Be Careful What You Wish For

“Pinch me I’m dreaming!”

So wrote Eamonn Dunphy in a newspaper column upon hearing the news that Giovanni Trapattoni had, after a protracted selection process, been appointed Republic of Ireland manager. Dunphy repeated his request to be awoken from his reverie to Bill O’Herlihy and a jubilant RTE panel, then going on to announce that John Delaney and the board of the FAI were to be congratulated on the “greatest appointment ever in Irish football history”.

Three years on and Dunphy’s view, along with most other pundits, on the former Italian national coach has soured considerably. Perhaps the panel would have been better served listening to the opinions of Graeme Souness who was also a guest on the show that night.

While Souness, who had gotten a close-up view of the Italians arch pragmatism when he played for Sampdoria whilst Trapattoni managed at Juventus, was broadly welcoming of the selection he cautioned that he “didn’t think he (Trapattoni) would play open expansive football that would get the supporters out of their seats …but he would play winning football”.

After the disastrous reign of Steve Staunton, and the largely uninspiring tenure of Brian Kerr, the Irish supporters were not too bothered about jumping out of their seats – as long as those seats were located in South Africa in the summer of 2010 or Poland and the Ukraine in 2012.

When Italy lifted the World Cup in 2006, with a team that would have to be ranked as one of the worst to win the competition, the football associations of both Ireland and England decided that the Azzurri’s win-at-all-costs mentality was deemed, in the short term at least, the appropriate blue-print to follow.

The English FA promptly procured the services of Fabio Capello – fresh from a second tumultuous stint at Real Madrid were despite winning LA Liga for the first time since 2003 his services were promptly dispensed with due to his pragmatic approach.

The Irish FA and their three man selection committee consisting of Don Givens, Ray Houghton and Don Howe finally, after a 113 day search, settled on the manager of Red Bull Salzburg fondly known as “Il Trap”.

They were not the first to be dazzled by his vast array of silverware, including all the major European trophies, accumulated while at the helm of such European heavyweights as Juventus, Inter Milan, Benfica and Bayern Munich.

This was the Milan native’s second foray into international management and perhaps his intent was signalled by his eulogising, in an early press conference, of Otto Rehagel’s triumph with Greece in the 2004 European Championship with a style that at best could be described as defensive.

Trapattoni has never needed much persuasion to adopt a defensive strategy-indeed some would argue that he was responsible for re-inventing the “Catenacio” system in the modern era after Rinus Michels and his “total football” Ajax team were deemed to have dealt the hammer blow to the much maligned style when they defeated Helinio Herrera’s Inter Milan in the European Cup final of 1972.

The “Catenacio” system was long associated with the Italian national team and relied heavily on a man-marking defensive system designed to frustrate the opposition while relying on swift break-out counter attacks to secure victory, although many would say that securing victory is low-down on the system advocates list of objectives.

Arsene Wenger has gone further labelling this kind of game as “anti-football”, although anyone witnessing Manchester United’s decisive victories over Arsenal in the latter half of the noughties could be forgiven for thinking that when “Catenacio” is played by good players it is a devastating, and dare I say it, exciting brand of football.

Ireland are not possessed with the overwhelming pace and ability of Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs but in Duff, McGeady and Keane and, perhaps James McClean, they could yet have enough to fire the Republic to cause a stir in Euro 2012.

It would be a mistake to think the Italian maestro is incapable of switching systems, as witnessed by the teams second leg play-off display in Paris against France or the almost gung-ho performance against Italy in Bari when the team went a goal down and Caleb Folan was sprung from the bench as the Republic set about their managers native country, almost securing victory in a frenetic finish.

Unless Ireland are in danger of elimination with 15 minutes to go against Spain or Italy it is unlikely that Trap will deviate from the structure that has brought him so much success but if the team are celebrating qualification from the group this summer few, apart from Dunphy, will care.

Then perhaps we can all start dreaming.