Richard Dunne is feeling better about his form in the past few months for his club Manchester City. Dunne had a bad time during the season after getting 2 red cards and various defensive mistakes that led to goals.
He said in the Irish Independent
"I wasn't concerned. I've had four, maybe five really good seasons and not missed too many games. I had a bad six months and straightaway everyone just says, 'you're finished,' 'that's that,' and 'there's no way back'.
"I just carried on. I hadn't changed anything and suddenly things had gone bad so I just kept doing what I was doing. Over the last 10 games or so I feel that I've been playing really well.
"I had a bad spell and everyone just seemed to be in a bad spell. It was just all at the same time."
Giovanni Trapattoni said about the forthcoming qualifiers on www.fai.ie
"Every coach hopes that Italy will not win on Saturday, but they will win. What's important is our game. I think we can go to Bari equal with Italy.
"It won't be easy because they have 30 good players so it's important for us to go there without injuries. But psychologically, it's most important that we go there on level terms."