Stephen Ireland

**Sullivinho** · 31/12/2011, 3:45 PM

Well I s'pose those of us who consider him a beacon of knobishness, (and that includes me) can put that in our pipes and smoke it.

**Stuttgart88** · 31/12/2011, 3:59 PM

He made Bent's goal too. Looks a tidy enough player again. Still a nob though.

**drummerboy** · 31/12/2011, 4:10 PM

He seems to have put in a decent performance. Hopefully we won't hear anyone calling from him to be reinstated in the Euro squad.

**Colbert Report** · 31/12/2011, 4:15 PM

I think we should have him in the squad for the Euros.

**Murfinator** · 31/12/2011, 4:17 PM

My word what a performance, best player on the pitch with a world class showing. The lad has frightening talent when he plays like that. If can do that regularly he'll most certainly be back.

Possibly the standout performance of the season that, going to stamford bridge and tearing Chelsea apart single handidly just doesn't happen.

**Closed Account** · 31/12/2011, 4:21 PM

Ireland for Ireland!

**Paddy Garcia** · 31/12/2011, 4:30 PM

According to his manager "Ireland was unbelievable".

He means from a positive perspective this time.

**tricky_colour** · 31/12/2011, 4:41 PM

Ha ha great result for Villa, who would have thunked it?
And also Blackburn beating Man U, even unlikelier.

It's funny I was chatting to a guy on line when watching a match on-line mid-week, and he seemed
to be betting mad. Anyway I told him to always back the bottom team to beat the top team.
Although Man U were technically 2nd, I wonder if he bothered to do it, I wish I had!!

**tricky_colour** · 31/12/2011, 4:43 PM

Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

According to his manager "Ireland was unbelievable".

He means from a positive perspective this time.

Ah so he wasn't referring to his Grannies this time?

**SkStu** · 31/12/2011, 5:43 PM

Originally Posted by Murfinator

My word what a performance, best player on the pitch with a world class showing. The lad has frightening talent when he plays like that. If can do that regularly he'll most certainly be back.

Possibly the standout performance of the season that, going to stamford bridge and tearing Chelsea apart single handidly just doesn't happen.

exaggerate much?

I watched the game and he played very, very well but he didnt tear Chelsea apart single handedly. Villa were on the back foot for most of the match in all honesty. His work rate was what impressed me more than anything. An excellent performance but id wait until he does it more than once in a season before handing out any awards.

**Stuttgart88** · 31/12/2011, 6:11 PM

How did Dunne & Clark do?

I hear Dunne gave away a rash penno, but also read that Clark played the pass that Petrov scored from.

**tetsujin1979** · 31/12/2011, 6:57 PM

According to the Sky Sports text commentary, Dunne headed clear late on for "the umpteenth time"

**Murfinator** · 31/12/2011, 10:37 PM

Some comments from Villatalk on him today

He fits our passing game perfectly! Especially his linking up with N'zogbia. Great game for the whole team, but shame Gabby didn't convert his 1v1 chance and Dunne gave away that silly penalty. More games like this please, win lose or draw!

I've always had faith in Ireland. I knew it'd just take a bit of confidence and he'd pull something out the bag.

If some of our other players can get onto his wavelength, we'll have an excellent player on our hands. The amount of little one-touch passes and flair moves he does, really goes unnoticed.

Phenomenal performance, hopefully it's not a one off. Today he produced something that we have missed for years and something we paid for 18 months ago.

Never doubted his quality. World class.

Wow he was fantastic today, Ive had a sniff of humble pie, but there is a long way to go.

Their MoM poll has him at 89%: http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?n...=71470&start=0

Amazing how one performance can change supporters views from spitting bile at you to wanting to build your team around you. It's good news for Clark as well, Ireland nailing himself on as a starter means in all liklihood McLeish will use 2 defensive midfielders to accommodate him. Clark is the 2nd DM in the team behind petrov so gives him a great chance for a run in the first team.

Goal and ESPN both gave him an 8.5 along with man of the match.
http://www.espnstar.com/editorial/ne...layer-Ratings/
http://www.goal.com/en/match/60383/c...player-ratings

Roaming in between Chelsea's midfield and defence, Ireland used the freedom he was given well and looked alert all the time, launching counter-attacks for his side and calmly coordinating his side's play with sharp passing.

Headline-writing performance, done. Composure in the box ensured that the under-fire midfielder tucked in after Terry’s clearance. Was given a free role and epitomized everything that was good about Villa on the day, totally vindicating McLeish’s faith.

**geysir** · 01/01/2012, 11:40 AM

Irrelevant for our team how Ireland performs for Villa. He has exercised his prerogative to withdraw from international football.

Maybe he has been saved and born again, that's good news for the Villa team & fans.

**mark12345** · 01/01/2012, 12:54 PM

If current form is maintained on a semi-consistent basis for the remainder of the season, the positons of Whelan and Andrews in the national team have to be under threat.

Ireland may be irrelevant and he doesn't deserve to be called up again after his antics, but Trap likes him we all know, and if he's on fire come May and issues an apology, it may be hard to ignore him.

Also with Ciaran Clark getting a good run in the Villa team and James McCarthy back to form, the two incumbents can't expect automatic status anymore.

**Murfinator** · 01/01/2012, 1:02 PM

Andrews is in great form in fairness. Didn't think McCarthy was doing well, last I heard was the Wigan fans wanted him dropped and felt he was like a shadow of himself last season.

**tetsujin1979** · 01/01/2012, 1:14 PM

Originally Posted by Murfinator

Andrews is in great form in fairness. Didn't think McCarthy was doing well, last I heard was the Wigan fans wanted him dropped and felt he was like a shadow of himself last season.

McCarthy was excellent against Liverpool and Chelsea. Didn't see the United game, but the result can hardly be blamed on him,

**Crosby87** · 01/01/2012, 2:09 PM

Worst post of 2012.
1. Why would Whelan or Andy be threatened for their spot on the Nat'l team by a person who does not play for the Nat'l team and
2. Why do you think that Trap "likes him as we all know"?

**geysir** · 01/01/2012, 2:33 PM

Murfinator doesn't watch games in order to form an opinion about a player, he'll just surmise what the club fans are saying. McCarthy was also excellent against Chelsea at Stamford rd, is developing all-round solid midfield skills and he's a viable squad member.
Ireland could score 3 hat-tricks in a row, rip a trail through every defense in the EPL, between now until the end of the season, but it means nothing to us. Any talk of him taking the first step to redeem himself to the Irish team is most probably fantasy conjecture and any talk of us needing him is utter bull. I would be perfectly content if Trap never gave him a moment's thought in future.
Ireland has one bright game and he's endowed a 'saviour in exile' status

**mark12345** · 01/01/2012, 4:04 PM

Why would Whelan or Andrews be threatened? I dunno, maybe because Whelan has lead in his boots and can't run. Andrews isn't bad, but still not international class. In fairness he's doing quite well right now, is Andrews, but there are alternatives.

That's the point I'm making - there are alternatives. Ireland is not my cup of tea as a person, but Trap does like him. Why do I think that? Probably because Trap tried to get him to play quite a few times in the past.