Derry-born footballer Darren Gibson was not impressed with the Republic of Ireland manager who suggested the midfielder should leave Manchester United to improve.
Giovanni Trapattoni maintains that Darron Gibson would further his development away from Manchester United, even though the suggestion has led to derision from the player.
The Republic of Ireland manager does not want to antagonise Sir Alex Ferguson and he says that he is not urging Gibson to leave United, where the midfielder has failed to feature so far this season.
But, having already suggested that Gibson cannot add the necessary bite to his game while he trains and plays in United's all-star squad, Trapattoni made it clear on Tuesday that Gibson's lack of opportunity at Old Trafford is holding him back.
"The answer is he must play," Trapattoni said. "When he stays only on the bench, he doesn't improve. It's very important to play. But if you stay and play only a few times, you stay with this shirt but it's different. I have not said to Gibson: 'Go or don't go.' I say that if Gibson was at another club, and played 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes, he would grow more."
Trapattoni preferred Derby County's Paul Green to Gibson in central midfield in the Euro 2012 qualifying wins over Armenia and Andorra, and he said on Sunday that Green had greater hunger because he was used to battling at a smaller club.
Trapattoni demands defensive discipline and fight from the central midfielders in his rigid 4-4-2 formation. As Andy Reid has discovered previously, Trapattoni cannot indulge more attack-minded midfielders who do not fit the system.
When it was put to Gibson that a move to a smaller club such as Stoke City could benefit certain aspects of his game, he was unimpressed.
"If Trapattoni wants me to move on from a club like Manchester United to better my game, move to somewhere like Stoke where I'll get more games but have little chance of winning anything, then I just don't know," he said.
"To what club, other than Manchester United, could I go to improve my game? To be honest, if he's trying to say that I should move somewhere like Stoke City and change my game to winning tackles and not winning games, then he's having a laugh."
Trapattoni has started to look ahead to the qualifiers against Russia and Slovakia next month and he is aware that Gibson might not be the only member of his squad who struggles for regular club football. Two of his key players, Shay Given and the captain Robbie Keane, are out of favour at Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively. The situation, however, is different with them.
"I don't worry about Given and Keane," Trapattoni said, "because they have the experience and the mentality for the game."
Russia's home defeat to Slovakia has increased the pressure on them and Ireland sense the opportunity to strike a decisive blow against them in Dublin on 8 October.
"We definitely sense weaknesses about the Russians," said the midfielder Liam Lawrence, who has dropped down from Stoke to Portsmouth in search of regular football. "We just hope that when they come here, we can exploit them. If we get a good result against Russia, I think we'd have a hell of a chance."
© Guardian