Bannan and Ireland

[PaulTheVillan]

Delph and KEA graft more than Ireland and Bannan which is why I dont think Lambert thinks they will be any good in a dog fight.

[Richard]

Although agreeing with most of the comments here surely having 1 or both as an option from the bench is not too much to ask ? The current 7 on there are a waste of time in trying to change any game that needs winning/drawing to be frank.

[Ron Manager]

I can see Ireland going to somewhere like Celtic eventually for a season or two, then he'll probably get an offer to go and play in the MLS where he can sunbathe in the afternoon.

I tend to agree with you but I think he would prefer the MLS as soon as possible.

[Ron Manager]

If we stay up or god forbid go down I think those two, Eric Lihaj and even Chris Herd will move on.

[claret and blue blood]

Not posted for a while as whatever we think it all seems so futile as we literally get the same result.Whoever plays the same problems persist.The bottom line is we just ain't good enough.Anybody who thins otherwise after the misery of this season is clutching at straws.

[Bellster]

Barry Bannan offers nothing as a professional footballer. Absolutely nothing.

He's played around 60 league games for us, scored one goal (a penalty I think) and set up very few. Defensively he's a complete liability.

[SoccerHQ]

Bannan's been awful for ages now but he was still playing regularly until fairly recently so surprised he's not on the bench.

It's not like we have huge depth there either, with Delph suspended we have Westwood, KEA, Sylla and possibly Holman as our sorry central midfield options.

[danlanza]

Bannan has talent i think.
Ireland is just a fucking mercenary and should be got rid of asap.

[eamonn]

I do know that Barry asked for a temporary move away in January but PL wouldnt sanction it,

That seems odd considering he was getting a regular start during January.

he was also getting a lot of shit from the crowd though!

It would be sad if that was the reason for any request to leave.

[paul_e]

Barry Bannan offers nothing as a professional footballer. Absolutely nothing.

He's played around 60 league games for us, scored one goal (a penalty I think) and set up very few. Defensively he's a complete liability.

From what I can find he has 4 goals and 13 assists in 112 appearances (including internationals and loans).  Not exceptional but not poor enough to say he offers nothing as a professional footballer, particularly given that Lambert seems to see him as a defensive midfielder.

He's played very well when he's been in the roles that nzogbia and gabby have had recently and has done enough to get a run of a few games there, particularly given how ineffective both of them were on Monday, and Dawkins and Holman offered very little either.

As for fans getting on his back and getting to him, I could understand that.  There was a game in January where, in the stats, he misplaced 3 passes all match and all 3 of them he got booed, then people on here and other forums were slating him for not being able to pass, despite having made 43 out of 46 (or something like that).  He really can't win, if he keeps it simple and plays short passes he gets shit, if he tries to do anything more and it doesn't work he's 'hollywood'.  If he ever goes on the forums I can totally understand him not wanting to be at the club, a large section the fans have been really harsh on him in the last 18 months (and now seem to have set Clark up as the next academy product who can do nothing right).

I've said all along, if Ireland was the player we wanted him to be Bannan would be getting 20-30minute cameos and looking decent, but we've had to rely on him as a core part of our midfield for a year and a half because the senior players have failed and yet it's him that gets shit, instead of the waster on 70k a week (who gets voted player of the season instead) who has done fuck all to earn his wages for nearly 3 years.

Once again, I don't think Bannan is perfect but I think he's done enough to show that he can be an effective squad member for a mid-table premier league side, if played correctly.  I'd say the same for all of the 'kids' except possibly Lichaj who is unlikely to get a new contract this summer anyway.   I do wonder if the expectations on some of the kids has caused this though, for years we've had a great academy, with the next big thing always coming through but none of them have come in and turned us around so, after a handful of games they're dismissed as another kid who's not good enough.  I've already seen comments like that about Gary Gardner who's played about 10matches, mostly as a sub.  It's weird, we seem to set higher targets for the youngsters than we do for the senior players at the minute.

[peter w]

Can't quote at work...

Bannan works hard but has little footballing talent.
Ireland has footballing talent but doesn't work hard.

Can we gene splice them?

Knowing our luck we'd end up with the player who has little football talent and doesn't work hard.

[Steve R]

Bannan works hard but has little footballing talent.
Ireland has footballing talent but doesn't work hard.

Can we gene splice them?

And have someone throwing handfuls of coins at his own pink Range Rover?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Bannan works hard but has little footballing talent.
Ireland has footballing talent but doesn't work hard.

Can we gene splice them?

And have someone throwing handfuls of coins at his own pink Range Rover?

Don't think he's got that anymore, he got rid of it at about the same time as that ridiculous syrup he used to wear.

[pedro25]

At the end of the season we will have 9 contracted central midfielders for 2 spots in the team, Makoun, Gardner, Herd, Delph, Bannan, Ireland, KEA, Sylla and Westwood.  We only need a maximum of 5, but you would have thought at least one addition of real quality is required, which means shifting 5 from that list above, certainly Bannan, Ireland and Makoun, maybe Herd and KEA too.  But what are the chances of that, last summer we desperately tried to shift players but only got one contracted player off the books permanently (Collins) and were left with Warnock, Hutton etc.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Barry Bannan offers nothing as a professional footballer. Absolutely nothing.

He's played around 60 league games for us, scored one goal (a penalty I think) and set up very few. Defensively he's a complete liability.

The same could have been said about Delph. Last season when TSM played him alongside Stan, it was Petrov who was playing the more advanced role and Delph as the defensive central midfielder. He was shocking.

Like Delph, play him in his best position and we might start to see the player we all hoped he'd become.