We all know Trapattoni placed a huge value on a good defensive set-up but Stephen Hunt's excellent column in today's Sunday Independent has given us an insight into just how conservative he actually was.
Hunt describes the typical reaction in Irish training when Aiden McGeady would produce a moment of magic, like he did for his second goal against Georgia last week:
It might have been a piece of skill or a finish but we would all look on in awe when he did it. Well, nearly all of us would look on in awe.
One man was never impressed, one man was always looking for something else when we were looking at Aiden McGeady and thinking that the kid had everything. Giovanni Trapattoni never looked on in awe.
I would say that sounds as if Trapattoni was completely joyless but from reading Hunt's piece it seem he truly took more joy out of good defensive positioning than the moments of magic that inspire us all.
Hunt explains:
In a normal 4-4-2 as the ball moved up the right, my first thought would be to move forward on the left hand side. But Trap's 4-4-2 was never normal. Trap's 4-4-2 required the wide midfielders to stay close to the central midfielders, never to go forward unless there was no risk. And Trap always saw a risk.
McGeady's penchant for trying pieces of attacking ingenuity is why Hunt thinks he was often picked ahead of him in away games under Trapattoni.
We had players who could play football under Trap, but you learned one thing early on: you did it Trap's way or you didn't play. He might not notice a bit of skill but he'd notice if you weren't tucking in and tracking back.
Fast forward a year and Hunt points out how he ends up in a position to score his first goal against Georgia that he would never have been in had the Italian still be in charge.
He adds:
I had seen him mesmerise defenders with skill like that a hundred times but he may be now benefiting from working with a manager who believes in him.
I believe McGeady has the talent to be our Messi. He has so much ability, but now he needs to be allowed go and play.
For McGeady this is yet more praise in week where Roberto Martinez called him a magician and as for Stephen Hunt, this is a great column, offering an insight we don't often see in football pieces. More of the same please.
