FORMER IRISH INTERNATIONALS Kenny Cunningham and Kevin Kilbane believe Giovanni Trapattoni’s position as manager of the national team has become untenable in the wake of recent results.
Trap’s Ireland suffered an embarrassing 6-1 defeat against Germany last night, and Cunningham believes the time is right for change, telling Newstalk:
“Giovanni Trapattoni has to do the right thing and step away. The sooner it happens, the better.”
He added that John Delaney needed to sit down with Trapattoni and Tardelli, and discuss their exit from the set-up, explaining that they need to “show a bit of class and make the decision”.
And despite this pessimistic assessment of the Irish team under Trap, Cunningham remains optimistic that the side can get the desired three points against the Faroe Islands on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of good characters [in the team] and I think they’ll will themselves to a win against the Faroe Islands, but I think fundamentally, nothing will change.”
Cunningham said that his words were not a knee-jerk reaction to the Germany result, arguing that there are “deeper problems” within the set-up.
He continued: “I don’t think he has the faith and the confidence of the younger players.“And he looked to deflect a lot of attention onto the senior players after Euro 2012.”
Meanwhile, Cunningham’s former international teammate, Kevin Kilbane – who played with Ireland under Trap for a period – agreed that a change of management was necessary.
Kilbane pointed to Trap’s team selection as an area of concern, saying:
“It does baffle me why Simon Cox continues to play on that left-hand side.
“He could have played Seamus Coleman on the right and Aiden McGeady on the left.”
He also criticised the Irish manager for consistently suggesting the Irish players were not good enough to compete against teams of the calibre of Germany.
“He can’t keep repeating those negatives – you’ve got to lift your players, make them feel good about themselves – and I don’t think that’s been the case, he’s been knocking people down.“[He criticised] Ciaran Clark a couple of weeks ago when he said: ‘I don’t think he’s good enough to play international football.’”
Kilbane also revealed that during his time playing for Ireland under Trap, it was often the senior players rather than the manager who were most vocal before, during and after the games.
“The onus has been on the experienced players – they’ve been the main voices in the dressing room at half-time.
“They’re looking at the manager and he’s saying nothing – that doesn’t inspire confidence.”
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