SOCCER:I don't expect a hatful of goals, just win the game and put in a good performance, writes PAT FENLON

AFTER FRIDAY’S win in Armenia I’d imagine most of the team picked itself for tonight’s game against Andorra, Paul Green’s and Aiden McGeady’s positions possibly the only two up for grabs. While I expected the manager to stick with McGeady – it’s a night when we’ll need a little bit of flair – I am surprised he didn’t go for Darron Gibson or Keith Fahey to partner Glenn Whelan in the middle.

It was tough for Green on Friday, but your competitive debut can be difficult because you get so uptight about it, you use up an awful lot of nervous energy. He didn’t do himself justice, but he isn’t a bad player – I just think Gibson and Fahey are better than him, certainly more expansive than either him or Whelan. We’ll have a lot of the ball against Andorra and we’ll need players who can open up defences. I’m not sure Green is our best option on that front.

He’s full of energy and running, but that’s not particularly what Giovanni Trapattoni wants from him. He has him in the team because he can tackle and win the ball back, he gets about people and makes it hard for them. That’s why I thought he’d miss out for tonight, that it would just be Whelan asked to play that role – I think one against Andorra is enough.

Week to week his manager at Derby is telling Green he wants him to get in the box, get on the end of things, so his instinct is to play that way. But he has to battle against that instinct and curtail his more natural game to fit in to Trapattoni’s system and, in fairness, over time the manager has been able to do that with players, moulding them in to the system he wants.

I would, though, expect Green to get more of a licence to get forward than he did in Armenia. In fairness to him I think he probably got caught between playing for his club and playing for his country on Friday, two different systems, but it’s a learning curve for him.

Maybe Trapattoni just looks at him and sees someone who he believes he can mould into the player he wants. But against Andorra we’ll have a lot of the ball and we need someone who can open the door; they’ll get a lot of people behind the ball and make it difficult for us. You would like to have someone in there who can unlock the door.

I thought Fahey might get in ahead of McGeady, although McGeady should be able to cause them a few more problems from out wide. It’s been a hard time for McGeady. It took him a while to get the move from Celtic to Moscow sorted out, he hasn’t played a lot of football, so you can allow him that game against Armenia, which wasn’t the best. He looked tired when Trapattoni took him off, but hopefully that 70 minutes will bring him on. And we need him to be on form, the two wide players are going to be really important for us tonight.

Fahey, though, can push on from here and play for us regularly, I’m sure of that. He’s strong-willed, a good young lad, one who believes in his own ability – and always has. He learnt from the mistakes he made when he was starting out, he knows he’s lucky to have a second opportunity and he’s determined to make the most of it. His game has developed tremendously well, he was maybe just regarded as a flair player in the past but he’s added a discipline to his game.

He’s developed himself into a team player, and that’s probably why Trapattoni trusted him to bring him on Friday. His overall game in the last year and a half has improved immensely. He’s a real inspiration to kids who go away to England when they’re young and get knocked back: you just put your head down and like Fahey work as hard as he has over the last two or three years, and you’ll get another opportunity.

Andorra made it hard enough for Russia on Friday, but any team at home these days is difficult opposition. I’m sure tactically and technically they’re a lot better than they were five, 10 years ago – but, at home, we have to be able to put the likes of Andorra away. I don’t expect a hatful of goals, just go and win the game, put in a good performance and move on to Russia next month.

And while the public might expect us to beat some of the teams in this group comfortably, we’re really not set up to win matches that easily.

We will win matches, but it won’t always be pretty. Trapattoni’s only goal is to qualify for the tournament, he’s not too worried about how we get there. He plays to the strengths he believes we have. We have two very, very good forwards who can get us goals, wide men who can create chances, the rest of it is about being nice and tight defensively.

People can criticise it and say it’s not nice to watch, but it’s working – and that’s what he’s paid for. Three more points tonight, regardless of the margin of victory, and he’ll be more than happy.

“Against Andorra we’ll have a lot of the ball and we need someone who can open the door; they’ll get a lot of people behind the ball and make it difficult for us. You would like to have someone in there who can unlock the door