LEST ANYONE had any illusions on the matter, sources close to Giovanni Trapattoni yesterday confirmed that the Republic of Ireland manager has no intention of resigning, but that rather the FAI will have to sack him if they want rid of him. In the wake of Friday’s 6-1 drubbing by Germany, Trapattoin will nonetheless sit tight, assure his closest associates.

The Trapattoni clan have been taken aback by the fierce Irish media criticism directed at someone who, after all, remains a living Italian legend. Some of the criticism is seen as simply “offensive” and the fruit of unrealistic Irish expectations. The clan also point that Trapattoni’s record with Ireland has been little short of miraculous, with Ireland reaching the play-offs for South Africa 2010 and Euro 2012.

Inevitably, that emphatic defeat attracted plenty of coverage in yesterday’s Italian sports media, coverage however that strikes a different tone from that of the outraged Irish media. La Repubblica concedes that Trapattoni has now reached his Irish “sell-by” date but argues that he and his tactical ideas are not the basic problem, rather it is the lack of quality players: “Obviously, a whole culture, environment and system have to be changed. Trapattoni has got things wrong but you cannot blame everything on him.

“Ireland only rarely produces great players, the last one was Roy Keane . . . The side that got thumped by Germany . . . at the end of the day was very poor quality stuff but there’s nothing better around.”

Leading sports daily, Gazzetta Dello Sport, strikes a similar tone, arguing again that the major problem is a poor quality squad rather than Trapattoni’s allegedly outdated tactical ideas. “Tactical ideas: okay, let’s take an Italian example. Against Germany the other night Ireland lined out with a 4-5-1 formation similar to that used by Lazio this season . . . In Italy, we all think [Lazio coach] Vladimir Petkovic is a genius for using this system. Maybe it is not that Trap is old, maybe it is that he cannot call on players like German Klose, Brazilian Hernanes and Argentine Ledesma [all Lazio players]”

Gazzetta also argues that thanks to injuries and international retirements, Ireland were without arguably their four most important players of recent seasons, namely Damien Duff, Shay Given, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane.

Without this quartet, the future looks bleak suggests Gazzetta: “It will be a long time before Ireland manage to make two consecutive play-offs as they did under Trap, qualifying for Euro 2012 and missing out on South Africa 2010 only thanks to Thierry Henry’s hand . . .”

Several commentators conclude, however, that Trapattoni’s magic moment with Ireland is well and truly over. Turin daily La Stampa recalls the night in Poznan this summer when Irish fans stood singing on the terraces long after the final whistle following Ireland’s 2-0 defeat by Italy.

While even three successive Euro 2012 defeats could not dampen their enthusiasm, last Friday’s drubbing left Irish fans “totally silent”, it points out, adding: “The Italian who put Ireland back on the international map no longer convinces everyone. Now the newspapers attack him, the fans disagree with him and even his players are not giving him much support.”

And to think, concludes La Stampa, that Trapattoni’s Irish critics accuse him of being too defensive, of being too attached to “catenaccio”. Yet, a lot more defensive backbone, a large dollop of catenaccio, would have gone down well against Germany.