Richard Dunne

[paul_oshea]

Delighted if city start leaking goals. :)

[Thommo]

Mark Hughes must be off his head, Dunne's head and shoulders above Lescott and Toure.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/0903/dunner.html

[Stuttgart88]

I'm stuck for time so won't post the link but Dunne is very scathing of City in today's UK Times.

[irishfan86]

I'm stuck for time so won't post the link but Dunne is very scathing of City in today's UK Times.

Here's the link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/aston_villa/article6821206.ece

[rambler14]

Worst game in Ireland shirt tonight....looked lost.

[elroy]

Worst game in Ireland shirt tonight....looked lost.

Agreed, Okkas gave him the run around. Some very clumsy challenges and needless frees given away near the end. Couldve given away a penalty as well. I think Dunne suffers with an Okkas type of player, small and pacey, Sledge may have been the better option to mark him.

[Stuttgart88]

Clumsy, akward and poor judgment. Awful game by Dunne.

[Crosby87]

Horrid, looks to have lost a step, cant believe it but the boy needs to get his head on straight. He did more tackling today with his arms than Lawrence Taylor.
I have to think Sparky knows whats up at this point, Dunne seems to be regressing.
I realize he did play Bulgaria by himself but he seems out of sorts.

[FarBeag]

Well, he's had a bit of a Sh!tty week after all!

[geysir]

That would be a reasonable excuse for his performance.

[paul_oshea]

Agreed, Okkas gave him the run around. Some very clumsy challenges and needless frees given away near the end. Couldve given away a penalty as well. I think Dunne suffers with an Okkas type of player, small and pacey, Sledge may have been the better option to mark him.


and here was I thinking okkas was marking robbie keane :rolleyes:

[eirebhoy]

Very poor game. I actually thought O'Shea was worse. And hardly noticed St Ledger. While Dunne made a lot of mistakes he made more valuable contributions than the rest of the defence combined. He needs to sort himself out though.

[rambler14]

While Dunne made a lot of mistakes he made more valuable contributions than the rest of the defence combined.

Yeah. Contributions wise he gave away twice as many free-kicks as the rest of the defence combined.

[eirebhoy]

Yeah. Contributions wise he gave away twice as many free-kicks as the rest of the defence combined.
I know that. He did contribute a lot of good though which some people don't take into account. We can't just count up the bad things and say he was worse than O'Shea. O'Shea was worse for me but all eyes are on Dunne I suppose.

[lankyboy26]

I know that. He did contribute a lot of good though which some people don't take into account. We can't just count up the bad things and say he was worse than O'Shea. O'Shea was worse for me but all eyes are on Dunne I suppose.
lads it's hard to play well when all around you are playing sh#it and making mistakes, and Dunne has been our best defender so many times, totally standing out above any other player on the team. we depend on him too much, maybe the pressure was too much for him last night, and when he looks around him and sees O Shea, Kilbane, St. Ledger, he's probably thinking to himself " Christ i'm gonna have to be man-of-the-match again today if we're gonna get anything out of this game"

[OneRedArmy]

Very poor game. I actually thought O'Shea was worse. And hardly noticed St Ledger. While Dunne made a lot of mistakes he made more valuable contributions than the rest of the defence combined. He needs to sort himself out though.I would agree with you.

Dunne's size means that when he's playing against someone with a bit of pace (therefore almost every game), he'll get stuck on the wrong side a few times. He makes more than his fair share of excellent challenges in these situations, but also is guaranteed a couple of clumsy ones. The same happened last night. He really hasn't got the pace or lightness of foot to be a world class defender. But he gives you 100%.

O'Shea has been playing much better for Ireland under Trapp, but last night he was back to underperforming. Very hesitant and positionally poor, he didn't look comfortable at all. I wouldn't blame him too much for his distribution as he didn't really have much of an option short with midfield AWOL.

[eirebhoy]

Surely his pace hasn't gone though? Vucinic and Torres are lightning quick and he had no problem dominating them. Dunne was fast at his best. He didn't look very quick last night.

[OneRedArmy]

Surely his pace hasn't gone though? Vucinic and Torres are lightning quick and he had no problem dominating them. Dunne was fast at his best. He didn't look very quick last night.I know what you mean, but I think there's a difference between pace and speed. Dunne is quick in a straight line when he gets going, but because of his size he doesn't turn well. So he relies a lot on his reading of the game to be in the right place at the right time and not to be stuck on the wrong side (not unlike McGrath in his later years).

Last night he wasn't reading the game well, maybe it didn't help that the lads beside him were also poor.

Also, Torres whilst fast, is quite tall and hasn't got a low centre of gravity. I'd say Dunne far prefers playing against bigger lads.

[geysir]

In mitigation, Dunne is not an early (season) riser.
Also he missed out a good bit of training recently.
He'll be grand for the Italy game.

[Razors left peg]

one poor game lads, Im not willing to write him off just yet after how good he has been throughout this campaign.Must have been difficult to get his mind right when he was trying to sort out a move in the middle of an important weeks training for the game. He will back to his best against Italy I have absolutely no doubts

[citizenerased]

he was poor tonight, could have given away two penos and gave away a stupid and needless freekick with 2 minutes to go

[rambler14]

In mitigation, Dunne is not an early (season) riser.
Also he missed out a good bit of training recently.
He'll be grand for the Italy game.

Are you Steve Staunton?
Yeah were normally good around March!

[paul_oshea]

Dont know if this was posted already but when dunnie was at City, one of the staff at the ground required a back operation which cost 15k, dunnie did a whip around and put the majority in himself. You dont hear too many stories like that in any walk of life never mind football. Fair play dunnie, the man has gone up in my estimation - again.

[Duggie]

Dont know if this was posted already but when dunnie was at City, one of the staff at the ground required a back operation which cost 15k, dunnie did a whip around and put the majority in himself. You dont hear too many stories like that in any walk of life never mind football. Fair play dunnie, the man has gone up in my estimation - again.

nice to hear them helping out, didnt robbie pay for new kits for all the age groups at one of his old dublin school boy clubs. cant remember the name.

[rebelmusic]

debut for villa today

[seanfhear]

debut for villa today
Good luck Richard. Show man city that they should have treated their best player over the last five years with a lot more respect.

Man city= plenty of money= absolutely no class.

[rebelmusic]

Quote from Sky Sports

"I like Richhard Dunne in a Villa shirt- he looks right at home.
Here is is tidying up again with a flicked clearance to nullify any Birmingham threat"

[Murfinator]

Word on the villa forums is that they're generally very impressed with Dunne's showing thus far. :)

[amaccann]

Villa at the moment are a modest club that seems to be boxing clever under O'Neill. It's a good club for a player to move to if they're the right mentality. We could potentially see Dunne move into another level of class at the club - I certainly had no faith in any part of the setup at City. Hope it goes as well for him as another famous Irish centre back who played at Villa ;)

[rebelmusic]

All i'll say is go read the match details on sky sports score center. They're raving about him

[elroy]

Was surprised to read that AV were the third highest spenders this summer behind Man C and Liverpool.

[shakermaker1982]

Strange piece from Paul Wilson in todays Observer about Dunne. For the last few weeks now he has been sniping at Dunne....

"Manchester City fans do not know whether to laugh or cry about losing Richard Dunne. Laugh, probably, since Aston Villa paid £6m for him and his opening-day display at Blackburn made it clear why Mark Hughes spent the whole summer stalking first John Terry and then Joleon Lescott. Cry because, like Maine Road and Oasis, Dunne was firmly in the City tradition of having risen above some obvious limitations to become really quite splendid.

The defender with a whole Google section devoted to his own goals and whose wife apparently conducted the compensation negotiations with City does not seem to know whether to laugh or cry about his latest move, either. He clearly fancied staying at City a while longer, both for the testimonial and to be a part of something exciting after so long as captain of a team of underachievers, and, due to the lack of time left after the protracted Lescott transfer, he probably feels he was hastily pushed out against his will.

Footballers are not paid their millions to have it both ways, however, and Hughes, who was transferred a time or two himself in his playing days, was quick to step in when Dunne began accusing the club's hierarchy of flogging him to raise money. Clubs can still do that, even mega-rich ones like City, and a condition that goes with the handsome salaries players now enjoy is that the paymaster can change at a moment's notice.

Dunne seemed to expect loyalty from the club that tried to prise Kaká from Milan and Terry from Chelsea, before settling for breaking David Moyes's will over Lescott. More surprising still, he did not realise that when Hughes told him his first-team chances would now be limited and he could talk to other clubs if he wished, it was a hint to get fixed up elsewhere and not an invitation to make himself comfortable."

[aidz1]

Great to see Man City conceed 4 goals yesterday. Shows up how they have made 20million pound error by getting rid of dunne for lescott.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Great to see Man City conceed 4 goals yesterday. Shows up how they have made 20million pound error by getting rid of dunne for lescott.
Organisational wise they were a shambles. Dunne provided that and leadership, which is absolutely crucial to any defence regardless of how good the players may be individually. OK, they have been up against Man Utd and Arsenal but the difference since Dunne has left is phenomenal.

[Crosby87]

Great to see Man City conceed 4 goals yesterday. Shows up how they have made 20million pound error by getting rid of dunne for lescott.

Dont forget who the goalie is!!!

[EastTerracer]

Dont forget who the goalie is!!!

But if you saw the game you'd know that the goalie in question was the only reason the game didn't finish 8-3.:)

Agree with the Dunne comment above - City have conceded 6 goals in 2 games while their first two games (which Dunne played) were clean sheets. Dunne now has 2 clean sheets at Villa as well.

[Murfinator]

Interesting stat: Both Dunne and Lescott have started 4 games this season.

In those games Dunne's defence have conceded 0 goals.
In those games Lescott's defence have conceded 12 goals.

[NeilMcD]

I suppose the one weakness that Shay Given has is that his coming for crosses. This has not been an issue for Ireland as Richard Dunne is there. City were very very foolish. I think Dunne is better than Lescott.

[DeLorean]

Interesting stat: Both Dunne and Lescott have started 4 games this season.

In those games Dunne's defence have conceded 0 goals.
In those games Lescott's defence have conceded 12 goals.

Dunne
Blackburn (a)
Wolves (h)
Birmingham (a)
Portsmouth (h)

Lescott
Arsenal (h)
Portsmouth (a)
Arsenal (h)
Man Utd (a)

As impressive as the scoreline of 0-12 suggests, the level of competition is far from similar. The both kept clean sheets against the most comparable opponent.

[Murfinator]

It distorts it a bit, but I genuinely don't think a Dunne led defence would concede 6 to Arsenal or 4 to United.

[EastTerracer]

As impressive as the scoreline of 0-12 suggests, the level of competition is far from similar. The both kept clean sheets against the most comparable opponent.

Lies, damned lies and statistics! I know which one of the two I'd prefer to have in my team though (and I think Shay might be feeling the same way).

[tetsujin1979]

It distorts it a bit, but I genuinely don't think a Dunne led defence would concede 6 to Arsenal or 4 to United.
no way would the opposition have won 4 headers (Berbatov x 2 and Fletcher x 2) in the 6 yard area with Dunne in defence either

[Stuttgart88]

Not to mention allowing Owen to stand unmarked in space for ages before his goal. Probably Richards' fault, though you can point the blame at the CBs and also Given for not communicating.

City were a joke defensively. I actually quite like Lescott as a player but have seen Toure's inconsistencies & poor decision making over the years as an Arsenal fan. The two together don't seem right to me.

[DeLorean]

It distorts it a bit, but I genuinely don't think a Dunne led defence would concede 6 to Arsenal or 4 to United.

Yeah I agree, but to be fair to Lescott he was part of a watertight Everton defence. He may not be worth what they paid, or even better than Dunne, but he's far from rubbish.

[Jicked]

That Owen goal has to go down to Richards, I couldn't believe it when I saw him half way towards the half-way line when without the ball in the 95th minute! Remember when England fans/press believed he was the best young defender on Europe :D

[Ozymandias]

city now have two centre halves that don't/cant head the ball...

[Murfinator]

Micah Richards is an abysmal player, every time I see him play I literally facepalm at some point in the match when he does something ridiculous which pretty much always happens.

I don't understand why a far superior player Zabeleta is on the bench behind him. :confused:

[Murfinator]

That Owen goal has to go down to Richards, I couldn't believe it when I saw him half way towards the half-way line when without the ball in the 95th minute! Remember when England fans/press believed he was the best young defender on Europe :D

I reckon that was around the time Michael Johnson was supposedly the best young midfielder in Europe too.

Though I think everyone knows not to take the British media seriously on British players these days.

[Closed Account 2]

Not to mention allowing Owen to stand unmarked in space for ages before his goal. Probably Richards' fault, though you can point the blame at the CBs and also Given for not communicating.

City were a joke defensively. I actually quite like Lescott as a player but have seen Toure's inconsistencies & poor decision making over the years as an Arsenal fan. The two together don't seem right to me.

The trouble is neither of them are marshallers, they are both good second center backs. The likes of Campbell and Gallas were more of an organising defender than Kolo Toure, I'd argue the same of Lescott.

[DeLorean]

The trouble is neither of them are marshallers, they are both good second center backs. The likes of Campbell and Gallas were more of an organising defender than Kolo Toure, I'd argue the same of Lescott.

Who would you credit the organisational skills of the Everton back 4 to last season if not Lescott....Jagielka, Yobo?