Paul McShane

**ofjames** · 03/05/2010, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Acornvilla

fergeson also rated him when he was at united did he not? and he was pretty good at west brom. i think he will be a good championship player, he has the heart of a lion but he is a liability. I wish every player worked as hard as he does thou you cant fault the guy for attitude, hopefully with experience he will cut out the mistakes, and i think his big problem for us is he never really got a shot at CB and he often played RB for hull and Sunderland as well so its a bit unfair to judge him on that, richard dunne would be a liability at RB too in all fairness.

ferguson praised him for having a great attitude and being a good leader - and no one can deny this really. I remember a quote saying he reminded him a little of Keane with his mentality. i dont remember him saying much about him in terms of his ability tho, as opposed to someone like evans or pique who he consistently raved about.

he was taken on a couple of pre-season tours with the first team to the USA where he played the odd game but he never made a senior appearance competitively nor even made the bench.

ferguson also talked up paul tierney as a great prospect around the same time so I wouldnt read that much into the fact he praised mcshane.

i suspect the reason he has played so often at RB is because he has been exposed so frequently at cb when he has played there. a sensible damage limitation exercise in my eyes.

**ofjames** · 04/05/2010, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

You're exaggerating again. Nobody is reluctant to criticise McShane - none of us would have him starting for Ireland - but there's a difference between being reluctant to criticise him and saying he's not good enough to play in the league he's been playing in for the past three years.

the mere fact he spent three years contracted to premier league clubs doesnt in itself make him good enough for that level. managers make mistakes on players all the time. eric djemba djemba spent three or four years between united and villa. still doesnt change the fact he was useless and nowhere near the required level.

sunderland cast him off as not good enough. in my view his performances at hull have proved them right in that judgement.

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/05/2010, 1:20 AM

I didn't say that alone makes him good enough - merely that my opinion is not that unreasonable since it's one shared by a handful of Premier League managers. We're obviously not going to agree, but I am making a fairly simple point. I'm not "reluctant to criticise" anyone, I just think he's a decent player who's proven his worth at Premiership level. It doesn't mean I think he's immune to criticism.

**irishfan86** · 04/05/2010, 3:56 AM

I think the consensus seems to be that at this stage of his career, he's a lower level premier league player/upper level championship.

Sure you get the odd Colbert saying he would be sh*t in the Championship (simply not true based on his time at Brighton), but for the most part I think it's understood that he's a rudimentary player with a great attitude, but a liability at international level.

I don't think there's a point in completely writing him off, but personally I shudder when he steps on the field. This doesn't mean, however, that he's not good enough for the Championship. Anybody saying that probably doesn't realize how bad some of the teams in the Championship actually are.

**John83** · 04/05/2010, 4:14 PM

Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

How was Duff at Blackburn?
How was Duff at Chelsea?
How was Duff for Ireland?
How was Carr for Spurs?

It's not comparing apples in my opinion Brendan - I don't think there is any example of a spell where McShane shone?

And I'd not write him off either. However I'd not let him near an Irish squad until he proved that he was not an unremitting liability.

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Player of the season at Brighton when he was on loan there.

He was a big player for West Brom too - in the running for their Player of the Season, though I don't think he won it. You'd swear Big Brother was at work here sometimes: McShane is not playing well. McShane has never played well.

**Paddy Garcia** · 04/05/2010, 7:00 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Hindsight is a wonderful panacea for smoothing the edges. No it wasn't even an anti Man U agenda here that pounced on Josh.

......
What makes it look harsh is that Josh has worked hard since on his game to come good, to be a first choice for us and sorely missed when not around. McShane has every chance to do the same. Probably the odds are against it happening, the odds are against most players reaching a top standard.

I dont want to constantly have a downer on McShane!

But .... I really never agreed with the criticisms of O'Shea & I accept that there were many. Overall I always thought he was in credit - did more good than harm!

The point I was making is that I don't feel the comparison to O'Shea is credible.

My view is that the likes of O'Shea & Kilbane were soft targets. People seem far more forgiving of McShane ... & that's OK.

I do however think that if O'Shea was such a poor player in his youth he would have been let go by Man U & would never have clocked up so many appearances.

Also in many of the games O'Shea, & others, played for us without any meaningful midfield cover.

**geysir** · 04/05/2010, 11:55 PM

O'Shea�s performances for us for years were poor. I can drag up 10 games from the top of my head with some horror memory, equal if not greater than anything McShane has done.
We can play snap.

I can't believe that you never agreed with the criticism of O'Shea�s performances. How can I trust your judgement of a players attributes?

One difference is (and to some extent the same goes for Gibson) that there was some trust in Ferguson's judgement and belief in fulfillment of promise sometime in the future (the sound of the penny dropping), rather than looking definitively at the content of actual performances for us.

Whereas, McShane is tottering about the relegation zone with the ugliest team in the epl, and only Trap still having faith in his worth to the squad.

**elroy** · 07/05/2010, 8:53 AM

[QUOTE=geysir;1354614]O'Shea�s performances for us for years were poor. I can drag up 10 games from the top of my head with some horror memory, equal if not greater than anything McShane has done.
We can play snap.

QUOTE]

i dont agree with this at all, JOSH wasnt hitting the scales that we expected of him after his first year with united but to say he put in poor performances for us for years? Like when? Im not denying he has had the odd poor game but not on a consistent basis.

**dr_peepee** · 07/05/2010, 11:01 AM

[QUOTE=elroy;1355441]

Originally Posted by geysir

O'Shea�s performances for us for years were poor. I can drag up 10 games from the top of my head with some horror memory, equal if not greater than anything McShane has done.
We can play snap.

QUOTE]

i dont agree with this at all, JOSH wasnt hitting the scales that we expected of him after his first year with united but to say he put in poor performances for us for years? Like when? Im not denying he has had the odd poor game but not on a consistent basis.

Nah.. It's true. He wasn;t a disaster but he was a soft pass or a panic in possession waiting to happen in most games for a long time. After his first season the opposition learned to close him down quickly whilst in posession andhe got caught alot. That said he's obviously grown since.

**yapster** · 11/05/2010, 6:15 PM

O'Shea had the potential to be a hell of a player but I don't think he had the mental strength at that age to fulfill it. He lost his composure on the ball and wasn't committing himself into tackles.

**richieos** · 15/08/2010, 3:40 PM

I hope i never have to see paul mcshane play for Ireland again. Not only because he is nowhere near good enough, but the lad has a serious attitude problem. How many times have we seen him screaming at his own team-mates and getting involved with opposition players? And i dont know if anybody noticed at the Argentina game but he took a poor touch on the right wing in the opposition half, the ball went over the sideline, and mchsane decided it would be a good idea to half volley the ball directly into the crowd. Not only that but i met him recently and when i asked him to sign an autograph for my nephew his response was 'get away will ya' poor professional.

**Charlie Darwin** · 15/08/2010, 3:59 PM

Maybe he read your posts about him.

**richieos** · 15/08/2010, 4:01 PM

Actually if you look through my posts, im one of the few people who has never resorted to personal insults towards mcshane and have always supported him as i do anyone who pulls on the green shirt, but his attitude has changed my opinion.

**Razors left peg** · 15/08/2010, 4:05 PM

where was it that u met him? sometimes ya can just catch some one at a bad time. To be honest his attitude is one of the only things I like about him

**Sullivinho** · 15/08/2010, 4:21 PM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

To be honest his attitude is one of the only things I like about him

I'd go along with that. His unshakable confidence in his own meagre ability is something I find, in equal measure, both admirable and terrifying.

**richieos** · 15/08/2010, 4:39 PM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

where was it that u met him? sometimes ya can just catch some one at a bad time. To be honest his attitude is one of the only things I like about him

By the North Beach in greystones, i have no idea what he was doing there (is he from there?) but he was standing alone and didnt look particularly busy so i didnt think it would be a big deal to ask. I have no doubt at all that hes a very commited footballer who wears his heart on his sleeve, anyone can see that, i just havent been impressed with his professionalism at times.

**Razors left peg** · 15/08/2010, 4:47 PM

Yeah thats where hes from. His dad died I think in the last 6 months so maybe he was just a bit upset and wanted time to himself. Ive never met the lad personally but my cousin is from Greystones too and is a mate of his and tells me hes a good fella so I would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one

**richieos** · 15/08/2010, 4:48 PM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Yeah thats where hes from. His dad died I think in the last 6 months so maybe he was just a bit upset and wanted time to himself. Ive never met the lad personally but my cousin is from Greystones too and is a mate of his and tells me hes a good fella so I would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one

Well thats fair enough so. Im happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and hopefully he'll mature into a decent player.

**Colbert Report** · 15/08/2010, 5:50 PM

He wasn't even on the bench for Hull yesterday, anyone know why? Is he injured? Not a good thing if our first choice right back isn't even making the bench for a Championship club.