Now now, Geysir. That's no state of agitation to be working yourself into so early in the week. Greater irritations lay ahead. Pace yourself.
Reid was/is definitely more naturally talented than the likes of Andrews, Hendrick and Meyler, but whether he is technically better than Brady or McCarthy is another matter - they're both very gifted young players with good footballing brains. I remember Reid being outstanding in two games (Cyprus '04 and Germany '07) and pretty average the rest of the time - either anonymous or trying too hard to hit 'Hollywood' passes and giving possession away. Through the sheer forces of nostalgia and injustice, we've forgotten that Reid never really imposed himself on games often enough.
Like Andy Reid now his most notable contribution in an Irish squadwould be to strum a few chords on a guitar....Originally Posted by Sullivinho
Reid, Hendrick, Brady, Meyler and Andrews all played the bulk of their football in the Championship last year, if you compare their stats over the season you get the following:
Andy Reid - 5 goals and 10 assists in 3321 mins
Brady - 4 goals and 13 assists in 2605 mins
Hendrick - 6 goals 4 assists in 3855
Meyler - 5 goals 3 assists in 2306 mins
Andrews - 4 goals and 0 assists in 1956 mins
Reid has the worst goals / min ratio of those players (Meyler is a goal every 5.1 games, Andrews 5.4, Hendrick 7.1, Brady 7.2, Reid 7.4)
His assists are better where he is second on that list (Brady is an assist every 2.2 games, Reid 3.7, Meyler 8.5, Hendrick 10.7, Andrews n/a)
But given his age I can't see the logic of having him anywhere near the squad. The stats would suggest Brady is already a better option than him (as well as being younger and now playing at a higher level than Reid), Meyler and Hendrick seem more likely to score and perhaps less likely to create than Reid, but both are least 5 years younger than him (to say nothing of the fact Reid has never been in as good a physical shape as them). We have stronger first team players than him in his position McCarthy, Hoolahan and Brady - Reid adds nothing, absolutely nothing, to exceed those three - all will be playing at a higher level than him this coming season (latter two in PL, former at least supplimenting Championship football with EL group games). If we are to have another attacking midfielder in the squad I'd go for youth and pick Meyler or Hendrick.
I dunno. Reid has one thing that only Hoolahan and Gibson can also bring - some composure on the ball in midfield. He can buy you that precious extra half second or second that would otherwise lead to panic and lost possession. It's something we regularly lack. It's also something that you don't really lose in your early 30s.
I like the idea of including young players in the squad for the future but of the 5 named by Edmundo above Reid is probably the one I'd trust most in central midfield next month, though maybe not alongside Whelan. I think Andrews brings something different still.
Can McCarthy not do that? And I think Brady to a degree would offer that as well. All this on the ball ability is also offset by an inability to win the ball back off the opposition. He might be composed and distribute the ball well, but he is totally ineffective when not in posession of the ball, he can't tackle to disposses and he patently won't be able to track opposition runs given his stamina. We already have Whelan in the team (who looks like he is running through treacle after about 60 mins) but at least he has a degree of defensive knowledge. I wouldnt play Whelan myself but Trap seems to pick him regularly, if we have him in the team it would be suicide to have Reid next to him at the center of a 4 man midfield.
In fact we can only really afford to play Reid if we go 4-5-1 and play Reid just behind the striker, that way we could play more mobile central midfielders who could at least track runs and close players down (say like McCarthy or even Andrews). If we were to do this (and I think it would be a disaster) who would we play as the out-and-out striker? If we pick Robbie we run the risk of him coming back into midfield and then not having anyone upfront. If we drop Robbie and upfront we have someone like Doyle, Long, Sammon or even Walters with Reid playing off them where will the goals come from? We would be better off with playing Robbie off Long (or Doyle) and having McCarthy or Brady alongside Whelan (or ideally forget and play McCarthy and Brady (but encourage them to be more cautious and keep positional discipline).
I remember him being interviewed after that game and everyone thinking; 'he's a future captain'. He spoke well, was a leader on the pitch and clearly a very talented footballer.
Never thought he'd only end up with 27 caps
Folding my way into the big money!!!
Au contraire, I'm quite happy, content and totally in control when telling you to f'eck off elsewhere with your 'vibes',
just eat the dirt.
I'll give you McCarthy although I don't 100% see McCarthy as being the elegant "head up" player the others are. What I've seen of Brady so far is a guy more suited to paying wide and taking his man on, a more sophisticated McClean in a sense. Is that not right?
Wrt Reid's defensive side, I'd expect that to be true now (I haven't seen much of him in last 18 months) but a few years ago I think his defensive frailty was overrated. He did actually work hard off the ball and RTE showed clips supporting this when he was at Sunderland.
As to Supreme Feet's observation, yes he was superb in that game against Germany but flopped only days later against Cyprus. He ran the show in Copenhagen when he and Potter were in CM in a 4-0 friendly win against Denmark. Meaningless game in the scheme of things though.
I suppose failing to win a crucial game against a similar standard team like Austria, managing only 35% of the possession and just about half the passing stats of the visitors isn't so much of an issuethough managers have fallen to the sword for much less.
Introducing Brady, Hendrick, McClean etc haven't changed that basic approach and failings, the inability to retain possession against similar or lower standard teams, for more than 2 or 3 passes and our panache for hoofing it up front in all events, the sight of Andy Keogh or even Sammon warming up as our sub options, sending even darker clouds. Possibly we are playing the worst type football in all of Europe, albeit good organisation and workmanship compensating for the lack of quality. Most teams worse off than us, can play better than we manage to do.
I doubt if anyone remotely thought of Reid starting the team as CM partner to Whelan as being an option, at least no more than Reid as a goalkeeping option.
Most would see McCarthy as nr1 and partnered by anybody else but Whelan.
We are indeed in a sad state, if bringing on Andy Keogh as a sub, throwing all sorts of weird shapes on the pitch, appears rational, while a reborn Reid is left back home eating low caloried pies and running 100m sprints in 10 seconds flat.
We don't need to have 2 wingers as part of a gospel formation all the time, Fahey or Lawrence were not wingers, yet when on form they could play a useful role at wide midfield. Reid is a resourceful experienced skilful option to have on the bench at the very least.
Last edited by geysir; 20/08/2013 at 9:18 PM.
If he comes back can he bring his guitar?
Don't fret... I think any comeback would have to be no strings attached.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
If he's to come back he'll really need to plug into the current system. We don't want any more riffs in the (c)amp
Folding my way into the big money!!!
Yes, but can we ignore our players of note? Someone with his pluck, who could finetune our midfield?
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Andy Reid drives a left-footed shot into the top right corner of the net to put Forest 1-0 up away to Watford. Great start to the season for him.
He's looking quite svelte.
Reid's goal from earlier today:
Coming up to ten years now this autumn from when he made his senior international debut against Canada... time flies!
Gibson could Marshall our midfield and Fender off the opposition.
We've got enough options to cope even if Germany went rogue and brought Lars Rickenbacker.
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