Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni’s damning Wolves verdict
Thursday 20th May 2010, 9:30AM BST.
Kevin Doyle’s international manager has welcomed news of Arsenal’s interest in the striker in a damning verdict on his club Wolves.
The Gunners have enquired about Doyle through the player’s Irish advisors, who actually expect him to stay at Molineux this summer.
But in answer to questions from the Irish media before next week’s internationals against Paraguay and Algeria, Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni believes Wolves’ £6.5million record signing should ply his trade at a bigger club.
He said: “I read this news about Arsenal and I will be very happy for him, because I think Kevin is ready to play with a great team.
“My experience is he is alone up front a lot, but I saw him many, many times alone against difficult defenders – like against Manchester United and Arsenal – against very strong opposition and I’m sure if he can have more passes of quality, transfer would be fantastic for him.
“I know Kevin is superior, but a striker is better when he has good support from team-mates.
“With 30 more balls into him over 90 minutes, that is important.”
Trapattoni believes Doyle would be better served by playing with a strike partner, after spending almost half a season playing on his own up front as Wolves played a more cautious game to survive the drop.
He said: “Kevin is clever, he understands football and he can score a goal but a striker can do better when they’re near their team-mate.
“It’s difficult to give an analogy as I don’t want to touch on Wolverhampton.
“But Wolverhampton is Wolverhampton, Manchester is Manchester. For example, team-mates are different.”
Trapattoni’s comments are bound to anger Wolves boss Mick McCarthy, who has consistently made a point of saying managers should only talk about their own business.
Anything seen to create a platform for a market is the last thing Wolves need, as they use Doyle as an attraction for potential signings.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
