Put them under pressure Trap. Needs be.

What was extraordinary about the Republic of Ireland’s defeat to a sleek Russia last Friday night was the statistic that Ireland had forty-seven percent possession. The stat man obviously counts the time the ball was airborne because, for the most part, Aviva spectators were craning their necks like tourists in downtown Manhattan, as another Given missile took flight.

It is a percentage tactic and Trappatoni is a percentage coach. Four-four-two is his formation because that is what the majority of his players are happy with. He plays two holding midfielders to compensate for being minus one in an often crowded international middle ground. He expects work and creativity from his wingers. In that order. He lets Doyle scavenge and Keane pounce because that is what they naturally do. He is now being decried for applying practical methods to reach an objective.

Qualification is a results business. No-one was complaining when “Trap ball” worked in Yerevan. The calls for Fahey, Gibson or James McCarthy is based on the notion that one controller can change a team but that is simply not the case. Trappatoni has given Ireland an identity, one they are comfortable with. In the idealistic clamour for the beautiful game realism, from a green perspective is a Kevin Kilbane punt. Ireland play to their strengths. Paris, is of course the reference point for the purists. We can play they scream based on that. Watch it again. A lot of our best moments came from direct play. It was fast but the important part was, it was accurate. The central axis that night was Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews. Paul Green was durable against Russia but Andrews is hardly a dramatic improvement on him. Richard Dunne’s honesty in the aftermath of the game was welcoming. Some interpreted it as an attack on the coach but he merely said that they, as players didn’t take responsibility on the ball. A lot must be said also about the excellent Russian performances and tactics.

John ‘O Shea was rushed into every clearance or pass resulting in too much being asked of Kevin Doyle. Kilbane was mercilessly targeted and it was chastening to watch such a loyal figure committing a cardinal error for the Russian’s second. Russia pressed and passed and against a team relatively shorn of players in form or fitness, it worked. Dick Advocaat got his tactics spot on and got the breaks when he needed them such as the first and third goals.

Ah yes you tut, but where was plan B? the ubiquitous plan B. One conjures up an image of a coach in trouble going to his desk and tearing off the seal on the envelope marked B. The fact is and it shall ever remain, is that goals change games. That Trappatoni believed that Irelands best way back was to presevere in the game plan was nearly proved correct in a frantic finale. He may change tomorrow night. The absence of Doyle nearly demands it. If it is to be Shane Long that replaces him then the service will have to be quick and in a lot of cases direct. A percentage ball if you will.