A disappointed Giovanni Trapattoni threatened to change his Republic of Ireland line-up for Sunday’s Euro 2012 opener against Croatia following the poor display against Hungary in a friendly game.
Ireland were played off the field by the Hungarian team who are placed 17 spots below them in the official rankings. The friendly exposed all of Ireland’s weak spots leading Croatia’s coach Slaven Bilic who watched the game, to remark that Ireland play “very simple football and don’t take risks”.
It was not all bad news as John O’ Shea and Shay Given proved they were match fit following their injuries. However Trapattoni insisted: ““We must show the players where we went wrong. Are you blind or did you see it? We have to decide what to do and that might mean one more in midfield.” Harsh lessons should be learned from the game but the good news is the teething problems have occurred before the tournament. Fingers crossed Ireland can get everything ready by the weekend. C’mon Ireland!!