Stephen Ireland

[DrGonzo]

There must be a younger more hungry player out there.  Everyone saying he was chasing the ball in midfield was watching a different game to me.  He has some quality, but his workrate, for me, is the worst of our side.

[Dante Lavelli]

There must be a younger more hungry player out there.  Everyone saying he was chasing the ball in midfield was watching a different game to me.  He has some quality, but his workrate, for me, is the worst of our side.

wow, completely disagree but there you go.  In my defence I think he operates "between the lines" (which is his strength) but it does make him hard to define as a player.  Not quite an attacker but doesn't do enough defensively either.

[DrGonzo]

There must be a younger more hungry player out there.  Everyone saying he was chasing the ball in midfield was watching a different game to me.  He has some quality, but his workrate, for me, is the worst of our side.

wow, completely disagree but there you go.  In my defence I think he operates "between the lines" (which is his strength) but it does make him hard to define as a player.  Not quite an attacker but doesn't do enough defensively either.

Every time the attack broke down Gabby and Weimann were back covering while he was dawdling on the edge of the area.  He has some excellent qualitys but a team player he is not. 

[OCD]

Watch what Gabby did in the lead up to their second goal though.

[PeterWithesShin]

Watch what Gabby did in the lead up to their second goal though.

Is that the one where he just seemed to give up and turn his back on our goal?

[tomd2103]

Watch what Gabby did in the lead up to their second goal though.

Is that the one where he just seemed to give up and turn his back on our goal?

He just completely switched off and their full-back got played in behind him.  It's happened quite a few times when he has played out wide, but in his defence it's not his natural position. 

[fredm]

I personally struggle with Ireland as an individual, but yesterday I thought he finally started to make a significant contribution. He was really 'up' for it and did really well.
He now needs to check in with a few goals.

And I too thought that Scholes was given far too much space in the first half, even if it ultimately didn't count for anything.

The space that Scholes was given to work in was in their half of the field the majority of time.  By harrying him, Ireland had driven him back and partially negated his influence.  Yes Scholes was spraying the ball around but not in a dangerous area of the pitch.

Also think if he had not been on a yellow that PL would have kept him on longer.  PL was probably frightened that as he was tiring, along with most of the others I might add, one mistimed tackle would mean we were down to 10 men and without him next week.  Thought PL go that decision spot on.

Scholes also did not last 90 minutes - if he was playing for us would people be making the same comments?

[eamonn]

The way I look at it, we've got too many for the middle and something's got to give. Bannan, Delph, Holman, KEA, Westwood, hopefully Gardner and one day Petrov. I'd get rid of, high wages, too inconsistent.

Delph, Holman and KEA up to now look fairly limited. Gardner has had two massive injuries that will have stunted his development by two seasons when he gets back, Petrov won't likely play at a high level again and Bannan is only now starting to show some consistency. None of them have Ireland's awareness, touch or composure so I'd be looking at the more average ones to shift out before looking to offload Stevie boy.

[Risso]

The way I look at it, we've got too many for the middle and something's got to give. Bannan, Delph, Holman, KEA, Westwood, hopefully Gardner and one day Petrov. I'd get rid of, high wages, too inconsistent.

Delph, Holman and KEA up to now look fairly limited. Gardner has had two massive injuries that will have stunted his development by two seasons when he gets back, Petrov won't likely play at a high level again and Bannan is only now starting to show some consistency. None of them have Ireland's awareness, touch or composure so I'd be looking at the more average ones to shift out before looking to offload Stevie boy.

Same here.  Holman is an enthusiastic trier, but offers very little in the way of quality balls.  KEA is very underwhelming, and I'm not actually sure what he offers at all.  Delph is just shite, pure and simple.  Our best midfield options are Ireland, Bannan and Westwood.  I'd say Herd too but Lambert doesn't seem to like him. 

[rob_bridge]

He is a big money signing on very high wages who has not delviered other than in odd flashes/games.

He doesn't do nearly enough though it does appear his reputation, as a very good player, preceeds him as seem to do better when he is in the side than not.

[JUAN PABLO]

The way I look at it, we've got too many for the middle and something's got to give. Bannan, Delph, Holman, KEA, Westwood, hopefully Gardner and one day Petrov. I'd get rid of, high wages, too inconsistent.

Delph, Holman and KEA up to now look fairly limited. Gardner has had two massive injuries that will have stunted his development by two seasons when he gets back, Petrov won't likely play at a high level again and Bannan is only now starting to show some consistency. None of them have Ireland's awareness, touch or composure so I'd be looking at the more average ones to shift out before looking to offload Stevie boy.

Same here.  Holman is an enthusiastic trier, but offers very little in the way of quality balls.  KEA is very underwhelming, and I'm not actually sure what he offers at all.  Delph is just shite, pure and simple.  Our best midfield options are Ireland, Bannan and Westwood.  I'd say Herd too but Lambert doesn't seem to like him. 

complete agree . I would want to see Delph and Holmam gone before Ireland.     If we could clone holman and Ireland into one player , he would be awesome . 

[Jarpie]

First and foremost what Ireland needs to do and what seems to be his role is to link up play between midfield , wingers and strikers, open up play for others and harrash/press opponents on higher up on the field and he is now only one of our players who offers that with his vision and footballing brain.

Playing showy and hollywood passes or scoring 'Goals of the Season' is nice to see sure but in my opionion it's much more important for him to offer composure, link up the play and get the basic things first right in the team.

It's not always about the great final pass, usually the pass or two before the final pass is more important when creating a scoring chances.

When we have team gelled and get maybe another player to share the link up duties then Ireland can get the role with more freedom.

[QBVILLA]

If Ireland didn't have a flaw in his personality he wouldn't be playing for us as he is truly gifted. We have a squad full of hard workers but not much in the way of quality. Ireland makes a massive difference and in my opinion he was excellent on Saturday.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

There must be a younger more hungry player out there.  Everyone saying he was chasing the ball in midfield was watching a different game to me.  He has some quality, but his workrate, for me, is the worst of our side.

wow, completely disagree but there you go.  In my defence I think he operates "between the lines" (which is his strength) but it does make him hard to define as a player.  Not quite an attacker but doesn't do enough defensively either.

Every time the attack broke down Gabby and Weimann were back covering while he was dawdling on the edge of the area.  He has some excellent qualitys but a team player he is not. 

It wasn't his responsibility to get back, whereas Gabby and Weimann were playing like wingers and so had to track back.

[Jarpie]

If Ireland didn't have a flaw in his personality he wouldn't be playing for us as he is truly gifted. We have a squad full of hard workers but not much in the way of quality. Ireland makes a massive difference and in my opinion he was excellent on Saturday.

Ireland seems to have matured a lot in the couple last years, and he haven't caused any incidents with the small exception of that pipe twitter picture.

Given that Lambert has played Ireland he doesn't seem like "problem player" unlike some others who were sold or let go...