Enda Stevens D Stoke City b.1990

[theworm2345]

Obviously just transfered to Villa, joins the many Irish youngsters already there, hopefully can get in to the first team sooner rather than later.

Article on Stevens's Euro 2012 aspirations (as a fan)
http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlands-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-fc-news/2012/01/08/enda-stevens-wants-to-join-villa-s-irish-invasion-at-euro-2012-66331-30078966/2/

[gastric]

And the great news is they can use our Stephen Ireland as a role model! The thought scares me.

[the bear]

hopefully he goes straight into the first team, as someone pointed out on this forum a while ago the villa fans aren't happy with warnock at left back so a chance could be there.

[Murfinator]

A lot of villa fans are very open to him walking right into the first team, Warnock has been their worst player of the season and a very notable problem. Saw him getting torn apart by some random Swansea winger the other day, a shadow of his former self. (sad for warnock, great for stevens!)

[SwanVsDalton]

Warnock's been poor enough alright but had a couple of strong showings. Very inconsistent. Definitely an opportunity for Stevens and I'd be surprised if he wasn't involved sooner rather than later.

[Closed Account]

Making his reserve debut at the moment:
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/TV/LiveEventsDetail/0,,10265~2572356,00.html


12:53
Good afternoon folks. Dan Harrison here for live coverage of Arsenal Reserves v Villa Reserves as Enda Stevens makes his debut.
12:54
VILLA: Barrett, Webb, Donacien, Williams, Stevens, Taylor, Gardner, Johnson, Cameron, Burke, Drennan. Subs: Grealish, Watkins, Nelson-Addy, Robinson, Kinsella.
ARSENAL: Shea, Hajrovic, Angha, Eastmond, Boateng, Hoyte, Murphy, Ebecilio, Park, Toral, Miyaichi. Subs: Rees, Charles-Cook, Anasah, Monteiro, Brislen-Hall.
13:01
Early touch for Enda Stevens, looking to start an attack but his chip forward is intercepted.
13:03
1-0 it's Michael Drennan! Enda Stevens was at the heart of that move which is good to see!
13:14
Great link-up between Stevens and Cameron so far. They are looking like a good left-sided duo.
13:17
Another burst forward from Stevens before he clips in a cross but Shea comes out to claim it.
13:46
HT - Villa 1-0 up at the break thanks to Michael Drennan's goal after three minutes.

[Murfinator]

Startling how close Villa are now to being able to field an All Irish XI

[backstothewall]

A lot of villa fans are very open to him walking right into the first team, Warnock has been their worst player of the season and a very notable problem. Saw him getting torn apart by some random Swansea winger the other day, a shadow of his former self. (sad for warnock, great for stevens!)

He made a mistake against Swansea for sure, but Warnock is having a decent season. The stats bear out as much. http://www.eplindex.com/6942/aston-villa-stephen-warnock-opta-stats-comparison.html

I can't see Stevens getting his shirt any time soon.

[tetsujin1979]

Startling how close Villa are now to being able to field an All Irish XI
Answered this on football365 recently
Given
Devine* Williams Dunne Stevens
Carruthers Ireland Clark Grealish
Burke Keane

*the original list was short one player, AlaskaFox suggester Daniel Devine or Richard Bryan in defence or Mikey Drennan up front

[gastric]

Answered this on football365 recently
Given
Devine* Williams Dunne Stevens
Carruthers Ireland Clark Grealish
Burke Keane

*the original list was short one player, AlaskaFox suggester Daniel Devine or Richard Bryan in defence or Mikey Drennan up front


Do we still accept that Ireland is Irish?

[tetsujin1979]

Do we still accept that Ireland is Irish?let's not kick that particular hornet's nest

[theworm2345]

Answered this on football365 recently
Given
Devine* Williams Dunne Stevens
Carruthers Ireland Clark Grealish
Burke Keane

*the original list was short one player, AlaskaFox suggester Daniel Devine or Richard Bryan in defence or Mikey Drennan up front


Do we still accept that Ireland is Irish?


let's not kick that particular hornet's nest
---------------Given--------------
-Devine--Williams--Dunne--Stevens-
Carruthers--Clark--Grealish--Burke
--------Drennan-----Keane---------

All better (alternately push Clark to defensive midfielder and Grealish into a more attacking midfielder...never seen Grealish play so I'm not sure where his strengths lie)

[the bear]

article about the value of EPL clubs signing players from LOI rather than scotland

http://www.football365.com/f365-says/7424487/Go-To-Ireland-For-Value-Not-Scotland

[Murfinator]

The league quality isn't hugely different these days. Both sets of players carry more failures than successes in the EPL but LoI players are so dirt cheap theres very little financial risk to taking a gamble on them. It does continue to surprise me how people continue to overrate the Scottish league, theres many Irish examples of mediocre championship players being superstars in the SPL. Stokes, Sammon, Noel Hunt, Liam Miller etc.

[theworm2345]

Stevens captained the Villa reserves in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal today.
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2012/01/12/arsenal-reserves-1-aston-villa-reserves-1-enda-stevens-captains-the-second-string-97319-30108927/2/

Plenty of Irish involved, James Shea in goal (there is some debate over him as I recall though) and Rhys Murphy played the full 90 for them up front. For Villa, Stevens and Williams both played 90 in defence, as did Micky Drennan up front (he got Villa's goal with a header). Drennan was partnered up front by Graham Burke who played 75 minutes, and Jack Grealish came on after 70 minutes.

[Closed Account]

Stevens captained the Villa reserves in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal today.

Seen the captaincy reported wrong a couple of places but it was definitely Gary Gardner who captained. Would of been very strange otherwise.

[Olé Olé]

The league quality isn't hugely different these days. Both sets of players carry more failures than successes in the EPL but LoI players are so dirt cheap theres very little financial risk to taking a gamble on them. It does continue to surprise me how people continue to overrate the Scottish league, theres many Irish examples of mediocre championship players being superstars in the SPL. Stokes, Sammon, Noel Hunt, Liam Miller etc.

Is Aiden McGeady the best export the SPL has had since Henrik Larsson? McGeady cost quite a sum but has been impressive in Russia and is one of Karpin's most integral players.

Adam Rooney is another one you could mention in that he hasn't set the world alight with Birmingham City in the championship, as of yet.

I think you've reflected it there, the main crux of that article is the fact that the SPL players have a relatively inflated price, even though (Celtic and Rangers apart, arguably) the standard of football isn't all that great. Reading have benefited from the fact that many LoI players have one year contracts and have brought in a 20 year-old striker who has scored goals both domestically and one against PAOK in the Europa League. To put that into context, one of PAOK's best players, Vieirinha has subsequently signed for Wolfsburg for €4m and Shamrock Rovers progressed further in Europe than Celtic would have but for the issue with Sion. Villa have, similarly, signed Stevens who is a left-back with similar European experience.

I suppose to create an Irish-flavoured contrast, Wigan signed Sammon from Kilmarnock for £600,000. 6 months later Sunderland splashed out £350,000 on James McClean from Derry City. Which player is most likely to fulfil the relevant outlay in the transfer market, and most likely exceed it?

[liamoo11]

Stevens captained the Villa reserves in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal today.
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2012/01/12/arsenal-reserves-1-aston-villa-reserves-1-enda-stevens-captains-the-second-string-97319-30108927/2/

Plenty of Irish involved, James Shea in goal (there is some debate over him as I recall though) and Rhys Murphy played the full 90 for them up front. For Villa, Stevens and Williams both played 90 in defence, as did Micky Drennan up front (he got Villa's goal with a header). Drennan was partnered up front by Graham Burke who played 75 minutes, and Jack Grealish came on after 70 minutes.

Fair play to Drennan he was reported to have left villa at end of last season due to homesickness and his promising start to his career looked over but he seemed to come back around October and has done well. Maybe he just went home for the Kilkenny hurling championship!

[theworm2345]

http://i42.tinypic.com/bijg34.jpg
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4075747/Alex-McLeish-wishes-he-had-signed-Steven-Fletcher.html

[theworm2345]

Well just finished watching the Villa Reserves lose 3-1 to the Manchester United Reserves. Heres how they lined up:

http://i41.tinypic.com/k178ew.png

Villa were pretty much completely overrun in the match -- United had a strong side with Phil Jones, Smalling, Fabio, Cleverley, and Pogba all starting.

Derrick Williams was pretty shaky at centre half. Did OK dealing with anything that came down the middle of the pitch and showed some composure on the ball but looked out of sorts when crosses came in. Was beaten in the air by Will Keane for United's first after a cross from the left and I believe was beaten by Smalling for United's third from a corner (not 100% sure it was him).

Enda Stevens was relatively solid at left back but did not get forward at all and Courtney Cameron probably could've used some help in that aspect of the game. Showed some good skill in some of the long balls he played.

Samir Carruthers was sort of enigmatic. Started on the right but quickly appeared to move in to the middle of the pitch. Appears to be very talented with the ball at his feet but in McGeady fashion often lost possession. Took Villa's corners from the right as well. Showed some inventiveness with some passes but overall was stifled. Also seems to have a temper on him, clattered in to a few challenges and mouthed off to the referee a bit.

Graham Burke in midfield had little impact on the match. I think he pushed further forward than the above diagram would lead you to believe, but they really got nothing going there. Was taken off after about an hour.

Mikey Drennan was given the chance to start in Andreas Weimann's absence. Seemed to be moving between the right hand side of midfield and the centre forward position, though he wasn't particularly effective in either place. Was taken off after about 70 minutes right after nearly having a free header from about 10 yards out (Carruthers crossed from the right and Drennan just couldn't get on the end of it, couldn't really tell if he should've done better or not).

Michael Keane came on for United late on, didn't have much of an impact and I believe he switched allegiances anyway.

[sonofakeano]

Great synopsis Worm, not glowing from the Irish boys but reading some of those United names its not surprising. Cheers man

[theworm2345]

Great synopsis Worm, not glowing from the Irish boys but reading some of those United names its not surprising. Cheers man
Thanks, and I have another one :)

Villa reserves lost 4-1 to Liverpool reserves at Villa Park yesterday and just got done watching the match. Villa were outplayed for most of the match and had very little attacking impetus. Liverpool had basically no first teamers playing with Nathan Eccleston probably being the most experienced having been out on loan in the Championship and League One as well as Raheem Sterling who made his debut last week. This is how Villa lined up.

http://i43.tinypic.com/4lkffq.png

Derek Williams was relatively solid at centre half. Still looks very composed on the ball and seems to like to make the odd burst forward with the ball like Richard Dunne. Am somewhat concerned with his aerial ability as, though he dealt with most balls that came his way when unchallenged, he didn't win too many of the balls lumped forward from the Liverpool defence (though he didn't let the target win them, they mostly went over his head).

I thought Enda Stevens had a poor game -- rarely got forward to help Grealish (who needed help) and was sloppy at times in defence.

Samir Carruthers I thought did OK, made some clever touches and decent passes as well as taking some decent free kicks and putting in some decent crosses. Very concerned about his discipline though, seems to go flying in wildly if he thinks he has any chance at the ball.

I wasn't impressed with Jack Grealish after all I've been reading. He's only 16 but made basically no impact on the game from the left wing until the last 15 minutes. At that point he did start to get on the ball and tried to cut inside and make things happen. Won the penalty that gave Villa their only goal though I'd say that was more poor defence than great skill. Still, certainly some flashes of potential.

Graham Burke I thought did OK though was hauled off after about 65 minutes. Was essentially playing as a striker but was dropping very deep and helping to recover the ball when needed. Played some very neat passes the opened up the Liverpool back line and looked competent on the ball in tight situations.

Mikey Drennan was very isolated up front and, when the ball did come to him, did not pose much of a threat at all (even perhaps killed off what could have been a couple of chances).

[Carrigaline]

Enda Stevens makes the Villa bench for the first time in their game against Liverpool.

[Manblue]

Enda Stevens makes the Villa bench for the first time in their game against Liverpool.

Fair play, but was never coming on realistically given they started with 3 full backs on field and was poor in ressies game according to the villa forum

[tetsujin1979]

starts tonight for Villa with Stephen Ireland, his debut I believe
Derrick Williams and Graham Burke on the bench with Shay Given

[pineapple stu]

Just beat me to it! Yeah, it's his debut alright.

Assume Given being dropped for the League Cup is a sign that he's still first choice keeper?

[SkStu]

Assume Given being dropped for the League Cup is a sign that he's still first choice keeper?

sounds good to me! ;)

[SkStu]

Stevens provided the assist for Fabian Delph... laid it on a plate i'd say.

[Manblue]

Defo not future Irish left back (i hope)...brain-dead player...wouldn't be near an EPL team not in crisis

[tetsujin1979]

Villa linked with a left full from Middlesbrough, so he could be out of the team again before long

[Serb]

Defo not future Irish left back (i hope)...brain-dead player...wouldn't be near an EPL team not in crisis

You've managed to write off the careers of Enda Stevens, Sean St. Ledger and James Collins in 20 minutes. Impressive.

[Manblue]

You've managed to write off the careers of Enda Stevens, Sean St. Ledger and James Collins in 20 minutes. Impressive.

I didn't see the rule where it said "no commenting on players unless it's positive"

Two of these I've seen quite a bit,

Stevens i don't rate (which im entitled not to)
St Ledger I dont think is a good player but best we have available, didn't write him off, Dunne was prone to an error.

Collins....never wrote him off as stated in my post

[Charlie Darwin]

Lovely little dink to set up Delph:


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt4ki0_aston-villa-3-0-tranmere-rovers_sport

[Manblue]

Lovely???looks like it was a deflection mate but anyway.

**Apologies, on second viewing...lovely cross

[Dodge]

Defo not future Irish left back (i hope)...brain-dead player...wouldn't be near an EPL team not in crisis

He's probably our 2nd best left winger IMO. far better going forward than defending. Hopefully coaching at the EPL level will help him lose the lapses in concentration

[tetsujin1979]

He's probably our 2nd best left winger IMO. far better going forward than defending. Hopefully coaching at the EPL level will help him lose the lapses in concentration
Seriously? Second best winger, despite being a full back? Second best behind McLean (presumably) but ahead of Stephen Hunt, Robbie Brady, Wes Hoolahan, and Keith Treacy (in no particular order)?

[Dodge]

Seriously? Second best winger, despite being a full back? Second best behind McLean (presumably) but ahead of Stephen Hunt, Robbie Brady, Wes Hoolahan, and Keith Treacy (in no particular order)?

Yes. Admittedly haven't seen anything of Brady. Hoolahan isn't a winger, Hunt is poison. Stevens ahead of Treacy for me

Fully accept Brady could be far better but I haven't seen him play

[Cuyahoga]

Villa have signed a full back from Sunderland Joe Bennett on a four year deal which is not good news for enda Stevens.

[John83]

Yes. Admittedly haven't seen anything of Brady. Hoolahan isn't a winger, Hunt is poison. Stevens ahead of Treacy for me

Fully accept Brady could be far better but I haven't seen him play
Hoolahan isn't a winger these days, but he played left wing for years.

[Murfinator]

Hunt is poison.

:confused:

[Carrigaline]

On the bench for Villa's league cup game against Swindon.

[swinfordfc]

Had to come on as Herd got injured ... think he play left back with Lowton going central back and the American Lichai going right back

[tetsujin1979]

off the bench for his league debut.

[pineapple stu]

So of the what - half-dozen maybe? - former UCD players to have headed over the England in the past few years, he's the first to play in the Premiership.

Not the one I'd have picked!

Nest of luck to him though.

[tetsujin1979]

what about Sammon?

[pineapple stu]

Ha! Forgot about the entire last two seasons. Sure he even scored and got sent off. Mustn't have been drinking enough...

Still, wouldn't have had Enda Stevens as the second UCD player to make the Premiership either.

[passinginterest]

what about Sammon?
That's knocked him off his Perch.

[pineapple stu]

No!!! Not another four pages of fishy puns!

I'm trout of here.

[SkStu]

Sammons probably not the one you'd have picked either Stu?

[Charlie Darwin]

Finally, an Enda from Ireland making a good impression abroad.