Whelan wants return to winning ways
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Republic of Ireland midfielder Glen Whelan hypothetically advised the assembled media that he would rather be involved in a team who played a passing game but would not allow his own footballing beliefs get in the way of doing what Giovanni Trapattoni asks of him.
“The manager tells me to do a job. I have to go in and do a job because if I don’t do it then someone else will come in and do it. I think everyone would like to see better football and see us trying to get more passes around the pitch but if it’s not to be and the manager wants it a little bit different then what can you do.”
Adding, “You can’t go against the manager or management and what we’ve set out. Obviously any player likes to get on the ball and make a few passes but if it’s about second balls and picking up the knock downs then so be it.”
Turning his attention towards Tuesday’s crunch game with Slovakia the Stoke City man spoke of a collective determination to put things right following Friday night’s 3-2 defeat to Russia.
“It’s a kick up the back side, I can’t remember the last time we got beaten in a qualifying game, it’s not nice and we don’t want it to happen again.”
“In the last campaign we got too many draws, especially not enough wins away from home, so you go in to any game looking for three points but we have to have a good performance and obviously get rid of Friday night and hopefully people will change their minds if we play well Tuesday.”
Believing the best way to shake the current negativity that seems to be surrounding the squad is to get back on a winning run, “if we can put in a good performance and get three points then people will forget about Friday.”
“The manager tells me to do a job. I have to go in and do a job because if I don’t do it then someone else will come in and do it. I think everyone would like to see better football and see us trying to get more passes around the pitch but if it’s not to be and the manager wants it a little bit different then what can you do.”
Adding, “You can’t go against the manager or management and what we’ve set out. Obviously any player likes to get on the ball and make a few passes but if it’s about second balls and picking up the knock downs then so be it.”
Turning his attention towards Tuesday’s crunch game with Slovakia the Stoke City man spoke of a collective determination to put things right following Friday night’s 3-2 defeat to Russia.
“It’s a kick up the back side, I can’t remember the last time we got beaten in a qualifying game, it’s not nice and we don’t want it to happen again.”
“In the last campaign we got too many draws, especially not enough wins away from home, so you go in to any game looking for three points but we have to have a good performance and obviously get rid of Friday night and hopefully people will change their minds if we play well Tuesday.”
Believing the best way to shake the current negativity that seems to be surrounding the squad is to get back on a winning run, “if we can put in a good performance and get three points then people will forget about Friday.”
About Eoin Manning
Eoin Manning has been a part of the extratime.ie reporting team since 2009 and covers the Dublin clubs. Eoin also writes for many of the countries national newspapers and can be contacted at eoinpmanning@gmail.com View Full Profile