Trap: I'll only leave when 'positives' are no more

Giovanni Trapattoni insists he will only leave his job as Republic of Ireland manager when there are no positives left and the players fail to respond to his orders.

With the fallout from last night’s thumping at the hands of Germany still fresh, the Italian was as baffling and bizarre as ever when a barrage of questions over his future came raining down at Malahide this afternoon.

Quizzed on what the final straw would be for him as manager, he said: “When there are no positives, when I ask the team to do something and they don’t make that situation for me.”

Usually a manager, following such a comprehensive defeat, would be irate with his players. Not Trapattoni though, who holds the ethos that there’s no point venting fury at players who are simply inferior to the opposition.

“When you are inferior, it’s not possible to get angry because we have to recognise their superiority,” he said.

“They were obviously all deflated but I told them that when you lose, conceding one goal or six, it’s the same. It’s three points gone, but it changes the psychological situation. They have to start the next game with the same enthusiasm. Our performance was inferior compared to previous performances and Germany were clearly superior to us.

“Realistically, we were never going to compete with them for first place in the group. Our aim, I have already said is to compete with Sweden and Austria.”

So what did he say to the players when they got back to their hotel last night?  “I told the players to forget quickly the disappointment, recharge the batteries and focus on the next match. We have to win.  I told them also that I expect immediately a positive reaction. I want to see drive, personality and a better game. We have the ability to do this.”

On whether they understood his orders in last night’s game: “That’s an easy question.  I have managed in many countries... and players have always understood me.”

As for Tuesday’s crucial trip to the Faroe Islands, Trap confirmed he will make a couple of changes, though doubts remain over whether Robbie Keane, who did some light running on his own while the team underwent a light training session at Gannon Park, will board tomorrow’s flight to Torshavn.

He added: “I will make changes, two or three fresh changes. Robbie at the moment has an injury, after tomorrow we will decide.”

And for the statistical anoraks out there, last night’s game equalled the worst defeat of the Italian’s lengthy career, suffered in a Milan derby.

“Maybe in my life, I lost only one time 6-1 in a Milan derby. There are times when everything goes wrong. They were superior to us.”