Bent - Ireland deserves 'hole' role

[achilles]

But Ireland is such a good user of the ball that its folly not to use that. He's either the player you play through or he isnt all that much use. But in speed of thought and picking that quick incisive pass he hasn't many equals. That doesnt mean we dont also have other ways of playing and maybe sometimes Ireland doesnt fit that. But Bent is right, if you have a top striker (Bent) and a top playmaker (Ireland) then you try and make them work. The results could be magical. Resources could be decent this summer but Buying players of the quality of Ireland and Bent will be very difficult, so I say lets make best use of them.

Totally agree with this!

We have the players as long as they are motivated to play some good stuff this season.

[tomd2103]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

[damon loves JT]

Give Ireland the hole role and watch Bent go on a goal roll. Like a vole

[N'Zimidy]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

Question. Do people like you actually watch Villa matches or do you just watch MOTD and flick over to the 900+ channels half way through?

Ireland was by far and away our most standout player from last season. Rightly awarded fans players of the year after he turned in MOTM performance after MOTM performance in almost every game he played. He is by far the best player in the Villa squad and when he plays in the hole, we look 50 times better than we do with two strikers up top.

Build a team around Ireland, complement him with players like Makoun and we will be heading for a top half finish, no quesiton about it. Or, if you prefer, we can sign a 32 year old Robbie Keane on £60,000 wages, resign Heskey and hope that lumping it towards them two will produce a couple of jammy wonder goals every game like we did against Wolves.

[rutski]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

Question. Do people like you actually watch Villa matches or do you just watch MOTD and flick over to the 900+ channels half way through?

Ireland was by far and away our most standout player from last season. Rightly awarded fans players of the year after he turned in MOTM performance after MOTM performance in almost every game he played. He is by far the best player in the Villa squad and when he plays in the hole, we look 50 times better than we do with two strikers up top.

Build a team around Ireland, complement him with players like Makoun and we will be heading for a top half finish, no quesiton about it. Or, if you prefer, we can sign a 32 year old Robbie Keane on £60,000 wages, resign Heskey and hope that lumping it towards them two will produce a couple of jammy wonder goals every game like we did against Wolves.

i now know where i was going wrong on this opinion malarky, i didnt actually watch the team?
the season ticket i have got and the away games i go to i now have to start watching the team??? i am going to have to give that motd up as well, damn it, i love the london bias shit every week!

[N'Zimidy]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

Question. Do people like you actually watch Villa matches or do you just watch MOTD and flick over to the 900+ channels half way through?

Ireland was by far and away our most standout player from last season. Rightly awarded fans players of the year after he turned in MOTM performance after MOTM performance in almost every game he played. He is by far the best player in the Villa squad and when he plays in the hole, we look 50 times better than we do with two strikers up top.

Build a team around Ireland, complement him with players like Makoun and we will be heading for a top half finish, no quesiton about it. Or, if you prefer, we can sign a 32 year old Robbie Keane on £60,000 wages, resign Heskey and hope that lumping it towards them two will produce a couple of jammy wonder goals every game like we did against Wolves.

i now know where i was going wrong on this opinion malarky, i didnt actually watch the team?
the season ticket i have got and the away games i go to i now have to start watching the team??? i am going to have to give that motd up as well, damn it, i love the london bias shit every week!

I just can't comprehend how people who claim to watch Villa can call our best player worthless. It's like someone watching Barcelona and claiming that Xavi is shite because he never scores goals or something to that effect. I literally have no idea where you're coming from when you claim Ireland is rubbish.

He's the best passer of the ball, he's the most creative player on our team, he works bloody hard for the team, he had one of the highest interception rates in the Premier League last season, he keeps play ticking over, never losing possession and most of all he's actually consistent. He was picking up MOTM awards game after game after game yet some people claim that he has one good game in twenty. It's nonsense.

[taylorsworkrate]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

Question. Do people like you actually watch Villa matches or do you just watch MOTD and flick over to the 900+ channels half way through?

Ireland was by far and away our most standout player from last season. Rightly awarded fans players of the year after he turned in MOTM performance after MOTM performance in almost every game he played. He is by far the best player in the Villa squad and when he plays in the hole, we look 50 times better than we do with two strikers up top.

Build a team around Ireland, complement him with players like Makoun and we will be heading for a top half finish, no quesiton about it. Or, if you prefer, we can sign a 32 year old Robbie Keane on £60,000 wages, resign Heskey and hope that lumping it towards them two will produce a couple of jammy wonder goals every game like we did against Wolves.

i now know where i was going wrong on this opinion malarky, i didnt actually watch the team?
the season ticket i have got and the away games i go to i now have to start watching the team??? i am going to have to give that motd up as well, damn it, i love the london bias shit every week!

I just can't comprehend how people who claim to watch Villa can call our best player worthless. It's like someone watching Barcelona and claiming that Xavi is shite because he never scores goals or something to that effect. I literally have no idea where you're coming from when you claim Ireland is rubbish.

He's the best passer of the ball, he's the most creative player on our team, he works bloody hard for the team, he had one of the highest interception rates in the Premier League last season, he keeps play ticking over, never losing possession and most of all he's actually consistent. He was picking up MOTM awards game after game after game yet some people claim that he has one good game in twenty. It's nonsense.

The thing that most annoys me about the abuse Ireland gets on here, is that everyone was (rightly) crying out for a more aesthetically pleasing passing style last season.

Ireland is by a million miles the best exponent of that style that we currently have.

[KevinGage]

I think some of our lot decided Ireland was a write off after his first season (first half of that season, in fact)  and won't row back on that after a string of 7/10 performances. 

He'd need to be hitting 9/10  or 10/10 every game for them to even consider revisiting the thing.

[rutski]

motm performance game afetr game, consistent and hard working? i am struggling to think of 5 games where he has had a major influence. as for keane in the hole, well i dont think he should be resigned but i know his performances, willingness to want the ball and work for the team had a major impact on our season, and as for the 2 goals he scored against wolves, they sent wolves down that day and kept us out of the mire.
just trying to think about ireland against olbeyun away, stoke home, arsenal away, bolton home, norwich away, spuds home. six games at the end of the season where our most valuable players needed to stand up and be counted. motm performances?? cant remember them. oh yeah, he tweaked his hammy on the afternoon in a couple of them but otherwise his performances were, well, shit!

[supertom]

Ireland was okay. For me he was still too inconsistent. No just game to game but during games. For me he tends to have a strong 20 minutes at some point and in others just drift out the game entirely.

However...
In no small part that was due to our piss poor management and playing style. Lets face it, at times we could barely get the ball into our midfield. It either stayed in our half or just got lumped straight to the front man (or 100 yards wide of him).

Under Lambert I'd like to see what Ireland can do and I'd hope more consistency would come. If he's that good he should be able to play anywhere, even playing wider but in a free role. He won't always be able to play the hole role so he needs to be flexible and get the fuck on with it and still make things tick.

[peter w]

I think that there's a lot of over the top praise for Ireland. its almost wanting to see that player of the season at Man City doing the same at Villa. he had good moments and as for being player of the year that is feint praise. Who were his major competitors? Even then i would struggle to think of many players coming out of the season with much credit.

Bent for the time he wasn't injured, Keane for the few games he was here, given, and then Herd - who probably is playing above his level right now, and Lichaj - who is just a good stop-gap player. But Ireland? I was totally unconvinced by him and it was a pleasant surprise when he did play well because to be fair, it wasn't that often.

next season is huge for him. He needs to now show that Man City form and then he'll be back and we'll have a real chance of looking at the top 6 again.

[Matt Collins]

I thought Ireland did really well in the spell just around Xmas, with the Chelsea performance outstanding. He was then moved around or dropped when we signed keane and was a bit average after that

I dont think we'll really get the best out of him until we surround him with players on the same wavelength. It's the way he interacts with others that makes him a special talent

A key issue is the formation we play and the role he plays. The hole position suits him, but if you're going to play 4411 for example, I think you need your second striker to pitch in with more goals and assists than he looks like getting. That's less of an issue if he plays in more of a 433 where the wide fwds should be scoring more; or if we play a diamond as Lambert often has done

[Neil Hawkes]

Think of Sids' debut for England, when the ball was continually lumped over his head and I believe he never played again.
We all know he wasn't crap, but the style of football did not suit.

A lot of similarities between that and last seasons "gameplan"

Regarding Irelands' contribution, when he has the ball he's bloody good - when he doesn't he goes looking for it. Not a lot wrong there.

A different style of football may just give us the creative player we've been missing for along time

[pestria]

Ireland one goal in 2 years, no thanks, give Holman a chance behind Bent with Gabby and N'Zogbia wide.

Even when he has played in the "hole" Ireland's contribution has hardly been noteworthy, especillay when you consider the impact Robbie Keane had playing that position in the short time he was with us.   

Question. Do people like you actually watch Villa matches or do you just watch MOTD and flick over to the 900+ channels half way through?

Ireland was by far and away our most standout player from last season. Rightly awarded fans players of the year after he turned in MOTM performance after MOTM performance in almost every game he played. He is by far the best player in the Villa squad and when he plays in the hole, we look 50 times better than we do with two strikers up top.

Build a team around Ireland, complement him with players like Makoun and we will be heading for a top half finish, no quesiton about it. Or, if you prefer, we can sign a 32 year old Robbie Keane on £60,000 wages, resign Heskey and hope that lumping it towards them two will produce a couple of jammy wonder goals every game like we did against Wolves.

i now know where i was going wrong on this opinion malarky, i didnt actually watch the team?
the season ticket i have got and the away games i go to i now have to start watching the team??? i am going to have to give that motd up as well, damn it, i love the london bias shit every week!

I just can't comprehend how people who claim to watch Villa can call our best player worthless. It's like someone watching Barcelona and claiming that Xavi is shite because he never scores goals or something to that effect. I literally have no idea where you're coming from when you claim Ireland is rubbish.

He's the best passer of the ball, he's the most creative player on our team, he works bloody hard for the team, he had one of the highest interception rates in the Premier League last season, he keeps play ticking over, never losing possession and most of all he's actually consistent. He was picking up MOTM awards game after game after game yet some people claim that he has one good game in twenty. It's nonsense.

I think most fair mixed observers can see he's got something, but to date he hasn't delivered anything like enough despite being one of the better players last season.  I can't see why people are saying 'build a team around him;.

[Karl Bridges]

He got bunged out wide a few times, which was just ridiculous. If PL wants to keep him I think he'll be much more effective this season.