HAVING HINTED on Saturday he might use the second half of Tuesday’s game against Estonia to start assessing the depth of the talent pool available to him and, perhaps, turn the table on one or two of his established Republic of Ireland stars by putting them under a bit of pressure, manager Giovanni Trapattoni gave his strongest indication yet he will stand by the ones who have got the team to its first major championship in a decade.

“More or less, the squad for yesterday . . . this is our squad,” he said in relation to the panel of 23 he must name for next summer’s finals by Uefa’s deadline at the end of May. “We look out for other options but we already have good ones.”

The veteran coach suggested at one point he has “two, three or four” players in mind as possible additions to his core group. However, as he returned to the subject more than once at yesterday’s long and good-humoured press conference, he gave an increasingly strong impression the real competition for the final few places on the plane to Poland or Ukraine is likely to be between players who are already involved with the squad but not exactly central to it.

In all, 25 players were used during the campaign with another nine making the bench for at least one game while a 35th player, Keith Treacy, has played in five non-qualifiers during 2011.

However impressively say Norwich trio Marc Tierney, Anthony Pilkington and Wes Hoolahan finish the season at club level in England, it seems Trapattoni would appear to see his selection process as being focused almost exclusively on this group of 35.

And in reality, 20 or so of the 23 places in the squad are all but accounted for with the real debate boiling down to whether the likes of James McCarthy, Séamus Coleman or Liam Lawrence squeeze into the travelling party.

One man who won’t, by the sound of things, is Kevin Kilbane who, just a matter of months after his run of starting every one of Ireland’s competitive games for more than a decade, has effectively been told his career at this level is over.

“Not for tomorrow,” said Trapattoni when asked if the 34-year-old is still a part of his plans. “It was an honour to have him here yesterday and we know that he is an option in case of an emergency. But we need to go forward, to continue our work.”

Pressed on how he sees his squad for the finals breaking down, aside from the required three goalkeepers, the manager observed: “We usually need four strikers but,” he continued in a reference to Shane Long and Simon Cox, both of whom he named, “some strikers can play wide on the right or the left too. Midfielders and defenders are important because they commit more fouls and after two yellow cards you can be without a player.”

As things stand then, those two might be in line to join Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle and Jonathan Walters in the squad but Andy Keogh, whose versatility in this department and work-rate Trapattoni has regularly hailed, may have quite a fight on his hands given that he has not featured in a competitive game since the away fixture against Slovakia a year ago.

Quite how he or any of the others with a case to make will catch the manager’s eye is open to question with only one friendly game (against yet to be named opponents on February 29th) guaranteed between now and the point at which Trapattoni has to name his squad.

A “maximum” of another “two or three” will be scheduled for between the end of the club season and the start of the tournament, but two of these might well be in early June, after the Uefa deadline for the submission of lists has passed.

“We have ideas about the training camp but it depends on the offers and options that we have,” said the manager. “ It could be in Poland or Ukraine but maybe it will outside of the two countries. Austria is near, also Germany. Why not Portugal again? Italy? Or Slovenia?

“We will look at which gives us the best opportunities and where we can play friendly games.”

In terms of potential opponents he said: “We have three or four options and we can choose. We will look at the teams that we draw and we can choose based on what teams are similar. For Spain, we could play another Latin team, we have done this before.”

Once the players that are selected head away, he added, he will expect them to strike a responsible balance between their private lives and the commitment required by the team.

“When I was in Chile [for the World Cup in 1962] with Italy we went for 40 days without seeing our families, but that was a different time. Now, it’s possible for the players to see their families but when we need to work with the players we must do it together.

“We can improve but we need time together. There is a time for wives and family but there are times also when you need not to think about them.”

Quite how far he can bring the group on before what is likely to be a very testing tournament remains to be seen. He has observed many times himself that it is hard to get results on the training ground, when he gets to work with the group for only a few days at a time, which is clearly one of the reasons he has chosen to work so hard on boosting confidence and collective morale. This, he clearly reckons, has brought dividends.

“We are not Barcelona or Real Madrid,” he said. “We are not one of those famous clubs. But international football is different and we are a team now that the players believe in.”

He suggested, however, that he still believes they might all be getting a little help from above and that a little thank you might be in order.

Asked if he would travel to Kiev for the draw on December 2nd he joked: “I think so but I must also decide when I will go to Croagh Patrick.”

Trapattoni speak

"It's only a formality. And it's not about money. Unless they change completely the situation

- On the prospect of a new deal

" We are not Barcelona or Real Madrid. We are not one of those famous clubs. But international football is different and we are a team now that the players believe in

- On his team

"They chose us in order to get this result and we gave them the perfect answer. The players answered them too

- On achieving the association's goals

"It was an honour to have him here yesterday and we know that he is an option in case of an emergency. But we need to go forward, to continue our work

- On Kevin Kilbane

"More or less, the squad for yesterday . . . this is our squad

- On his travelling party for the finals

" We wrote a letter to the staff reminding them that this result was for everyone. I rely on Marco's contribution, his mentality is the same as mine, but there are many others too. Brian McCarthy [ for instance] prepares the analysis. I call him two or three times a day. I break his balls looking for more details because the players must see [ the opposition]. This is important work and I would like to thank him for it.

- On the technical staff's contribution