SOCCER EURO 2012 QUALIFYING GROUP B:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI may talk up the abilities of his "fammus" players when the occasion requires it but more often the manager tacitly acknowledges the relative lack of quality at his disposal and points to the tactical certainty he has brought to the Republic of Ireland set-up as the foundation on which his team is built.

It should come as no great surprise then, in the wake of Liam Lawrence talking formations with the press on Tuesday evening, assistant manager Marco Tardelli revealed after training yesterday he had stopped by the Portsmouth winger back in the team hotel to “clarify” his remarks.

Lawrence’s suggestion, not unreasonable it seemed, after Trapattoni had come close to declaring himself helpless as he watched his four-man midfield overrun by Russia’s five in the first hour of the game in October, was the Republic too should consider manning up in that department.

Tardelli, though, was having none of it yesterday, insisting 4-4-2 remained the logical choice for Ireland as they step up their push for a place at the next European Championships, and claiming while the team could play with five across the middle, “it would take 10 to 15 days to prepare for the match”.

This was at odds with Tardelli’s confident claim moments earlier that Ireland can switch between one formation and the other mid match simply by relocating Robbie Keane. But in any case, he declared, “it doesn’t matter because Macedonia play 4-4-2 so for now, 4-4-2 is good for us”.

Still, there’s a lingering suspicion that Trapattoni’s enthusiasm for spending a bit more time away with his players in early June may be fired by a desire to reassess his options. The Italian press have been reporting that Italy are close to finalising a game against Ireland in New York on June 11th and that, following on from the Carling Nations Cup games against Scotland and Northern Ireland at the end of May as well as the second qualifying encounter with Macedonia on June 4th, would provide the sort of timeframe Tardelli seems to believe is required for a spot of player re-education.

For the moment, though, it is very much business as usual, with Trapattoni’s assistant expressing the usual mix of confidence and caution around this weekend’s first encounter with Mirsad Jonuz’s men.

Things have gone about as well as could have been hoped a few days ago on the injury front, with Richard Dunne and Darron Gibson both joining in with training yesterday.

Sean St Ledger sat the session out after his knock in training yesterday and Damien Duff was missing again due to an Achilles problem but both, the Italian says, should be fit for Saturday.

Leon Best, on the other hand, went back to Newcastle yesterday after giving training a go but ultimately succumbing to the ankle problem that had always made him a doubt for the game.

Tardelli, in any case, remains upbeat but warns about the potential of the Macedonians to cause problems, particularly Inter Milan striker Goran Pandev and two of his most likely providers from the flanks, Goran Popov of Dynamo Kiev and Vanche Shikov of Cypriot side Ethnikos Achna, who are likely to start at left and right back respectively.

The upside, the Italian suggested, is if possession can be won when either of the pair pushes forward, the ball can be fed to the likes of Duff and Aiden McGeady to exploit the space they have left behind.

Ireland’s last line of defence on Saturday night, of course, will be Keiren Westwood and Tardelli expressed confidence in his ability to step into Shay Given’s boots too. Who will step into Westwood’s and take a place on the bench remains uncertain, although Darren Randolph wouldn’t be remotely intimated by the task even if, he admits, his inclusion in this squad came as a surprise.

“I never thought it would pass by,” he says, “I’m still only 23. But I didn’t think it would be so soon, I thought it would be next season or the season after. But I’m delighted to get the recognition now and be amongst it all.”

Randolph, from Bray, has long been marked out as a potential long-term successor to Given, having been capped at pretty much every level up below senior but his career did threaten to stall at Charlton where he found it impossible to make the breakthrough he craved.

A handful of loan moves helped maintain momentum but the last, to Hereford United, ended in controversy when then manager Graham Turner accused him of refusing to play in an FA Cup game because he had heard another goalkeeper was about to be signed.

There are no such issues at Motherwell where manager Stuart McCall has gushed about a player he rates as “fantastic” and “exceptional”.

The player sounds quietly confident that even if his time doesn’t come this week, it can be an important step towards a longer term goal. “Hopefully I can help to push him (Westwood) to play to the best that he can against Macedonia. As for the stadium, yeah, it’ll be the first time I’ve been there but hopefully I’ll be back there quite a few more times.”