Stephen Ireland

That is a very positive development. He has been through a very rough time so I hope that things have improved for him and he is ready to re-join the team.

Team vs Georgia?

..............Given
Finnan Dunne O'Se Kilbane
.........Reid Gibson
......Ireland Duff
..........Keane
..........Doyle

Subs
McGeady
McShane
Whelan

Ive been very critical of his decision not to play for us but I have to say Id be delighted if he was to return, we cant have enough quality players and he is one of the best players in the Premiership right now. Not sure where he would fit into Traps system at the moment but on form there is no way u could leave him out, he would have to be accomodated.Judging by that article its far from clear that he will return straight away but I really hope that if he does he will be welcomed back ,like Lee Carsley was after he stopped playing for us for a couple of years, and not booed by some fans

Could be the differnce between us qualifying and not qualifying. We need a midfielder who can score goals and Ireland has proven he can do that. Plus he is as good a midfield player as anything the Italian's and Bulgarian's have.

No De Rossi for Roma is a better player, a different player but a better one.

I also heard that his father denied that Stephen Ireland was every bullied by players in the squad. Its about time that this was cleared up and it should have been cleared up long ago by Stephen Ireland.

The only way I can see him fitting into Traps system is if he plays him wide on the right. Any time i've seen Ireland play there, he has looked isolated and very uncomfortable. The man is simply not a winger. McGeady is a better option on the right. Ireland is far more effective down the middle. However the only way I can see him playing centre midfield is if Trap goes for 1 up front and 5 in midfield.......or else in the extremely unlikely scenario Trap decides to throw caution to the wind at home against Georgia & plays him alongside Whelan/Gibson/Andrews/etc, leaving 2 up front. Great to see positive developments with regard to the possibility of an international return........but it's still early days

The father is by all accounts a massive (not always constructive) influence on Ireland, so this is a very promising development. Hopefully Trapp will be flexible enough to re-think a less than resoundingly successful system to accomodate our most effective and creative midfielder.

Chances of Trap changing his system are about zero I reckon. If Ireland comes back I can't see him playing anywhere other than right side of midfield which of course is not really his natural position.

Maybe if Trap plays one up front for the odd game Ireland would be used in the centre but apart from that.

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Originally Posted by Wheels

As I mentioned before, I think he just feels like he wouldn't be welcomed... more by the fans than the team. As evidence I'd point to him mentioning that he still gets hate mail from Ireland to the training ground.

I believe that if he felt the fans wanted him back that he might come back... January is a time for a fresh start.

But he needs to feel wanted. Maybe a campaign of come on back Christmas cards to the training ground would win him over? How pro-active are people feeling?

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:) You're welcome :) (joke)

its brilliant news - time for a fresh start , and for him and the irish fans to move on and forget about what happened in the past.

i hope he gets a great reception from the fans when he wears the green jersey again

ha this is hilarious he hasnt really sed anything, only his dad sputing on, i wudnt believe it til i actually see him kick a ball in an irish Jersey again, cant see him back that soon at all

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

Great news, Ireland is probably the best player the country has at the moment!

Still we need to be realistic, as already pointed out De Rossi is one of the best midfielders in the world, Aquilani is nearly as good and Pirlo probably IS the best midfielder in the world. Big boost against the Bulgarians but we're still heavily up against it to top this group.

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no hes not. hes brilliant but not the best in the world

Hope it happens. His dad is 39 years old? What is the deal with that family?

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Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

Team vs Georgia?

..............Given
Finnan Dunne O'Se Kilbane
.........Reid Gibson
......Ireland Duff
..........Keane
..........Doyle

Subs
McGeady
McShane
Whelan

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Reid is not going to play in any trap system,he will put whelan behind two attacking players like duff and ireland

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tommy_c12000

The only way I can see him fitting into Traps system is if he plays him wide on the right. Any time i've seen Ireland play there, he has looked isolated and very uncomfortable. The man is simply not a winger. McGeady is a better option on the right. Ireland is far more effective down the middle. However the only way I can see him playing centre midfield is if Trap goes for 1 up front and 5 in midfield.......or else in the extremely unlikely scenario Trap decides to throw caution to the wind at home against Georgia & plays him alongside Whelan/Gibson/Andrews/etc, leaving 2 up front. Great to see positive developments with regard to the possibility of an international return........but it's still early days

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Totally agree with all of this, i think Irelands best role is the "Gerrard" role behind the strikers. If we had a strong Roy Keane type player, he and SI would be a top notch midfield, but i dont think playing Whelan and Ireland together would be strong enough. If Ireland comes back i wouldnt like to see him put straight into the starting XI.

Why is that??? As punishment is it,,,,

If hes the best man for the job put him in...end off

Yeh he is having a great season, yeh we need him as the rest of the midfielders are sub standard, do I feel like the Messiah is returning to save us take us all the way to South Africa? ... not really, I dont trust the fool.

Perhaps we should now abandon all thoughts of defensive football and play all our attacking players in the same side - mcgeady, A Reid, Ireland, Duff, Keane and Doyle!

Works for Brazil...probably not Traps style though.

Hope this story is true if it is it can only be a good thing for The national team. It is not as if we are blessed with quality players right now and we need as many top premership players as we can get.

Welcome back im sure if we has one our two decent matches and results go the right way for Republic then people wont be long forgetting what happened in first place

Can't understand all this speculation about where he'll fit into the team.......surely he'll be asked where he'd like to play and we should all be grateful whatever he decides!

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Originally Posted by Manblue

Why is that??? As punishment is it,,,,

If hes the best man for the job put him in...end off

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No, Because what sort of signal does it send to the rest of the team, when a player who didnt want to show for his national team for the last 12 months or so, suddenly is available again and is immediately in the starting XI.

No doubt it would be great to have him back but look how hard man city are trying to work out a formation that suits attacking players...the likes of SI. As mentioned above, I think he would fit best in our team playing behind the striker, im not sure we really have the quality around him to play him in a midfield 4. Watch him for Man City, he often plays ahead of the strikers, we could not have him playing such a role for Ireland.

Maybe he'd like to play keeper......Shay's a nice guy, I'm sure he'd be willing to step aside for Stephen.

**** him. Convenient of him to say this when there isnt a game for another 2ish months so Irish football fans will get off his back. Until he steps foot on the football pitch he will be a Judas *****...and even then, there will always be an element of doubt about him and his commitment and every poor performance he will have for us will raise questions

when did the word priest become banned on this site?!

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Originally Posted by HammerNThongs

**** him. Convenient of him to say this when there isnt a game for another 2ish months so Irish football fans will get off his back. Until he steps foot on the football pitch he will be a Judas *****...and even then, there will always be an element of doubt about him and his commitment and every poor performance he will have for us will raise questions

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Oh my dear lord :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by HammerNThongs

**** him. Convenient of him to say this when there isnt a game for another 2ish months so Irish football fans will get off his back. Until he steps foot on the football pitch he will be a Judas *****...and even then, there will always be an element of doubt about him and his commitment and every poor performance he will have for us will raise questions

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pathetic..will u grow up

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elroy

No, Because what sort of signal does it send to the rest of the team, when a player who didnt want to show for his national team for the last 12 months or so, suddenly is available again and is immediately in the starting XI.

No doubt it would be great to have him back but look how hard man city are trying to work out a formation that suits attacking players...the likes of SI. As mentioned above, I think he would fit best in our team playing behind the striker, im not sure we really have the quality around him to play him in a midfield 4. Watch him for Man City, he often plays ahead of the strikers, we could not have him playing such a role for Ireland.

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I agree that his position is just off a striker but who would he start instead of? I don't think keane will be dropped and Keane and ireland just wouldn't work.

I think he would do very well playing behind Doyle and they would probably be a better partnership than Keane Doyle. IMO I'd pick him ahead of Keane if he comes back

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

when did the word priest become banned on this site?!

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Ha!!! That one took a while.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HammerNThongs

and even then, there will always be an element of doubt about him and his commitment and every poor performance he will have for us will raise questions

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This is a perfectly reasonable comment.

Are all those who are prepared to welcome him back, seriously suggesting that there is not a doubt about his commitment to his country?

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Originally Posted by Greenbod

This is a perfectly reasonable comment.

Are all those who are prepared to welcome him back, seriously suggesting that there is not a doubt about his commitment to his country?

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Judging by the posts above, apparently so.

There will always be questions on his commitment until he comes back and proves his loyalty to the team...which can only happen over time.
As for his best position,I watched him on Saturday and he was tracking back all the time making challenges. I think Trap could mould him to cover defensively as well as giving us the attacking option.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

Commitment is a problem with the Irish team in general it doesn't begin and end with Ireland.

Carr and Finnan have sauntered in and out of the team for years, Andy O Brien doesn't care in the slightest any more. Alan Lee the same, Joey O Brien showed a clear lack of respect with his comments as well. Even look at Andy Reid who is one of our more commited players yet still doesnt care enough to happily fill the bench.

You dont have to look any further than the American trip and the sheer number of players who pulled out of that, O Shea even rejecting the chance to captain his country for a couple of days on a beach. You've got Kilbane, Doyle, S.Hunt, Given, Duff, Dunne and Keane giving a good level of commitment and thats about it.

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Against my better judgement, I tried to make some sense of this drivel...... I failed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

Team vs Georgia?

..............Given
Finnan Dunne O'Se Kilbane
.........Reid Gibson
......Ireland Duff
..........Keane
..........Doyle

Subs
McGeady
McShane
Whelan

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Would he be one of the Ard an Bhotair O'Sé's? :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

No it's not, his position is centre mid. He's a box to box player so he travels a lot, everywhere from defensive mid to ahead of the strikers and even drifting out to the wings. What he needs is a creative license and someone beside him who'll cover for him when he goes wandering like Kompany does at City. He has far more presence now than he did last time he was in an Irish shirt so the prospect of a Carsley/Ireland midfield isn't as absurd as it once was.

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If Ireland was a magnificent box to box player Man City would not be 1 place off the relegation zone because they'd have a perfect balance of excellent players. Their problem is Kompany is playing a defensive role while Ireland and Elano are too attacking. They've no real all round central midfielder with Johnston out injured.

Maybe Ireland will grow into that role in the future but at the moment he's an attacking midfielder without question. It's not all about getting back and tackling. Tevez does that.

I've watched Ireland a lot lately and he really does look to be completely free to look for the ball wherever he sees fit. He hangs around the box or goes deep as he pleases.

He's a lovely player no doubt but I still struggle to see how we'd accomodate him. This isn't in the knowledge that Trap is very conservative - it's from looking at our options elsewhere and seeing that in the absence of a really ood ball winner we'd be lightweight and too easy to play through.

I think the most likely way we could use Ireland is in a 4-3-1-2 with a solid midfield 3 (probably without Duff and McGeady), or using the same shape as now with Ireland playing instead of McGeady.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

He has far more presence now than he did last time he was in an Irish shirt so the prospect of a Carsley/Ireland midfield isn't as absurd as it once was.

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I think he's a super player but I don't see how he has increased his "presence". I don't see Carsley / Ireland workin with lightweights like Duff & McGeady on the wings. That'd be 3 midgets out of 4 across the pitch and for all Carsley's tenacity there's nobody there who can win anything in the air.

As soon as Trap was appointed I thought he'd adopt 4-2-3-1. This hasn't been too far wrong - he does insist on 2 defensive midfielders and two very attacking wide players.

He should be required to make a full public apology before he is taken back.

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

He should be required to make a full public apology before he is taken back.

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Hes a footballer, not a politician. Hes a young fella whos made a few mistakes and was rightly critisied for it but come on its time to get over it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

He should be required to make a full public apology before he is taken back.

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To who and for what exactly? As far as I am aware it is niether illegal or sinful to choose not to play international football for a period of time.

He shouldn't have turned his back on the team at a time when we aren't exactly flush with options. A simple apology to the fans who pay to travel around watching the team saying that he should have made himself available for selection would suffice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

Commitment is a problem with the Irish team in general it doesn't begin and end with Ireland.

Carr and Finnan have sauntered in and out of the team for years, Andy O Brien doesn't care in the slightest any more. Alan Lee the same, Joey O Brien showed a clear lack of respect with his comments as well. Even look at Andy Reid who is one of our more commited players yet still doesnt care enough to happily fill the bench.

You dont have to look any further than the American trip and the sheer number of players who pulled out of that, O Shea even rejecting the chance to captain his country for a couple of days on a beach. You've got Kilbane, Doyle, S.Hunt, Given, Duff, Dunne and Keane giving a good level of commitment and thats about it.

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Oh my god.....a new low.

Im far from Andy Reid biggest fan on this site, but when does he not care enough to sit on the bench. Besides I would prefer a player who wants to start than someone who is happy to sit on the bench. There is countless posts from you in the AR thread defending and praising him and now you come out with this!!!

Joey O'Brien has clarified his comments, and the same point re sitting on the bench applies.

Carr and Finnan "sauntered" in and out of the team??? Like when?? Bar injury both have always been available to us. Im not a great fan or Carr but have nothing but respect for Finnan, he was consistently played out of position for Ireland despite been one of the top right backs in europe.

Anyone who questions Shay, Kilbane, Robbie, Hunt, O'Shea etc commitment to the Irish jersey hasnt a clue about the Irish team or even football for that matter. The US trip was really an exercise to blood new youngsters and no one could ever question those guys performances for us in the qualifiers.