Tardelli pumps up deflated Irish

13 June 2012

As Marco Tardelli came out after Ireland’s training session yesterday to give the managerial update, he suddenly stopped and tugged at the T-shirt of a journalist.

“Why black?” the Irish assistant manager asked. The implication was clear. He wanted the mood to be lifted after the 3-1 thrashing by Croatia on Sunday.

Such psychology has been something of a theme in the camp since then: first in improving mentality after the Croatian game and second in getting the players’ heads around the challenge Spain pose here tomorrow.

“The mood after Croatia was one of deflation, because there was such a huge build-up and hype and rightly so,” said goalkeeper Shay Given.

“The whole country was buzzing and then we saw the atmosphere the other night. The fans were amazing and it was just a real flatness in the changing room afterwards. Everyone was gutted because we thought we could get something from the game.

“We’re still talking about it now but the good thing is that you’ve always got another game to come along and obviously, in the Euros, they come quite fast. They don’t come any bigger than the world champions.”

Former Italy midfielder Tardelli admitted that, on Monday, the management team did have to work to improve the mood.

He added: “We spoke with them. But you saw during the training that the players want to play a good match against Spain. The mood is perfect.

“The players want to turn this situation around. They are fit. They are professionals and I know now, psychologically, they are ready to face Spain.”

John O’Shea echoed that resolve. He said: “We’ve proved it against the top teams and we’ll have to do that again. Our backs will be against the wall for the majority of the game but normally that’s where we come out and shine.”

To Tardelli, that would be much more acceptable on the eyes.

Tardelli pumps up deflated Irish

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