Ireland today ?

[TimTheVillain]

What happened ??

[Ads]

Tweaked his hamstring in the warm up.

[garyfouroaks]

No grandmother worries then?

[Mazrim]

Yes, he tweaked his grandmother.

[Dave Clark Five]

Fairly standard thing to happen. New signing gets injured. Usually a deep seated groin strain that keeps them out for months.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Even more standard when you have no fitness coach.

[taylorsworkrate]

He royally fucked up my fantasy football team aswell.

[darren woolley]

Hopefully he will be fit for the stoke game.

[jonzy85]

Not as if the p**** has international duty to worry about!

[Countryside Villain]

Not a fan then Jonzy?

[Chris Smith]

If, as seems likely, we continue to play Ash in the support striker role I think we're going to find it difficult to properly accommodate Ireland. I don't think you can play him, Downing and Albrighton at the same time but if we leave out one of the other two then we lose a bit of shape. Perhaps that's why O'Neill wasn't keen on having him in exchange as he'd seemingly already decided on changing the way Young played in pre-season.

[old man villa fan]

If, as seems likely, we continue to play Ash in the support striker role I think we're going to find it difficult to properly accommodate Ireland. I don't think you can play him, Downing and Albrighton at the same time but if we leave out one of the other two then we lose a bit of shape. Perhaps that's why O'Neill wasn't keen on having him in exchange as he'd seemingly already decided on changing the way Young played in pre-season.

I think as yesterday showed, having two wide players in midfield that hug the touchline leaves us so open through the middle.  I think Milner's energy covered for this to a large extent last season.  The trouble is, there aren't too many Milner type players out there.

[smudger]

Based on what we have, i think it will have to be;

----------------------Freidel---------------------
Young-------Cuellar------Dunne----Warnock
---------Petrov---Reo Coker---Ireland-------
Young----------------------------------Downing
--------------------Agbonlahor------------------

If he is going to play effectively. With Albrighton, Collins, Carew, Delph as the main back up it still looks like a good core squad. To be honest though, i don't think you can change yesterdays team for the time being, as they won against a decent team.

[Ger Regan]

Based on what we have, i think it will have to be;

----------------------Freidel---------------------
Young-------Cuellar------Dunne----Warnock
---------Petrov---Reo Coker---Ireland-------
Young----------------------------------Downing
--------------------Agbonlahor------------------

If he is going to play effectively. With Albrighton, Collins, Carew, Delph as the main back up it still looks like a good core squad. To be honest though, i don't think you can change yesterdays team for the time being, as they won against a decent team.

Swap Albrighton for Downing and you've got yourself a deal.

[smudger]

Based on what we have, i think it will have to be;

----------------------Freidel---------------------
Young-------Cuellar------Dunne----Warnock
---------Petrov---Reo Coker---Ireland-------
Young----------------------------------Downing
--------------------Agbonlahor------------------

If he is going to play effectively. With Albrighton, Collins, Carew, Delph as the main back up it still looks like a good core squad. To be honest though, i don't think you can change yesterdays team for the time being, as they won against a decent team.

Swap Albrighton for Downing and you've got yourself a deal.

I think a bit of rotation would come in, but i wouldn't disagree that Albrighton has overall started better than Downing this season. If we are not going to buy a striker it's the only way to play for me. It means you can get Ireland in the team with a solidish looking central midfieild. We have Delph to come back who could replace Reo Coker / Petrov at times. Carew could play as the striker, Gabby could play either side maybe, Downing could play more central as long as the other 2 were solid, there are quite a few possibilities for that formation with the players we have.