Did quite well at both full back and centre half, I thought.
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Did quite well at both full back and centre half, I thought.
He has the jersey now at right back - up to him to hold onto it and in fairest after today's showing, demel will have to wait his turn
Doing very well today so far, haven't seen much of him this season but he is getting forward very well (more than any of our current full backs, certainly) and set up their opening goal (though I'm pretty sure it was a shot rather than a pass).
Don't do that to me! Any time I see this thread bumped I assume it's to break the news of another injury setback.
Word on the grapevine is that joey o brien did not get injured after the game, in the dressing room, or on his way home. West Ham are monitoring the situation.
Well he had a great second half as well, even after McCartney had to go off injured and he went to left back to accomodate Demel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
And last week against City, he went into CB for the last ten mins and did just fine. Seems to be doing very well with W Ham. Nothing spectacular but very reliable (a sure fire Trap player you wouldve thought). Just hope he can continue to stay injury free. Should continue to do very well under Big Sam.Quote:
Originally Posted by theworm2345
Oh and picked up a bonus point in fantasy football as well - what more could you want!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by theworm2345
Yea, just saw that, seemed too fiercely struck to be anything other than a shot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Well presumably that was for the unintended assist.
See O'Brien started tonight for West Ham, hard to keep track of his various position changes where is he playing tonight then?
Goal JOB! Does well in the build up to get the ball to Diame, continues his run forward, O'Neil fires in a low cross from the right, O'Brien holding off Shawcross about six yards out fires it first time in to the roof of the net.
First ever Premier League goal.
atta boy Joey!
Quote:
Mohamed Diame's shot is blocked, but he directs the ricochet to the path of Gary O'Neil who then whips in a menacing cross for Joey O'Brien. The 26-year-old gets the better of Ryan Shawcross, tapping in from close range beyond the hapless Jussi Jaaskelainen. A first Premier League goal for O'Brien and the West Ham fans are in full song.
I think I just caught a reply of the goal, cross came in from the right, a low one in to a fairly crowded penalty are,
O'Brien knocks it in, there seemed to be checking if he was offside, but obviously given.
Italian stream so I can't understand it, I think Walters got one for Stoke with assist from Whelan.
OptaJoe posted this on twitter: https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/270639810446761985
So, 23 more goals (assuming no more goals scored by Scots) and we'd be into third.Quote:
797 - Joey O'Brien's goal is the 797th by an Irishman in the PL, only England (9248), France (1166) & Scotland (819) have more. Contribute.
Our second best (available) player on one football index in 70th spot.
How accurate the index is is another matter.
If our second-best player is in only 70th spot, unfortunately, probably too accurate!Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Well I can remember in the past when I followed the old Actim index and there were times when we had 10 or 11 playersQuote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
in the top 100 (it showed the top 100), I mean there would be Keane Duff Dunne Given for sure, I am struggling to think of
the rest though, O'Shea perhaps or Steven Reid, Finnan?
Anyhow I have been using the search facility and found
from one of my posts in the past.
And from another postQuote:
5 Dunne
52 Steve Finnan
63 Kevin Kilbane
65 Stephen Hunt
81 Stephen Ireland
87 Lee Carsley
90 Stephen Kelly
So we have certainly had better showings in the past.Quote:
4 A Reid Tottenham 0.51
9 R Keane Man Utd 0.44
13 D Duff Chelsea 0.42
31 J O'Shea Man Utd 0.37
67 S Finnan Liverpool 0.28
I am sure I counted maybe 10 or 11 before but I can't find the post, it may not be archived.
Those were the glory days, alright. Sadly I think we're going the way of the North. Without a proper domestic league of our own to develop players, we're going to wind up with a squad full of League 1 and Championship players, with the odd standout playing in the Premiership. Heck, we're almost there now when you look at our team. We've only five or maybe six players that are Premiership standard players.
Now without any real 'marque' players (i.e. Roy Keane, Duff) anymore but I think our overall squad is quite strong. We have always had lower leagues playing in our squad, even in our XI. Yes we have less players at the top four or five clubs but overall I think our current strength in depth is pretty good and alot better than it was 4 or 5 years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
On J O'Brien, shows the difference having a good loyal manager can do for your career. Sam seems to be loyal to players he has worked with before and got on well with - Nolan, Taylor, O'Brien, Vaz Te, Jaaskelainen
It's not a question of having a loyal manager. It's a question of staying injury free. O'Brien has always had the talent like Stephen Reid. It's whether he can stay clear of injuries.Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
We don't have "less players" at the top clubs. We have none. We have mostly ordinary players playing in mediocre EPL teams but at least most are still playing in the top flight unlike Norn Iron and Wales.
It's hard to evaluate the strength of our player pool on their standing and numbers within the EPL, due to the fact that the top-flight in England has become so money-driven and multi-national.
At the moment, QPR are bottom of the league, despite having a squad composed of 18 different nationalities, over 20 capped international players, and several Champions League winners. In 2001, Ipswich qualified for Europe in 5th place with an almost exclusively home-grown line-up, many of whom had never even played top-flight football before. Leeds challenged for the title that season with a predominantly British/Irish starting line-up, including Harte, Kelly and McPhail. We had some very ordinary players playing regular EPL football at the turn of the century, like Barry Quinn, Jason Gavin, Gareth Whalley, Dominic Foley, and others. Things have definitely changed since the deluge of foreign investors rolled into the league post-Abramovich. It's always been pretty difficult for Irish players to get regular first-team football in the top-tier, it's twice as hard now. A lot depends on luck, i.e. getting promoted at the right time, like Whelan, O'Brien and Hoolahan.
I think the problem is not so much the lack of a proper domestic league but the increased internationalisation of the Premier League.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
I mean even England suffers form that, they certainly have far fewer players playing in the top flight than they used to.
I am not even sure if do not have more Irish playing in the PL than in the past, however that might be because I was not as aware of all the Irish players playing in it in the past.
I am pretty sure we had to draw on Championship players in the past??
[edit] Only just read Supreme Feet's post after I posted. Same sentiments basically.
Agree totally. However, the key from our perspective is how do react to this. It would seem to me that we've done very little, just relying on Championship and SPL clubs to flog our players to instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
Yes, but we didn't have such delusions of grandeur in the past!Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
O'Brien played the full 90 minutes for West Ham today as they beat Chelsea 3-1 at home.
Sigh him up Trap!!
He's in a top 8 team!!!
Was "terrorising" the Liverpool defence according to bbc text updates... Currently 2-2
Would certainly prefer him to Kelly in the squad for the reserve right-back/utility defender role. He's played all three defensive positions competently this season, while Kelly - who, in my opinion, is less comfortable than O'Brien on the ball - has been stuck on the Fulham bench.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
I agree. At 26, time is on his side and it's great to see him getting such a strong run of Premier League football.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
Again, Trap likes the continuity of calling on players like McShane and Delaney regularly, but O'Brien seems to be a far better quality alternative to both.
I'm looking forward to him getting a chance with Ireland. I think it will come. He's solid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Bombing up the wing presumably.
Definitely nudging ahead for that spot at present.. His early days as a midfielder at Bolton mean he is happy to have the ball, vital in a FB these days. Kelly is much less comfortable on it and using it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supreme feet
While sleeping as Joe Cole of all players nipped in to make it 2-2!Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
O'Brien with a goal so far against Norwich. A nice sort of triangle passing move all on the left side of the Norwich box with O'Brien finding Noble, who found Cole right in front of goal but heavily marked, Cole laid it off to O'Brien whose shot went in low at the near post.
Think this will be 4 defeats on the trot for Norwich, but from some tough games.
A lot of big decisions have gone against them, including two penalty decisions.
Signed a three-and-a-half year deal: http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/188050.html
Fair play to him. His career was over not too long ago!
I still can't believe he's only 26. He's got 4 years of his peak to play and a return to midfield may occur if things go well enough. He definitely has a lot to offer Ireland, I hope Trap realizes. It's easy to constantly hark back to Paul McShane but his dwelling on the Hull bench should make this decision far easier for Trap. Stephen Kelly being likely to attain regular Premier League games with Reading (for now anyway) is another plus to the full-back positions, which should be further re-enforced by a timely recovery from Marc Wilson.
...Now to sort out centre-half!
Joey O'Brien !? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
O'Brien could be a serious option at left back. He is playing well again and deserves a shot at the squad. I really hope he can at least replace McShane as the utility defender in the squad.
Very rough match for O'Brien (and the whole West Ham backline) so far today, has really struggled with Walcott.