Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark has blasted Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

Clark was not selected in Ireland's squad for this month's World Cup qualifiers despite only one other Premier League centre-back being picked by the Italian.

"There are not too many Irish centre-backs playing in the Premier League at the moment, so you would think that would stand me in good stead, but the manager is picking other people at the moment and I have no idea what I need to do to get back in," Clark told ESPN.

"I have not spoken to the manager or any of his staff about what I need to do to catch their eye or anything like that, so all I can do is continue to work hard at Villa and hopefully the situation improves for me with Ireland."