Stephen Ireland

**irishultra** · 10/04/2009, 2:19 AM

i cant believe we have a player who would take our starting 11 genuinely to another level. its not like s reid where there are doubts among people who watch him week in and out, ireland is proper class

**tetsujin1979** · 10/04/2009, 8:44 AM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Great goal by Ireland. Great ball and then great attitdue to not sit back and admire it and get into a great position and then great finish too. Not a big fan of the guy for letting his country down but still a great goal.

So, you'd say it's "great" then Neil

**drummerboy** · 10/04/2009, 11:06 AM

Great goal by Ireland. Still don't like the lad no matter how well he plays for City. He emptimises all that is wrong with the modern game. A really bad example to kids growing up.

**tetsujin1979** · 10/04/2009, 11:29 AM

Really? Do you think this - http://www.stephenireland.com/charity/ - is a bad example to kids growing up?

**Thebolg** · 10/04/2009, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Ciaran

95% robinho, wtf. All season when Robinho has played well he's been made play well from Ireland, his vision last night not just for the goal was superb, picks passes others would never see. He's like an ungodly fusion of Pirlo and Gerrard these days.

I would say more of a mix of roy keane and timmy mallet. Roy Keanes arrogance / ego / preciousness, and Timmy Mallet's maturity.

**Emmet7** · 10/04/2009, 11:57 AM

Great goal by Ireland.

However, defensively he isn't great, see the third goal.

That's the problem with Man City. They can score great goals but there midfield has more holes than swiss cheese.

It's the same with Stephen Ireland. He can get you a wonder goal now and again. But he can also disappear for long periods of matches and the opposition can walk through midfield. Do we want that for the Irish national team? If Stephen Ireland was playing against Italy, would he have kept their midfielders in check from a defensive point of view? I have never been impressed with his defensive skills, he lets people by too easily.

He is most definately not a Roy Keane, he in unable to impose his will on the team or bully other players. You need a bully in midfield or even as a manager so players are forced to pull their weight. How many times when an attacker had beaten the last defender you have Keane putting in a saving tackle? I've never seen Ireland do that. Five minutes later Keane would be up the other end scoring a goal.

Ireland is ok at attacking but not great at defending. Sure, playing for Ireland he might score the odd goal here or there and set up another. But's that's no use if we concede 3 goals a game because our midfielders won't close down the opposition.

Better to win 1-0 as Trap's philosophy seems to be than lose 4-3 or 5-2 as we did against Cyprus.

**Stuttgart88** · 10/04/2009, 12:41 PM

In an ideal world you'd have a solid competitive midfield with Ireland deployed elsewhere providing the creativity. There's no way you could have this with Duff & McGeady in same team as him, so in my opinion McGeady's place would be most vulnerable to Ireland's hypothetical return.

I think Ireland's best work is in the final third but where we're lacking most is in the middle third.

With a good central midfield I could see him being as effective as Houghton was for us under Jack, with proper instruction.

**drummerboy** · 10/04/2009, 1:07 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Really? Do you think this - http://www.stephenireland.com/charity/ - is a bad example to kids growing up?

Fair play to him for subscribing to that charity. A lot of other footballers subscribe to it as well but probably don't put it on their personal webpages.

What irks me about Ireland is the attitude he has shown in the past towards his country, fellow players and supporters. He has been found out to be a liar, something he has yet to apologise for. Just because you subscribe to a charity doesn't mean that dropping your shorts is tasteful. He's on the BBC website today saying City players need to be braver, rich coming from someone who hasn't got the character to apologise to all the kids who would love to see him turning out for his country. What do you tell a kid of 11 when he asks why Stephen doesn't want to play for his country.

**eirebhoy** · 10/04/2009, 1:08 PM

Originally Posted by Emmet7

It's the same with Stephen Ireland. He can get you a wonder goal now and again. But he can also disappear for long periods of matches and the opposition can walk through midfield. Do we want that for the Irish national team? If Stephen Ireland was playing against Italy, would he have kept their midfielders in check from a defensive point of view? I have never been impressed with his defensive skills, he lets people by too easily.

You could obviously say the same about Kaka and hundreds of attacking playmakers. Ireland may be playing in the central midfield position under Hughes but he's not a central midfielder. What I think happened with Ireland is that he's not a wide player. He's clearly a central player. And he's a midfielder. In Britain, that type of player must track back. Britain doesn't do Kaka's or Riquelme's or Diego's. Because he learned to track back he's now playing in a central midfield role but his instincts are all attacking. He's just not a central midfielder.

**kingdomkerry** · 10/04/2009, 1:24 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Really? Do you think this - http://www.stephenireland.com/charity/ - is a bad example to kids growing up?

This is a PR stunt pure and simple. Trying to improve his reputation for being a traitor and well..................... lets just say not the full shilling.

**tetsujin1979** · 10/04/2009, 1:42 PM

Originally Posted by drummerboy

Fair play to him for subscribing to that charity. A lot of other footballers subscribe to it as well but probably don't put it on their personal webpages.

He didn't subscribe to it, he set it up, it's his own charitable foundation. The memorabillia on it was given to him by other players to sell.

Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

This is a PR stunt pure and simple. Trying to improve his reputation for being a traitor and well..................... lets just say not the full shilling.

Ah, come on, that's a bit much. Is it possible that your opinion of Ireland is colouring your judgement of the charity? Anyone else who sets up a foundation would hardly receive that kind of response.

**The Fly** · 10/04/2009, 1:45 PM

I'm surprised he has that Football Focus interview, (with Lawrenson's comments at the end), on his home page.
Maybe he doesn't have much to do with the website

**Emmet7** · 10/04/2009, 2:08 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

You could obviously say the same about Kaka and hundreds of attacking playmakers. Ireland may be playing in the central midfield position under Hughes but he's not a central midfielder. What I think happened with Ireland is that he's not a wide player. He's clearly a central player. And he's a midfielder. In Britain, that type of player must track back. Britain doesn't do Kaka's or Riquelme's or Diego's. Because he learned to track back he's now playing in a central midfield role but his instincts are all attacking. He's just not a central midfielder.

That's fair enough.

But what I saw last night was Ireland score a great goal but then was largely at fault for Hamburg's final goal...You could see he had woeful defensive instincts. He was in the box, there was an attacker in the box and he never went within 5 yards of the attacker. When the ball came in Ireland was wrong-footed. Defensively he is poor.

So his goal was cancelled out by that mistake and it was a mistake...you should never stand off someone in the box, first rule, you have to challenge for the ball. And Man City were opened up time and time again through the midfield. And once again it could have been 6 or 7 goals to the Germans if it wasn't for Shay Given. That raises questions about their midfield of which Ireland is a part. Do you think Roy Keane would have let any midfield he was a part of have so many gaps.

The midfield has to be a line of defense too.

**eirebhoy** · 10/04/2009, 2:25 PM

Originally Posted by Emmet7

That raises questions about their midfield of which Ireland is a part.

You're talking about a midfield which about the same balance as:

-- Keane --- Bent --- Pavl --
----- Modric -------- Lennon
--------- Palacios----------

Not a difficult question to answer.

I don't know what Mark Hughes is thinking and it's no wonder Dunne has had a tough season.

**Manblue** · 10/04/2009, 4:52 PM

Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

This is a PR stunt pure and simple. Trying to improve his reputation for being a traitor and well..................... lets just say not the full shilling.

If it was a PR stunt he would of done it with an irish charity, i doubt the english care about him not playing for ireland to be honest

**geysir** · 10/04/2009, 5:54 PM

SI has absolutely no relevance to Ireland the football team.
He is of no relevance to our qualification efforts and if we do qualify he will have no relevance at the WC Finals. Trap has behaved impeccably in this matter

Call a poll and see how many members want this thread to stay

A. in the Ireland section
or
B. moved to World Football

**tricky_colour** · 10/04/2009, 6:31 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Really? Do you think this - http://www.stephenireland.com/charity/ - is a bad example to kids growing up?

Comes across as a PR exercise to me, some of those kids will never get the opertunity to play for their country.

**bellavistaman** · 10/04/2009, 8:18 PM

Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

This is a PR stunt pure and simple. Trying to improve his reputation for being a traitor and well..................... lets just say not the full shilling.

PR stunt are you for real ffs take your head out of your hole and give the lad a break. Fair play to him. A legend im my opinion