Drop O'Shea

**John83** · 20/10/2003, 2:30 PM

Originally posted by Conor74
Saw O'Shea Saturday. His career has now reached the stage where Quentin Fortune is selected at full back before him. When he came on it (due to Fortune getting an injury) was obvious why Ferguson dropped him, as he proceeded to hit two passes ten yards straight at the opposition. Even Keane lost the head with him. He has been dropped from his club in favour of a weak player who is being played out of position. That's hardly the form to make you captain of your national side.

That's a bit harsh. He's off-form, hardly a novel problem for a young player. And Fortune's pretty effective as a left-back. He seems to be more a wing-back than a pure winger.

**macdermesser** · 22/10/2003, 10:26 AM

On the subject of left backs .. I know he's a bit of an easy target these days .. but Harte was at fault for both Irish goals in Switzerland, not O'Shea. He didn't track Yakin's run for the first one, and he was caught between the ball and player for the second one. I didn't actually catch it live at the game .. but if you look at the video, and do a Gilesy&Dunphy magic pen on it, it becomes more apparent. For those like meself who were lucky enough to be at the match, but didn't see the goals on tv, you can see them at http://www.fabienbarthez.tk/ . click on other videos (left-hand side of the page) and then international goals and scroll down to the very bottom.

I guess in hindsight, Finnan was the man to play on the left ..

**NigeSausagepump** · 23/10/2003, 10:25 AM

I must say I thought O'Shea did alright against Rangers last night. He looked good when linking up with Giggs in attack on the left, although to be fair he did have some hairy moments when Lovenkrands went right at him. He showed several times how quick his feet are, digging out passes he had no right to play. He definitely needs to spend the summer with Ian Harte taking a course in The Rudiments of Defending.

Actually, Ian Harte needs to take one in The Art of Turning 180 Degrees in Less than 3 Minutes.

**Ozymandias** · 23/10/2003, 3:15 PM

O'Shea played well last night...booked after 30 secs in an atmosphere that detests him....he was in trouble twice with bloverkrands early on after that he had him in his pocket and Lovenkrands pushed into the centre where he made ferdinand look waht he is ...ordianry....

O'Shea will be fine and will be a super player for Ireland.....

that other Irish palyer for Utd wasn't half bad either...wonder if he would like a game in the green..lol