The boys in green

Stan named the team today. Strange. Usually they guard it closer than an italian guards a cannoli. This comes after yeserday's thirty second tantrum - Shay and Stephen are ok, but I don't want to talk to you nar nar nar na. Obviously he's a man under pressure and he's feeling it, I'd say, as he's acting funny.

He brought a lot of pressure on himself - Saturday's team showed more dodgy flexibilty than Bertie Ahern's political ideology; he put a right back playing on the left and a left back playing on the right. Then he had some fella called Douglas playing in central midfield leaving both wet and sunny weather fans to say - who? what? why? Also Stephen Ireland on the right and Damian Duff all over the shop. A mess, quite frankly, and he takes the hump when people ask him questions about it. Hmm.

Life is hard enough. Don't make it harder Stan. Play people where they're good, answer honest questions with sincerity rather than contempt and don't try and take on the media. That Lee Carsley thing was such a drag - he clearly wasn't misquoted; perhaps he thought the question was referring to changes that happened during the game. And if he did then Stan could show a bit of humility and admit he was wrong. Drop the Secret Police are out to get me so I'm not talking to you crap. It's childish. Irish fans and the Irish media want the team to do well.

Playing McGeady from the start tomorrow is a step in the right direction. Don't understand why Hunt has been left out, but maybe it's because Duff and Kilbane are lefties and he intends to interchange them. A third leftie might upset the balance. And leaving Kilbane out might upset the economy (latest rumour as to why he has played 290 times in a row for us). Anyway that minor quibble aside this column is crossing its bits and pieces for a home win and a decent game.

A quick note on media coverage of the team - mostly it's been harsh but fair. However the Stan/muppet headlines are cheap and obviously take their cue from the vile rubbish served up in English tabloids. The media themselves seem to overstate the importance of the media/team relations too. I reckon your average reader doesn't care about it that much and the media look a smidge self-important/deluded about the whole thing.