Ciaran Clark D Free agent b.1989

**tetsujin1979** · 02/09/2012, 8:31 PM

i got away with it, had a choice between selling him, or selling Rooney, went with Rooney and bought van Persie!

**DannyInvincible** · 03/09/2012, 9:56 AM

Clark's goal against Newcastle features:

**jbyrne** · 03/09/2012, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by theworm2345

Goal Clark, he stayed forward on an attack, flicked the ball out to the left channel to Bannan, continued his run, and met Bannan's cross from about 5 yards out to head past Krul.

by all accounts he had a great game and made the bbc team of the week.

**paul_oshea** · 03/09/2012, 10:09 AM

The one thing I'm looking forward to or that I feel relief for is bar Germany ( and its at home at least), we have 2 games which we should win, and a possible draw against the Germans to start the group with 6/7 points hopefully. When the fixtures were being drawn up, if Trap was thinking about the possible retirees or the hangover from a decent Euros showing then he certainly picked the best possible games to start with, 2 games in which one could be a banana skin when the pressure is on (kazakh away) and an easy win away from home, along with a tough opponent at home was brilliant planning. There is no hangover from a decent euros, but its still worked very favourably for us. Which leads to the main point. 6 months is a long time in football. Clark, possibly even duffy and a few more -meyler hopefully- will have matured, gained more first team experience, and have a lot more football behind them, this added to the possibility of another emerging talent, can set us up nicely for the more difficult(i wont say business end i hate that crap talk) games in the group, in a far better situation than if we were to play any of them now.

**elroy** · 03/09/2012, 10:52 AM

By easy away win I presume you mean the Faroes - not sure if that place is all that easy anymore. Should win, yes but easy , dont think so.

**paul_oshea** · 03/09/2012, 11:04 AM

All respect to the Faroes but we should be beating them both home and away.

**The Fly** · 09/09/2012, 8:15 PM

ESPN - Ciaran Clark baffled by Ireland omission

Contrast Clark's attitude with Gibson's.

**elroy** · 09/09/2012, 8:25 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

All respect to the Faroes but we should be beating them both home and away.

Agreed but we should be doing the same to Kazakhstan and look how close we came to losing there.

**SkStu** · 09/09/2012, 9:50 PM

Originally Posted by The Fly

ESPN - Ciaran Clark baffled by Ireland omission

Contrast Clark's attitude with Gibson's.

You're not the only one Ciaran. I think you should have been in the Euros squad.

**backstothewall** · 09/09/2012, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by The Fly

ESPN - Ciaran Clark baffled by Ireland omission

He will have his Aston Villa omission to further baffle him before long unless he stops giving goals away. Doesn't deserve to be ahead of O'Dea on form.

**Charlie Darwin** · 10/09/2012, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by The Fly

ESPN - Ciaran Clark baffled by Ireland omission

Contrast Clark's attitude with Gibson's.

Great attitude. Good head on his shoulders, red card at Everton notwithstanding.

**Murfinator** · 10/09/2012, 12:45 AM

Dunne, O'Dea, St Ledger and O'Shea are 4 much better CB's than him who've all played solid to very good when called upon. He's made a call of Pearce over him which I wouldn't disagree with strongly either. Pearce had a very good season while Clark continues to be flaky and struggles to hold down a place.

It's great that Clark's been playing this season but calling him a premiership starter while true is misleading:
- It's only been 3 games
- He played badly in 2 of them.
- He may only be playing because Dunne is injured
- He's starting for possibly the worst team in the league on current form.

I think it's very understandable why Clark isn't being called up right now, if he nails down his place long term and delivers form consistently in the one position for a change then he'll be making a stronger claim but no necessarily ahead of any of those I've mentioned. We've a lot of problems in our current side but centre backs is one of our better filled areas, there's no real need for Clark.

**Murfinator** · 10/09/2012, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by SkStu

You're not the only one Ciaran. I think you should have been in the Euros squad.

Instead of who? If you're answering anyone other than O'Dea then you aren't covering the backup requirements necessary for the squad (bearing in mind the JOS injury scare at the time requiring an extra right back in McShane) and if you're answering O'Dea then you're a puzzling individual looking to drop a strong performer throughout the campaign for someone lounging on the bench (covering Midfield no less) for a team in awful form who almost got relegated and just had their manager sacked.

**Charlie Darwin** · 10/09/2012, 1:02 AM

I'd have had him in instead of Foley/McShane. And I have probably defended McShane more than anyone else on here.

**Crosby87** · 10/09/2012, 1:17 AM

Murf you always have excellent posts.
So has Stu.
One of my favorite intellect battles.

**SkStu** · 10/09/2012, 3:40 AM

Originally Posted by Murfinator

Instead of who? If you're answering anyone other than O'Dea then you aren't covering the backup requirements necessary for the squad (bearing in mind the JOS injury scare at the time requiring an extra right back in McShane) and if you're answering O'Dea then you're a puzzling individual looking to drop a strong performer throughout the campaign for someone lounging on the bench (covering Midfield no less) for a team in awful form who almost got relegated and just had their manager sacked.

McShane primarily. Green also.

Do i expect everyone to agree with me? No, its just my opinion. I might be bothered to give you my rationale if you address the Wilson absenteeism question that you have ignored repeatedly.

**SkStu** · 10/09/2012, 3:56 AM

Originally Posted by Crosby87

Murf you always have excellent posts.
So has Stu.
One of my favorite intellect battles.

Thanks...

**elroy** · 10/09/2012, 10:06 AM

Its arguable whether Clark should be in the squad. Although starting he hasnt exactly been solid in each game. He is young and should be given time.

However, the bigger point here is the communication point. If you were to look at our pool of players, we probably have 50 or so players(if even) who may be called up.

Is it asking alot for the full time manager to keep in contact with all these players at least a couple of times a year. Let them know that they are within his radar, even suggest improvements. It appears Trap and his backroom team dont possess the greatest man management skills.

**Murfinator** · 10/09/2012, 10:16 AM

McShane covers right back back, Clark doesn't. It's not a like for like replacement. If you dropped McShane with JOS already an injury and he didn't recover then you'd have been left with Kelly and no backup RB which would have been a very poor squad choice. Obviously with hindsight it wouldn't have happened but at the time of squad selection JOS and Dunne were both very real injury scares prompting the addition of McShane to cover both.
To keep all bases covered the only person Clark could have replaced (assuming he wasn't going to start) were O'Dea or Green/Gibson. Trap has never played him as a midfielder so as the latter it'd have been a strange decision, as the former Clark didn't merit being ahead of O'Dea. I think it'd have been a poor decision to bring him to the Euro's in light of the cover requirements, personally.