Wes Hoolahan (M Cambridge Utd b.1982)

[tricky_colour]

Wessi, the Irish Messi!!

It was a well worked goal between the two of them http://rutube.ru/video/embed/6126590

Wessi found himself loads of space and Pilkington did well to be aware of that, I though he was going to have a shot himself at first.

[Noelys Guitar]

Keeps on improving and getting physically stronger. Really impressed with his performance today against QPR (so far). Had a great game against Spurs last week as well.

[tricky_colour]

Was going to say that was a good point for Norwich, but with Reading and Villa winning at the moment it's looking more like 2 points dropped, just noticed Wigan are winning too, that putting a lot of pressure in teams who may have been feeling fairly comfortable.
Sunderland just equalised against Reading though.

[DannyInvincible]

'Ireland boss admits to overlooking goal hero Hoolahan in the past': http://thescore.thejournal.ie/irelan...aign=from_page

Wes remains just another option and is unlikely to start against Sweden next month. Although that shouldn't really come as a surprise, despite last night's performance.

Giovanni Trapattoni selected Conor Sammon alongside Shane Long in attack against Poland and it wasn’t until midway through the second half that Hoolahan made his introduction.

14 minutes later, he was tumbling away in celebration after effectively sealing the win for Ireland. Receiving a pass from fellow substitute and debutante Jeff Hendrick, he controlled on his chest before stroking past Wojciech Sczesny.

While the Ireland boss has explored the idea of a 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 formation in recent times and has acknowledged the player’s capabilities, he explained in his post-match press conference that Hoolahan simply doesn’t fit into his system he believes is best for the team.

Trapattoni said: ” In the past we had many questions about Hoolahan and I said ‘we know him very well’. Always I said that we have the new players like Long and the young ones like McCarthy.

“We need two strikers with our team because with one striker all of the team play for the one striker.

Hoolahan we know many times. With Marco (Tardelli) I repeated that it’s a pity – maybe we have overlooked him because when we see him in this club he plays well in this position but his club is no Manchester or Arsenal.

“But he is a good tactical option and in the future we will consider this.”

Not sure of the relevance of quoting "Manchester" or Arsenal. We don't have any players who play for "Manchester" or Arsenal. In fact, with Hoolahan playing so well for a Norwich side perceived to be generally weaker than teams at the top end of the Premier League, it surely underlines his individual ability.

And how Trap thinks we "need" two strikers is hard to fathom. What's wrong with "all of the team play[ing] for the one striker" exactly?

[tetsujin1979]

'Ireland boss admits to overlooking goal hero Hoolahan in the past': http://thescore.thejournal.ie/irelan...aign=from_page

Wes remains just another option and is unlikely to start against Sweden next month. Although that shouldn't really come as a surprise, despite last night's performance.



Not sure of the relevance of quoting "Manchester" or Arsenal. We don't have any players who play for "Manchester" or Arsenal. In fact, with Hoolahan playing so well for a Norwich side perceived to be generally weaker than teams at the top end of the Premier League, it surely underlines his individual ability.

And how Trap thinks we "need" two strikers is hard to fathom. What's wrong with "all of the team play[ing] for the one striker" exactly?

That's basically how were are set up with Keane up front, everything is geared towards getting him into a scoring position

[CraftyToePoke]

That Manchester or Arsenal comment is enough to send a fan nuts. Not only do we have no players at those sides, but here is a guy who put two Derby County players in last night. One of whom, in Sammon, anyone on here could have foretold the impact he would provide at that level. None.

[Bungle]

Trap has got to play Wes in Sweden. We need to keep possession and I would have him in an attacking midfield role with Long up front.

All going well my x1

Westwood
Coleman O'Shea Dunne or SSL Wilson
McGeady Whelan (Gibson in an ideal world) Macca McClean
Wes
Long

[DannyInvincible]

Wes won't be starting against Sweden. Trap more or less spelled that out.

[Kingdom]

'Ireland boss admits to overlooking goal hero Hoolahan in the past': http://thescore.thejournal.ie/irelan...aign=from_page

Wes remains just another option and is unlikely to start against Sweden next month. Although that shouldn't really come as a surprise, despite last night's performance.



Not sure of the relevance of quoting "Manchester" or Arsenal. We don't have any players who play for "Manchester" or Arsenal. In fact, with Hoolahan playing so well for a Norwich side perceived to be generally weaker than teams at the top end of the Premier League, it surely underlines his individual ability.

And how Trap thinks we "need" two strikers is hard to fathom. What's wrong with "all of the team play[ing] for the one striker" exactly?

I just assumed the two striker bit related to us hoofing the ball from back to front aimlessly, and that at least with two strikers there is less chance of it coming back immediately, whereas with one, you're goosed.

The Arsenal/Manchester comment is bizarre, considering the clubs that comprise our squad are becoming more like the hitchhikers guide to the football league

[tricky_colour]

'Ireland boss admits to overlooking goal hero Hoolahan in the past': http://thescore.thejournal.ie/irelan...aign=from_page

Wes remains just another option and is unlikely to start against Sweden next month. Although that shouldn't really come as a surprise, despite last night's performance.



Not sure of the relevance of quoting "Manchester" or Arsenal. We don't have any players who play for "Manchester" or Arsenal. In fact, with Hoolahan playing so well for a Norwich side perceived to be generally weaker than teams at the top end of the Premier League, it surely underlines his individual ability.

And how Trap thinks we "need" two strikers is hard to fathom. What's wrong with "all of the team play[ing] for the one striker" exactly?

That's a pretty comic comparison, Norwich don't have Man U players but I''d say they are a better side than us.
Sounds like Tardelli takes a much more positive view of Wes, could see that from the celebrations. Looks Like Tardeli is a big fan!!

[paul_oshea]

What he means is simple. If wes was that good he would be playing at Arsenal or Manchester Utd. And if he was playing at manchester Utd, he would be that good to change the team(players/formation/system/tactics) to include him.

[Charlie Darwin]

What he means is simple. If wes was that good he would be playing at Arsenal or Manchester Utd. And if he was playing at manchester Utd, he would be that good to change the team(players/formation/system/tactics) to include him.

Yeah but what's the point of saying it? John O'Shea is a good player but he's not Barcelona good. I'd still play him ahead of the other options.

[geysir]

It's not a matter of playing non-Barca quality players.
In other words, what Trap is saying, because we don't have the world's best ballplayer available to us, he won't have our team trying to play football.
Neither do we have the world's best strikers, Messi or Ronaldo, to play the lone striker role, therefore we need 2 average strikers.
That playing football is best left to the likes of Barca etc. and we will continue with using the lowest common denominator of our available skills.

[bishbash]

It's not a matter of playing non-Barca quality players.
In other words, what Trap is saying, because we don't have the world's best ballplayer available to us, he won't have our team trying to play football.
Neither do we have the world's best strikers, Messi or Ronaldo, to play the lone striker role, therefore we need 2 average strikers.
That playing football is best left to the likes of Barca etc. and we will continue with using the lowest common denominator of our available skills.

Really it is a lost situation till this Dinosaur goes. The man is clueless. Any side other than Poland Landsdowne would have been empty last night. He actually insults Irish fans with his opinion of the team.

[paul_oshea]

It's not a matter of playing non-Barca quality players.
In other words, what Trap is saying, because we don't have the world's best ballplayer available to us, he won't have our team trying to play football.
Neither do we have the world's best strikers, Messi or Ronaldo, to play the lone striker role, therefore we need 2 average strikers.
That playing football is best left to the likes of Barca etc. and we will continue with using the lowest common denominator of our available skills.

I don't think its that in the Wessi situation. What he is saying is, we aren't good enough to play that kind of football even with Wessi in there, because he isn't of that level to justify changing how we play, but if he was at "that level"(i.e. he would be playing at manchester utd and therefore good enough to change how we play, selection, tactics etc), then the team would be changed to centre around him and make best use of his ability. In other words, Wessi isn't that bit good enough over what he gets out of the players that he has in the way we play, in his opinion.

Its his way of justifying his team selection, system and tactics, to the media. It makes perfect sense why he would say it, to me at least, though not necessarily a good thing to say in public about Wes - but one he couldn't argue with.

[tricky_colour]

What he means is simple. If wes was that good he would be playing at Arsenal or Manchester Utd. And if he was playing at manchester Utd, he would be that good to change the team(players/formation/system/tactics) to include him.

So he built a team to include Conner Sammon instead?

[geysir]

I don't think its that in the Wessi situation. What he is saying is, we aren't good enough to play that kind of football even with Wessi in there, because he isn't of that level to justify changing how we play, but if he was at "that level"(i.e. he would be playing at manchester utd and therefore good enough to change how we play, selection, tactics etc), then the team would be changed to centre around him and make best use of his ability. In other words, Wessi isn't that bit good enough over what he gets out of the players that he has in the way we play, in his opinion.

Its his way of justifying his team selection, system and tactics, to the media. It makes perfect sense why he would say it, to me at least, though not necessarily a good thing to say in public about Wes - but one he couldn't argue with.

I wrote "in other words",
basically we are saying the same thing, using different words.
It's Traps standard spiel, whether it's to justify not playing Wes or justify not going with one striker to accommodate Wes.

[Fixer82]

I'd love to see a big team like United or even Spurs sign Wessi and see does Trap change his tune.
He should be in because he's a good player, not because of his club...like McAteer when he was in the Reserves for Blackburn

[Crosby87]

Indo article:
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/wes-hoolahan-pole-vaults-into-contention-29053683.html

[Charlie Darwin]

I see the Indo have boldly decided, in 2013, to upgrade to web 2.0.

I see they haven't tried to similarly upgrade their writing though:

Together, they combined

As if there's any other way to combine. Although I have been called "a pedantic" in the past