Trappatoni says leave Stephen Ireland alone

Trap feels the hype could be keeping the Manchester City midfielder away

Irish coach Marco Tardelli has also warned Ireland that his international return is entirely in his own hands.

Tardelli is not of the opinion that Trapattoni should make the running in any bid to entice Ireland back to the fold.

“My opinion is that Stephen Ireland has got to call Giovanni Trapattoni and say he wants to come back,” said World Cup winner Tardelli.

“He has to pick up the phone, call Giovanni and say that he wants to play for the Irish team, either on the bench or in the side.

“Stephen Ireland has to say that he has no problem coming back in either circumstance, whether it is in the team or on the substitute’s bench.

“He has to make the call; no one else can do it for him.”

Australia were full value for their Thomond Park win last week when two Tim Cahill goals just before halftime and a late David Carney cracked exposed the frailties of this Irish defense.

But veteran left-back Kevin Kilbane is adamant lessons will be learned ahead of next month’s visit to Cyprus.

“The manager was a little disappointed, he always goes on about concentration and we have to be concentrated through the whole game,” said Kilbane.

“We had a few lapses in the first half and they took advantage of that. They’ve got Tim Cahill and he’s a master of finding space in the box.

“That is something we have to take from the game and learn from. I think probably there’ll be a lot read into the result but we know qualification is what counts next month.

“We’ve used this game as a fitness exercise because we know we want to try and get sharpness going into the season and prepare for the Cyprus game. We will be fitter and stronger then, so we remain calm.”

Trapattoni, who was also keen to play the fitness card after the heaviest defeat of his reign, said: “I am not worried. This is pre-season and many of the players did not have minutes behind them.

“Australia were in 30-40% better condition than us. We deserved to score two goals. Cyprus will be a different game and, for sure, we can play differently. With three or four games in the league, my players will improve.”

Likewise new Fulham winger Damien Duff was none too concerned about the long-term World Cup implications of the friendly defeat.

“It is a disappointing result that we probably didn’t deserve, we had a few chances but it’s good to get it out of the way and move on,” said Duff.

Striker Kevin Doyle is a major doubt for the Cyprus game on September 5 after aggravating a hernia problem during the first-half in Limerick while Trapattoni has admitted that he may consider playing Preston’s Eddie Nolan at left-back in Nicosia.

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Nster.com