McCarthy can "make up his own mind"

James McCarthy can "make up his own mind" over his international future according to Giovanni Trapattoni, after rumours emerged that the Wigan midfielder may be contemplating declaring for Scotland, the country of his birth.

"James knows our position." said Trapattoni at a press conference this morning. "At 21 he can decide. Many players let their agent decide for them. He can decide himself."

"His manager said to me that after one month he's played only 70 minutes, and he'd prefer he stayed there [in Wigan]. I have to accept what he said. Yesterday I read in one paper- 'James, where is your home' [a headline in yesterday's Irish Daily Star]. He can decide that- he has the opportunity. It's not the manager's decision."

Trapattoni was pleased with Ireland's performance last night against Wales, praising the four young players (Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark, Darron Gibson and Jonathan Walters) brought into the first team. The Aston Villa youngster was singled out for praise: "[Clark] played very well. I've looked at him many times... he was no surprise."

Clark may have impressed the Ireland management, but Trapattoni refused to rule Kevin Kilbane or Greg Cunningham out of reclaiming the left-back spot for Ireland's next European qualifier against Macedonia. "We'll continue to follow him [KIlbane]. I'm not forgetting him. I told him it was a friendly and that we were trying out [Clark] and he said it was OK. We have time to decide. If Cunningham was not injured, yesterday he could have played. I'm not going to change things around drastically."

On the subject of Darron GIbson, though, Trapattoni said that he expected more from the Manchester United midfielder, who scored Ireland's second goal. "GIbson can do much more. His performance was good, but yesterday he was maybe a bit tense and tired. I told him in the first half to shoot more. I expect more from him. He can do more. He has the potential. He needs to play though. For his club he is always on the bench, playing 20 or 30 minutes but he played 90 last night... Robbie Keane had the same problem. "

Overall, the Italian was pleased with what he saw last night. "We have every reason to be happy- because this formation was important for our performance. Also, we played with four young players and they team didn't change in its mentality. I think we deserved to win. We also had 2 or 3 beautiful opportunities and our defence was superb."