Appears to be on trial with them yesQuote:
Originally Posted by Irwin3
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...0207-post.html
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Appears to be on trial with them yesQuote:
Originally Posted by Irwin3
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...0207-post.html
So it definitely isn't the case that DC United were using the time period to evaluate Sean's potential worth to them and came to the unfortunate conclusion that he wasn't really worth breaking the bank for; that they'd rather cut him from the squad than offer him what he wanted? Why do you think they weren't prepared to offer him higher? What happened to the "piece of paper with numbers on it"? Was that the contract offer? If so, and it was such a poor offer, why didn't Sean reject it weeks ago when he was first offered it?Quote:
Originally Posted by the doc
So what's this new arrangement with Orlando City? Sean himself has described it as a trial. In what way is it different from the arrangement at DC United?
In fact, doc, here's a better question; why did Sean describe his time at DC United as a trial a week and a half ago before their pre-season friendly against Orlando?
Here's the deal; everyone can see it. His stock has fallen, but he's reluctant to accept that and is obviously holding out for something higher. It seems there's a gulf in the contrasting perceptions of reality here between clubs and Sean. The longer this situation continues and the more offers he turns down because they don't meet his expectations, the further his stock will fall; clubs will see it as a greater risk in taking on someone who's been out of regular first-team action for so long. In fact, they'll have the luxury of being able to exploit his increasing desperation with ever-poorer offers. It's a very unfortunate situation and it's difficult to say he's deserving of it as we all know he's a committed lad with plenty of heart and ability, but there's no shame in the situation either, so no need to be so defensive about it all to the point of being in utter denial, doc. I think he'd be better in the long run to acknowledge the reality of his weakened bargaining power and accept a lesser permanent deal for now. He'll get some regular football under his belt at a decent level and his profile will only benefit from there so he can at least hope to receive some better offers a year or whatever down the line. Otherwise, he'll just waste the ever-shortening remainder of his career away and his expectations will cost him a lucrative twilight period and swan song.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean St. Ledger
Let's not generalise. :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Sean St Ledger is your average, run of the mill, lower league journeyman. The lower leagues are full on heart and low on ability. Sean St Ledger is lacking in both.
Mick McCarthy can find better players in the Ipswich Town youth team. Says it all really.
but at the same time a player who never let his country down with even one performance I can recallQuote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
His country by convenience. Lest we forget we're talking about a player that let it be known he'd play with the north if not picked.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
Our centre-halves we're offered an unreal amount of protection under Trapattoni, they were rarely exposed before the opposition figured out the one-dimensional aspect of our play. St Ledger's failings at club level are because (a) he isn't afforded the same level of protection and (b) because he is an extremely average and limited player.
Wrap it up any way you want, but the facts are you can't be that bad a player if you've got 37 caps.
Do you seriously believe international teams took so long to work out our style of play?
We held our own in most games and at least gave the fans some good times.
The Euros were hard, 3 top teams in our group plus we were carrying lots of injuries, that lead to the team not being as effective as it had been throughout the two qualifying campaigns.
That added to a far too long pre tournament camp all took its toll.
Shows just how little you understand about the game.
But is he on trial at Orlando? Or is he on trial in Orlando?
You made plenty of mistakes in those 37 caps, how you got that many I do not know.
It was your mistake that led to Bulgaria's goal in your first competitive game. You got pulled out of position and couldn't deal with a simple long ball.
The goal Andorra scored in Dublin was down to you. Poor clearance in the header but you showed a total disregard and disinterest in facing up to the ball.
The French goal in Dublin, down to you again. Rather than showing heart, manning up and facing the ball, you decided to do so with your arse.
Italy's equaliser in the 2-2 game, yeah down to you again and your inability to defend.
The list goes on Sean. I know my footie.
the whole team got badly caught out and pulled apart for that goal. to single our st ledger is ridiculous as are many of your other statements aboveQuote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
oh, that settles it then :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
To single out St Ledger as a faultless performer for his "country" is ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
You're breaking the internet.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
That goal in Andorra was a million to one fluke, everyone in the stadium expected Dunne to clear the ball, but he headed it straight to the Andorran player who hit it first time into the back of the net. He'll never hit a ball like that again for the rest of his career.Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
It was a poor header from Dunne. But look at what St Ledger does. Instead of turning to face the ball, he turns away from it. Sure it was a lucky strike but that's not the point.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Many would say Glenn Whelan is a poor player and he's got 61 caps.
so is it St Ledger's fault for not facing the ball, or is it Dunne's fault for not clearing the ball in the first place?Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
I remember the media reaction at the time. child molesting priests have been treated with more tolerance.
They'd be idiots. There are no players with over 200 appearances that are poor. They might not be world class but they're playing (comfortably) at a very high level for a long timeQuote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
No back to St Ledger not being able to find a club...
He's saying both. That goal is here at 1:35. Sledge is facing the ball by the time Martinez hits it. It's pretty obvious IFK is being critical for the sake of it here I think. Nonsense with regards the French goal as well as he is facing the ball when Anelka shoots, he only turns to see where the ball is going after it hits him. For both goals it could be argued that he could have closed down the space better, but then he'd have been running the risk of the players taking the ball around him in a dangerous area. I still can't really make my mind up as to who was more at fault for that Bulgaria goal but Kilbane is at least 50% to blame, if he had stayed out wide St. Ledger would have dealt with it for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPIY1DAokEI
Dunne was running backwards rather than towards the ball and was stretching to head it with an Andorran challenging him with significant weight and velocity. His clearing header was poor, but I think it was forgivable considering the pressure he was under. He was possibly off-balance. St. Ledger's attempt to close down the goal-scorer was admittedly pitiful. He was slow to act and actually seemed to step out of the way before turning his back on the impending strike.
It's viewable again at 01:40 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPIY1DAokEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMyDzX1rD4
The Bulgaria goal. Go to 1:08 and it's clear St Ledger has lost his bearings as he is a few yards ahead on the back line and out of position. He scrambles to get back into position and puts off Kilbane in the latter's attempted clearance. Where the ball bounces is in a central position of the field, a centre-half ball to clear.
Probably... neither of them covered themselves in glory though.
Actually Killer called for the ball, he held his hands up and apologised afterwards.
As for the 2nd Italy goal at Croker, we were all on the back foot after we foolishly tried to go for a 3rd goal resulting with us losing the ball in their half from which Italy countered.
Anelkas goal was a decent attempt, if you dive in and go to ground as he shapes to shoot, chances are he would drop the shoulder and go past you and into the box.
Andora goal, we were in party mode, so not as sharp as we could of been, it was a decent strike though.
This is quite frankly ridiculous, St Ledger was playing in his first competitive game for Ireland v Bulgaria and he might have made an error of judgement,
overall he's done well for us considering he's a championship defender. Who'd've guessed that 6 years later, people would be poring over that goal, laying blame on the rookie, over and above our most experienced player who actually called for the ball.
Why would we have been in party mode against Andorra? For what it's worth, here's Killers take on the goal in Sofia...
"By the beginning of June it was clear to me that Bulgaria would never be my favourite nation. In the match in Sofia we were 1-0 up when there was a disastrous misunderstanding between myself and Sean St Ledger in which we allowed the ball run between us, leading to a Bulgarian equaliser. It was a huge disappointment to concede in such a fashion. I felt terrible after the game and didn't want to talk too much about it. I just wanted to get home to the family. I was looking forward to a holiday with them and a bit of a summer break, but sometimes after a mistake like that it's helpful to have another game soon so that you can take your mind off it."
If only Paul Butler was afforded the same level of understanding and sympathy. And that was only a friendly!
St Ledger's inflated valuation of himself is based on his international caps and performances for his "country". I don't think he has been a particular good player for us, his performance in a green jersey are far from faultless as many would make you believe and personally found it quite annoying at the time that the stable partnership O'Shea and Dunne had was broken up to accommodate him. But anyways all immaterial now.
It can't really be a surprise to anyone that he is finding it hard to get a new club. He hardly can point to a holding a healthy club career, he has a long injury record and struggled to get first team action when fit and in his prime. He's a poor player and it's just pure folly to hold up his international record as holding honour and worth. And to think the doc was touting him as the next Ireland captain. Thankfully we have been saved from that!
Because it's Andorra. In the doc's mind you don't need to apply yourself against that level of opposition.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
You seem to be the only one that's not surprised.Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
I was thinking he might have been getting mixed up with the Estonia home game maybe.Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
I meant Estonia, Andorra was the game when Trap went mad at all the players for the performance.
It seems IKFA101, has an agenda, pointless arguing with someone like that.
My Da always said
"Never argue with a bigger fool than yourself"
We all have our opinions, I wonder if "IKFA101" was celebrating at Croker, Slovakia and Poznan when the Saint scored those vital goals?
Vital goals?
You're not shy on expressing (strong) opinions on other centre-halves in and around the Irish set-up. So why cry foul when somebody correctly points out that St Ledger's performances in a green jersey were far from faultless, he has an inflated valuation of himself based on his Irish caps, he doesn't have a good club career behind him, he has a long injury record, when fit he wasn't picked by his club ..... These are all fair comments.
I was all ready to come on here and laugh at the doc's nonsense, but ifk has taken away all the fun with this frankly ridiculous re-writing of Sledge history.
Frankly ridiculous :-)
For the record St Ledger looks set to join Orlando. I wish him all the best in his retirement.
Oooo young man!Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
Would you be so kind to help an old has been across the road?
Would you mind carrying that box? It's very heavy as it's full of international Irish caps!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baJ_cOzOOfIQuote:
Originally Posted by the doc
Joining Orlando could be really good for Sledge. Regular football, a chance to show that he still has ability and a decent attitude might prove many of his detractors wrong. Could even get him a move to the Premiership, which is probably being very, very optimistic!
Live stream of Orlando City VS New York City here: http://www.orlandocitysc.com/post/20...ycfc-sat-730pm
St Ledger is starting in defence for Orlando. He's still listed as a trialist on their lineup, but according to a brief mention in the Orlando Sentinel here - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...0221-post.html - he should be offered a contract soon
Good performance from our forgotten CB, about time he had the rub of the green.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Surely not even IKFA101 can begrudge him that?
The doc I was sure you were St Legder but considering that man is now in Orlando which is 5 hours behind I would think it would be unlikely he would be posting to newsgroups at 5:30 in the morning. So who are you?
Someone close to SSL was always my bet. Or just somebody with enough info to make more of it than it actually is (a bit like SSL and ability, I suppose!) I thought I read one post by him during a match when SSL was playing, but I couldn't find it later, and I'm not going to sift through each one of his posts and correlate them with Ireland-kick off times since 2007!
Maybe it was the Bulgaria game when he wasn't concentrating?
Very good!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Sharp as a knife, Stutta
Whether or not it is the full truth on the matter, the doc claims to at least know one of Sean's Irish relatives: http://foot.ie/converse.php?u=11054&u2=7723Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
I suspect he might well be a close relative with some sort of personal connection, however, considering his extreme defensiveness in response to anything that he fears portrays Sean in a negative light as well as his eagerness to put down other Irish players who would be seen as direct challengers to Sean for a place in the centre of the Irish defence.