I will use James McClean when there is less pressure – Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni has revealed that centre half lynch pin Richard Dunne sat out Monday’s recovery session due to  "blisters and tiredness" at Monday's press conference.

The Aston Villa man was clearly very disappointed post match following the Republic of Ireland’s 3-1 defeat to Spain in Pozna? on Sunday night.  The fact that Spain drew 1-1 with Italy to open their campaigns is most likely a positive outcome for the Republic who will now need to avoid defeat against both of the last two world champions (and beat one of them) to have a chance of progressing to the knock out stages of UEFA Euro 2012.

The manager said that he was disappointed with the mistakes made by the team and the sloppy goals that were conceded though  ”the second goal should not have been allowed because Ward was fouled,”  according to the 73 year-old.

When asked if he would adopt a more defensive strategy for Ireland’s next match (against Spain), Trap replied, "Spain are World and European champions.  We all know the quality they bring.  They have ten players from Real Madrid and ten players from Barcelona, who are two of the best teams in the world.  All they are missing is Messi!

“It is important that we focus on our own qualities though.  We must maintain our belief in our own quality.  Psychology is very important for us now.  People say that Trapattoni is a defensive coach, but when you look at my record, at every team I have managed, my teams have scored more goals than they have conceded, but still I hear all the time ’Trapattoni is a defensive manager!’”

The biggest issue that arose from the match with Croatia was the reasoning behind bringing on striker Simon Cox as a substitute on the left wing instead of up front.  With four recognized wingers in the squad, many were puzzled by the decision not to give a chance to the effervescent James McClean, who has been a revelation since making his English Premier League debut for Sunderland back in January. Trapattoni responded to the line of questioning. 

”Cox is a striker who can also play as a winger.  We were losing by two goals, we were chasing the game so I made the change.  I felt that Cox could make a difference.  He is a goalscorer.  McClean is a young player and I want to bring him in when there is not so much pressure.  I know that I will use McClean but only when the time is right.  He is still a young player and I do not want to use him when there is too much pressure.”