Irish trio score for Sunderland

**ken foree** · 18/09/2006, 6:56 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Miller was at fault for the goal too, losing possession and Leicester went down the other end and scored.

it was a loose pass but, to be fair, the other sunderland midfielder stopped and put his hand up to apologize to miller for not reading the ball, and in doing so, let the leicester player surge on and create the shooting chance for their striker. very poor play and with a little concentration, the chance could've been snuffed out

**NeilMcD** · 19/09/2006, 9:36 AM

Originally Posted by zinedineontour

kav was no worse in cyrpus than anyone else .. at least he imposes himself in midfield and is not afraid of the ball like oshea .. his performance in germany was one of the worst i have ever seen in a green jersey . Watch the germany game and count how many successful passes he made and count how many he gave away ..

One of the worst, but not the worst as that award goes to Kevin Kilbane who is not a central midfielder and never will be. Time to keep him out on the wing as 3rd choice to Duffer and 3rd choice at left back possibly

**zinedineontour** · 19/09/2006, 4:52 PM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

One of the worst, but not the worst as that award goes to Kevin Kilbane who is not a central midfielder and never will be. Time to keep him out on the wing as 3rd choice to Duffer and 3rd choice at left back possibly

yet at least kilbane has performed alright for ireland in the last couple of seasons unlike o shea. Why he is getting picked continously for Ireland when everyone can see he is underperforming is beyond me. He can get away with it for manu as he has enough good players around him to compensate for his lack of ability but for Ireland we need more than he can offer.

**NeilMcD** · 19/09/2006, 5:00 PM

I agree O Shea and Kilbane need to go from our centre midfield. Simple as that.

**OwlsFan** · 22/09/2006, 6:56 AM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

I agree O Shea and Kilbane need to go from our centre midfield. Simple as that.

And you put in.......

**Stuttgart88** · 22/09/2006, 7:17 AM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

And you put in.......

.......central midfielders.

Nobody's expecting a quality central midfield to emerge overnight. Realistically it'll be an underwhelming part of the team until the likes of Ireland, O'Brien & Garvan step into the fold.

But in Carsley, Kavanagh, Miller, Reid, Douglas, McPhail etc. we have guys who've played central midfield all their lives. Ireland has never looked out of his depth to date & Andy Reid is comfortable there (many argue it's where he's best). Yet we persist in a combination of an elegant defender & a hard working winger. Sure, Ryan Giggs plays well centrally, but he's ten times the footballer that Kilbane is.

I actually share your reasonably positive assessment of Germany. Certain players played well and certain aspects of the team functioned well. But without a functional central midfield players like Robbie & Duff will always underperform.

**shakermaker1982** · 23/09/2006, 2:27 PM

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't wanna see a central pairing of O'Shea and Kilbane!

I'd be happy enough with the following midfield systems and players:

1: Duff A Reid S Reid MacGeady

2: Duff A Reid Kavanagh S Reid MacGeady/Doyle

system 2 would be how Chelski used to play last season with Keane up top. I cannot space the system correctly in this post for some reason!!! Aston Villa use it at the moment and they have impressed me each time I have seen them play this season.

O'Shea and Kilbane can fill in at left back. Anywhere else and they are a major liability to the team IMO.