holds the ethos that there’s no point venting fury at players who are simply inferior to the opposition.
“When you are inferior, it’s not possible to get angry because we have to recognise their superiority,” he said.
“They were obviously all deflated but I told them that when you lose, conceding one goal or six, it’s the same. It’s three points gone, but it changes the psychological situation. They have to start the next game with the same enthusiasm.
“Our performance was inferior compared to previous performances and Germany were clearly superior to us.
“Realistically, we were never going to compete with them for first place in the group. Our aim, I have already said is to compete with Sweden and Austria.”
So what did he say to the players when they got back to their hotel last night, he was asked.
“I told the players to forget quickly the disappointment, recharge the batteries and focus on the next match. We have to win.
“I told them also that I expect immediately a positive reaction. I want to see drive, personality and a better game. We have the ability to do this.”
On whether they understood his orders in last night’s game: “That’s an easy question. I have managed in many countries … and players have always understood me.”
As for Tuesday’s crucial trip to the Faroe Islands, Trap confirmed he will make a couple of changes, though doubts remain over whether Robbie Keane, who did some light running on his own while the team underwent a light training session at Gannon Park, will board tomorrow’s flight to Torshavn.
He added: “I will make changes, two or three fresh changes. Robbie at the moment has an injury, after tomorrow we will decide.”
Last night’s game apparently equalled the worst defeat of the Italian’s lengthy career, suffered in a Milan derby.
“Maybe in my life, I lost only one time 6-1 in a Milan derby. There are times when everything goes wrong. They were superior to us.”
It was put to him that some other managers might have decided to call it a day after such a run of results, but again, Trapattoni was unmoved as he defended the record under his regime.
He said: “There are other managers who wish to go, but we have done our job very well and we want to continue.”
Trapattoni shows no sign of being prepared to fall upon his sword, and the cash-strapped Football Association of Ireland can ill afford to put together a severance package for the veteran and his entourage having handed them fresh contracts after they had secured qualification for the European Championships.
But with popular, as well as critical, acclaim now fading – Trapattoni was booed by sections of a packed house at the Aviva Stadium when he collected the ball on the touchline during last night’s game – the mood is growing increasingly ugly, and the names of Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the recently-dispatched Owen Coyle have already been mentioned as potential successors.
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