Stephen Ireland: Loan to Newcastle confirmed

[eastie]

If he had taken that early chance v Chelsea it may have all been so different.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I just seemed to be out of favour without actually doing anything wrong on either occasion, so that was difficult.

Yeah right, Houllier is just picking on you and you are totally blameless.

[Toronto Villa]

I just seemed to be out of favour without actually doing anything wrong on either occasion, so that was difficult.

Yeah right, Houllier is just picking on you and you are totally blameless.

That's what I couldn't understand from the interview with Newcastle. It was honestly as if he'd done nothing wrong at all. In fact it was was no different to what he's said on joining us. Man up and take some responsibility for your own actions. That's the only way back for him as a player in this league.

And he'll find no favours up there either. If nothing else they've proved quite a resilient bunch that work hard for each other. That was some fight they showed yesterday. I don't know that Ireland has the stomach for that.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I think the main problem is that he was asked to play a different midfield role to the one he had at Man City, rather than buckling down and trying to adapt to it, he went into man baby mode.

[Toronto Villa]

Given all of the other issues we had at the time it would have been nice for one of the senior players like Ireland to see the bigger picture and make some sacrifices for the team. I'm not going to blame him for everything as there were other bad influences at the club at the same time, but he could really have helped.

[Pete3206]

Contrast any recent Stephen Ireland comments to those of any Michael Bradley interview you can find on YouTube. I know who I'd rather have pulling on a Villa shirt.

[Merv]

I think the critical point with Ireland was that, when we had almost all our senior players out injured and really needed him to step up, he also went missing... whether it was ineffectual in games, or 'injured' or 'unwell'. That says a lot. The injuries he's had have all been slightly odd, unexplained illness or this knee injury which no-one knew about for weeks.

I guess his reference to the 'regular left-back' who played in his position was Clark... who was played how many times in midfield? Only a handful, when we were down to the bare bones.

Really interested to see how he fits in at Newcastle. I'd have thought Kevin Nolan's got the 'attacking box to box midfielder' role well and truly sewn up so where Ireland fits in, I'm not quite sure....

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Contrast any recent Stephen Ireland comments to those of any Michael Bradley interview you can find on YouTube. I know who I'd rather have pulling on a Villa shirt.

Excellent point, Pete. If Bradley is half as good as his attitude we'll have some player on our hands. As I mentioned when we first signed him, if he fails to impress it won't be for the lack of trying.