Joe Hodge M Huddersfield (loan from Wolves) b.2002

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Originally Posted by irishfan86

Regarding a comment or two above, if our smaller guys are our best players, then those are the guys we should play. Just because set pieces have been our best path to goals in recent times does not mean we should build our teams for that one aspect of the game.

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Absolutely. It’s that sort of attitude that lead to Wes Hoolihan getting far, far less caps than his talent deserved. He wasn’t trusted because of his size primarily I always felt. Which is bonkers when you think of it. Some of the greatest players have been relatively short. Maradonna and Messi in particular , and John Giles closer to home. ( and no, I’m not comparing Hoolihan, or especially Hodge to those players. Just making the point that you don’t have to be a six footer.)

Doing ok. Won the ball back off Tiago to play a pivotal part in the goal. Shocking mistake by Allison, a mistake Caoimhin wouldn’t have made…

Playing a bit further forward since Wolves subs and looking quite lively. Teammates seem to trust him. Thought there was a good example of strong positional sense when Wolves committed men forward on the counter, a lot of young midfielder would have joined in but when Liverpool broke he was really well positioned just in front of his defenders.

Great to see him play the full match against a fairly strong Liverpool side. Once again regularly showed for the ball and made some good tackles to disrupt play, most notably in the buildup to Allison’s error for the first Wolves goal. He’s not a dominant player but he’s not looking out of place or uncomfortable against elite opposition, and that’s not easy in a match like this at Anfield.

He didn’t change his position to my mind when the subs came on. He was always playing ahead of Neves prior to that and maintained that position. Best game in a wolves shirt. Apart from some misplaced passes, he passed the ball well throughout, defended tenaciously and never stopped running. Overall, he did okay, nothing ground breaking. But improving which is the main thing. He should start FA cup replay as well which will be good. Latvia game will hopefully further his development

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Originally Posted by tommy_c12000

He didn’t change his position to my mind when the subs came on. He was always playing ahead of Neves prior to that and maintained that position. Best game in a wolves shirt. Apart from some misplaced passes, he passed the ball well throughout, defended tenaciously and never stopped running. Overall, he did okay, nothing ground breaking. But improving which is the main thing. He should start FA cup replay as well which will be good. Latvia game will hopefully further his development

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Fair enough on the positioning. I hadn’t been watching the whole game, it looked to me like he was a bit further forward more often after the subs but may well have just been the shorter time I was watching. It’s just a shame he’s so small (and I’m all for playing small technical players but I just think there’s a limit to how many you can play together and we seem to have a team of hobbits coming through!!).

To be fair, we have plenty of tall keepers, man mountain centre backs and two genuinely big centre forwards in Idah and Ferguson. Maybe that's enough that we can accommodate a small midfield - something like Cullen, Hodge and Knight.

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Originally Posted by passinginterest

Fair enough on the positioning. I hadn’t been watching the whole game, it looked to me like he was a bit further forward more often after the subs but may well have just been the shorter time I was watching. It’s just a shame he’s so small (and I’m all for playing small technical players but I just think there’s a limit to how many you can play together and we seem to have a team of hobbits coming through!!).

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For all the talk about competition from other sports is this an actual valid example of the issue ?

First mention I've seen on the dial national forum on the England bigsoccer forum of wondering if hodge would switch back to them. Good indication of the amazing progress he has made considering he played his first game last March after a year out injured and missed another 6 months previous to that with his leg break. Delighted to see him play at that level tonight

Have they made a play for Ferguson yet? I saw a few English fans on twitter making the case that he was still eligible for them.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

For all the talk about competition from other sports is this an actual valid example of the issue ?

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Considering the smaller lads were raised in England (Hodge, Cullen, Obafemi) and the taller lads were raised in Ireland (Bazunu, Kelleher, Travers, Collins, Omobamidele, Idah, Ferguson) - I don’t think so

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Have they made a play for Ferguson yet? I saw a few English fans on twitter making the case that he was still eligible for them.

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Would be quite a turn around . He certainly is eligible

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

Would be quite a turn around . He certainly is eligible

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Lunacy! And I'm the paranoid one
He's staying and he is Irish unlike Hodge.

Let's get hodge involved asap

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Originally Posted by TonyD

Absolutely. It’s that sort of attitude that lead to Wes Hoolihan getting far, far less caps than his talent deserved. He wasn’t trusted because of his size primarily I always felt. Which is bonkers when you think of it. Some of the greatest players have been relatively short. Maradonna and Messi in particular , and John Giles closer to home. ( and no, I’m not comparing Hoolihan, or especially Hodge to those players. Just making the point that you don’t have to be a six footer.)

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Wes Hoolahan was one of our most creative midfielders ever. Criminal really the lack of game time he got during his career.

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Lunacy! And I'm the paranoid one
He's staying and he is Irish unlike Hodge.

Let's get hodge involved asap

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Yeah Hodge will really want to commit to us when he reads comments like that

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

To be fair, we have plenty of tall keepers, man mountain centre backs and two genuinely big centre forwards in Idah and Ferguson. Maybe that's enough that we can accommodate a small midfield - something like Cullen, Hodge and Knight.

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Mention of Knight - just watching him play for Derby v Barnsley in the Cup. Some very nice touches and intelligent play but he made a woeful decision to remain at League One level. Irish fans will wonder why we don't have the players to compete at international level. It is decisions like Knight's that answer that question.

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Originally Posted by mark12345

Mention of Knight - just watching him play for Derby v Barnsley in the Cup. Some very nice touches and intelligent play but he made a woeful decision to remain at League One level. Irish fans will wonder why we don't have the players to compete at international level. It is decisions like Knight's that answer that question.

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He's a contracted Derby player and they don't need to sell unless a team is willing to break the bank. Could throw a strop like Obafemi to force a move but that hasn't worked out well for him plus Knight doesn't strike me as the type.

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Originally Posted by mark12345

Yeah Hodge will really want to commit to us when he reads comments like that

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He has one Irish grandparent
He played for us under u16 and england u 17
He is an English man who qualifies for us. I hope we get him
but he won't be offended by me saying he is English

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

He has one Irish grandparent
He played for us under u16 and england u 17
He is an English man who qualifies for us. I hope we get him
but he won't be offended by me saying he is English

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He just might be offended by "he is Irish unlike Hodge. " Would you want to play for a team where the fans are already questioning his eligibility. Why bother

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

Would be quite a turn around . He certainly is eligible

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No chance of him switching I'm sure. Was just wondering if their supporters were pushing for the English FA to ask the question. Some of them are still sore about missing out on Haaland as he was born in Leeds. (It's all hypothetical, but if Roy Keane hadn't smashed his dad's knee, he might be an England player now.)