IN WHAT may be regarded in some quarters as something of a cart-before-the-horse approach, Giovanni Trapattoni suggested yesterday that one of the reasons he continues to overlook Lee Carsley when picking his Irish teams is the need to go to a championship finals with young players who are able to cope with the rigours of playing so many top-level games in quick succession.

"If we qualify," said the Italian, "we would have a game every three days. Do you know what the tempo of playing games every three days is like? You need young players because the young have more energy. It's not written in the bible but I've learned it from 30 years of experience in football."

Trapattoni was reacting to the inevitable questioning of his team selection following Wednesday's defeat by Poland at Croke Park. The manager conceded his team deserved neither a win nor a draw but pointed out they had still come very close to achieving the latter when a Kevin Kilbane attempt on goal was blocked down in the dying seconds of the game.

He said that had he been preoccupied with the result he would have picked a different side but insisted he is not remotely troubled by any criticism of his tactics or selection and will not be deviating from what he sees as the best way to move the team forward.

"Sure, we conceded too much space and made mistakes that led to their goals but in football that's not unusual and for me the important thing is that the young players are growing."

Showing some signs of slight agitation at times with the persistent questioning of particular aspects of his selection policy, he insisted: "We cannot go back because of one setback. We cannot have one group of players going out and another group coming in.

"(Keith) Andrews, (Darron) Gibson, (Glenn) Whelan played well. They did their work very well. Whelan was one of the best players on the pitch. But you saw Poland yesterday. They are a famous international team with a great many good players. I know them all and they are a good side.

"You saw the way they played: bing bong (his gestures suggesting quick movement of the ball). That's international football. That is what our young players must learn to play against."

His claim that he would have selected a different team had the result meant more to him was slightly at odds with the emphasis he seemed to place before the game when he insisted he saw it as highly desirable to finish the year on a high.

It was also unclear even after yesterday's press conference what exactly he would have done differently although there was a strong suggestion that, with the players available to him, Stephen Hunt would have been preferred to Andy Keogh had there been more at stake.

The former Juventus manager dismissed Bulgaria's 6-1 defeat to Serbia in Belgrade on Wednesday as an aberration and acknowledged that his side face a tough start to the new year with qualifying games against Georgia and then the group's two top seeds. Still, he insisted, Ireland are in a better position to challenge their rivals after his first year in charge due to the stability he has brought and the foundations he has put in place by blooding new players.

"I've said many times, the team changed too much before, it changed every game," he said. "These players played then others and players played right, left and then on the other side again, always. There were many mistakes. There was no harmony. There wasn't a lot of consistency.

"It was difficult for me to even do a fair analysis because of the many changes there have been. Now I can say, with balance, against Cyprus, against Georgia and against Montenegro. I think the team is growing a little bit.

"I think we are building something slowly, slowly, slowly. We change it for the better, because we have more young players. Now we have a clear understanding of the positions, of the players and their qualities. We have seen new players that haven't played before. And we don't forget the ones that we have left behind . . . Lee Carsley could come back."

Meanwhile, Newcastle United manager Joe Kinnear has criticised the Ireland manager for his comments on Tuesday when Trapattoni confirmed he had recommended Shay Given to a number of Serie A managers in Italy.

"It is disrespectful to the club," said Kinnear. "Shay has got two and a half years here, a long contract and he is very happy here. He is a big voice in the dressingroom and a top-class goalkeeper. He is the last person we'd want to lose. It is a disappointment anyone would bring out a statement like that. Maybe he was trying to get on Shay Given's good side."