Five changes Trapattoni needs to make – fast!

Ireland's game against Russia last Friday was a disaster. Before the same happens again manager Giovanni Trapattoni needs to shake things up.

By Niall Delaney

Friday night's performance by the boys in green was nothing short of dire. Many Ireland fans have had enough of what's been going on under Trap's tenure in charge.

So here are five changes that the septugenarian Italian needs to make if we're to guarantee a place among the big boys competing in the Euro 2012 finals.

1. Put Green out to pasture

Let’s face it, Paul Green is absolutely pants and we don’t need him. The Derby County player exudes mediocrity. What’s deeply worrying is that despite the fact he’s got the engine of a Fiat Punto, the coordination of a drunken mule and a bloodline that’s distinctly English, Trap has fallen for him big time.

2. Call up Andy Reid and James McCarthy ASAP

It's time for Trap to put his massive ego to one side and bury the hatchet with Messrs Reid and McCarthy. With a midfield as brittle as ours appeared to be on Friday and a blatantly obvious deficiency in the passing department, leaving out two strong midfield talents was a move that was equally ignorant and negligent.

3. Replace Liam Lawrence and Paul Green with Seamus Coleman and Darron Gibson

Two other major problems with the starting 11 that took to the field on Friday evening was the frightening lack of pace and downright lack of goals. Two straightforward ways of remedying this are by bringing in the hugely promising and extremely quick Seamus Coleman on the right wing.

Lawrence is far too pedestrian and despite a couple of goals in the friendlies against South Africa and Paraguay, he is now being found out at this level. Many Championship managers have moved him on in his career - there's a reason why. Gibson for Green is straightforward. Bags of goals and potential for “Paul Green”. Easy!

4. Kevin you were great, you really were, but now its time to go!

Ok the fact is, Mr Kilbane, that you weren’t great, you were average at best. You once had the ability to play at an almost adequate level, but that was years ago.

Bulgaria’s two goals in the last campaign both came from errors made by the Achill expat. If neither had been conceded, we would have had 6 points in the bag as opposed to 2, which means that we'd have been kicking Jabulanis around the stadia of South Africa (also, albeit far less importantly, Thierry Henry would still be a candidate for canonisation among the world’s footballing legions.)

Even though the Hull City reserve scored against Andorra and has been fair to middling in the three Euro 2012 qualifying games so far, it's important to be proactive as well as reactive if we are to avoid impending disaster. For this reason Kevin needs to go.

Come to think of it, I have an abiding memory of Kilbane having a new arsehole ripped the last time we played Russia in Russia and that was years ago, around about the same time Kevin was rather average.

5. Consider your own position, Trapattoni

Tardelli and Trapattoni are not going to qualify for any major tournaments with their current catenaccio style of play. In the three-points-for-a-win era, you have got to win your home games. Against Russia, with 60 minutes gone and those pesky Ruskies three goals to the good, il Trap still had two defensive midfielders on the pitch (Green and Whelan) when a creative midfielder was badly needed.

Picture the scene over in Sunderland as poor Andy Reid watched on, guitar in one hand, flamegrilled Whopper in the other.

At the Aviva Stadium we witnessed disgraceful management from the Italian pair. The ridiculously rigid style of play they adopt will probably cost us qualification and mean more years in the international wilderness for the Republic of Ireland.