Paul McShane

[SunderlandBohs]

Not according to the ex-pro's watching the matches for the Premier league FF. Chosen in the top 3 players on the pitch in matches against Spurs, Birmingham, Bolton and Blackburn. All 4 games he played centre half. He's probably been decent more often than not in his games at centre half this season.

Against Spurs he had a great game, Birmingham he scored a stupid only goal & was at fault for O'Connor's goal. Bolton he did ok but did he's usually headless chicken routine. If he was so good against Blackburn why was he dropped afterwards? The lad has gone as far as he can go. As I said, he's a championship player at best.

[shaneker]

As I said, he's a championship player at best.

BBC Sunderland forum agrees with you...

'ive seen milk turn quicker than mcshane'
'Awful positioning, constantly giving fouls away and does not seem to be able to work in a team anymore. I would gladly see the back of him'
'Even a 1 legged blind man has more vision and ability than McShane.'
'He is certainly a new name for most of our worst elevens.'
'He's totally out of his depth'
'The most rash, self destructive defender I've ever seen!'
'Mcshane: dispose of forthwith please. no questions asked'

Seriously, I could go on and on. They are dying to see the back of him, I checked a couple of pages of forum for those quotes and I saw one quote defending him. Personally I think he has to go back to the Championship and relearn his trade, he's still young enough to be a decent defender if he works hard.

[Paddy Garcia]

We saw all this last year against the Czechs and others. Not a surprise, some on hear were too intent on hailing the arrival of the McSsiah .

[geysir]

Yes Paddy, we really should not give the highest praise to a debutant in a competitive international after turning in a stirring performance to win man of the match.
The most unique competitive debut for Ireland in over 32 years.
Instead of thinking that this lad is going to improve with the right club we should have said that he was cráp, easily brushed off by Koller and was never going to make it.
Now that he has had a nightmare season, safe to say that that international MOM debut should be wiped off the books

[Carrigaline]

The lad is only 22 and still has a lot to learn for a defender. To write him off at this stage is simply pure ignorant. Look at Richard Dunne, he was a complete shambles for years, but then he grew up, pulled himself together and is now a top notch Premier League defender. Also look at Rio Ferdinand. He's gone from being the most expensive write-off of a player to the current best defender in the world.

[SkStu]

Yes Paddy, we really should not give the highest praise to a debutant in a competitive international after turning in a stirring performance to win man of the match.
The most unique competitive debut for Ireland in over 32 years.
Instead of thinking that this lad is going to improve with the right club we should have said that he was cráp, easily brushed off by Koller and was never going to make it.
Now that he has had a nightmare season, safe to say that that international MOM debut should be wiped off the books

Alan Kernaghan won MOTM for his first three games with Ireland. Such plaudits mean f*ck all in the bigger picture. Posters on here were too quick to heap praise on the lad.

Ill be surprised if he plays in the Premiership again.

[FarBeag]

The lad is only 22 and still has a lot to learn for a defender. To write him off at this stage is simply pure ignorant. Look at Richard Dunne, he was a complete shambles for years, but then he grew up, pulled himself together and is now a top notch Premier League defender. Also look at Rio Ferdinand. He's gone from being the most expensive write-off of a player to the current best defender in the world.

He may be only 22 but you cannot compare him to Dunne or Ferdinand even at their worst. It’s all about ability which McShane does not have whichthe other two had abundances of at his age, even if full to the gills with beer. You can’t fault him for effort but he can’t cut it at the top leave. Andy O’ Brien St Ledger and McCarthy are much better players.

[dr_peepee]

He may be only 22 but you cannot compare him to Dunne or Ferdinand even at their worst. It’s all about ability which McShane does not have whichthe other two had abundances of at his age, even if full to the gills with beer. You can’t fault him for effort but he can’t cut it at the top leave. Andy O’ Brien St Ledger and McCarthy are much better players.

Jayzus, I'm willing to acknowledge peolpes misgivings and maybe the fact that some of us over rate McShane.... But that last line??? C'mon man. Each have had their share of critics, O'Brien more than most. And St Ledger and McCarthy are relatviely unknown quantities with little more profile than good Championship centre halves. At least McShane has played well on occasion in the top flight at some stage in his career, on top of being highly rated in the Championship. If anything St Ledger is at the stage in his career were McShane was at Brighton 3 years ago. A good defender in a poor Championship team.

On current form I'd pick O'Brien ahead of McShane, definately. But lets not be too quick to write him off. I don't think we've seen the last of McShane as a premiership player.

[geysir]

Alan Kernaghan won MOTM for his first three games with Ireland. Such plaudits mean f*ck all in the bigger picture. Posters on here were too quick to heap praise on the lad.

Ill be surprised if he plays in the Premiership again.

Alan Kernaghan deserved his plaudits until, for varied reasons, his standards dropped.

What has all that got to do with anything?
McShane did very well in a tough debut and deserved every praise that came his way.
Some people would rather be right about their dour McShane predictions than to have him playing good.
I hope he can get away from the Sunderland mob and get playing up to the standard he is capable of.
We have very few Centre Halves.
Of course, Trap can always try to convert Kilbane into one
Hopefully he won't have to

[Paddy Garcia]

The lad is only 22 and still has a lot to learn for a defender. To write him off at this stage is simply pure ignorant. Look at Richard Dunne, he was a complete shambles for years, but then he grew up, pulled himself together and is now a top notch Premier League defender. Also look at Rio Ferdinand. He's gone from being the most expensive write-off of a player to the current best defender in the world.

Dunne and Ferdinand had attitude issues when young, their talent was not really questioned. Not relevant to McShane who has had a near perfect attitude.

Frankly I think it is more harmful to build someone up than to adopt a measured approach. Posters on here were talking about a move to Barcelona - as Captain. Not a criticism of McShane, but the stupid hype on here.

And Geysir, I've no wish to deny him his decent performances for us - however "the most unique debut in 32 years is pushing it" - see para above.

I've not written him off yet - but the odds are not at all good. Sunderland was one of the few Premiership teams very easy to break into.

[SkStu]

Alan Kernaghan deserved his plaudits until, for varied reasons, his standards dropped.

What has all that got to do with anything?
McShane did very well in a tough debut and deserved every praise that came his way.
Some people would rather be right about their dour McShane predictions than to have him playing good.
I hope he can get away from the Sunderland mob and get playing up to the standard he is capable of.
We have very few Centre Halves.
Of course, Trap can always try to convert Kilbane into one
Hopefully he won't have to

nothing would please me more than McShane being a top class club and international player. My feelings are that he wont. 22 is quite old to have some of the bad habits that this guy has.

I would have thought the point about Alan Kernaghan was quite clear. Similar to McShane after Czech, he was praised for his first few performances and after that, like McShane, his club and international form went to sh1te. Winning MOTM in your debut means nothing. Doing it week in week out at the highest level is what counts and McShane has shown this season that this is something that he may not have the ability to do.

Hopefully he turns it round but i have my doubts.

[FarBeag]

Jayzus, I'm willing to acknowledge peolpes misgivings and maybe the fact that some of us over rate McShane.... But that last line??? C'mon man. Each have had their share of critics, O'Brien more than most. And St Ledger and McCarthy are relatviely unknown quantities with little more profile than good Championship centre halves. At least McShane has played well on occasion in the top flight at some stage in his career, on top of being highly rated in the Championship. If anything St Ledger is at the stage in his career were McShane was at Brighton 3 years ago. A good defender in a poor Championship team.

On current form I'd pick O'Brien ahead of McShane, definately. But lets not be too quick to write him off. I don't think we've seen the last of McShane as a premiership player.

I cant for the life of me see what some people see in this bloke. He played a couple of good games for Ireland and slightly more for Sunderland.If I was hyped up enough in a game representing my country for the first time I would play a blinder too, but I would be soon found out just like McShane. He wasnt even playing as a centre back for West Brom when Keane bought him which imo was another hasty signing by him. At least McCarthy and St Ledger play at centre half regulary and they can be judged on how good they are for this position something Keane did not do when he bought McShane. He saw him play at right back for west Brom and possibly his two first outing in the centre for Ireland. He now knows he made a mistake and McShane will be sold on to God knows where, maybe back to west Brom as a stand in right back nothing more.

I can’t go along with the 'he needs an organiser beside him like Richard Dunne' bit. No player at this standard should need someone to hold his hand everytime he plays a game. I still stand by what I wrote in my other post that the St Ledger and McCarthy are better players than McShane.

[livehead1]

The lad is only 22 and still has a lot to learn for a defender. To write him off at this stage is simply pure ignorant. Look at Richard Dunne, he was a complete shambles for years, but then he grew up, pulled himself together and is now a top notch Premier League defender. Also look at Rio Ferdinand. He's gone from being the most expensive write-off of a player to the current best defender in the world.

I agree, although I don't think its possible to compare McShane with Ferdinand. Ferdinand always had great guile and class; McShane has neither, and the best we can hope for appears to be a hatchet defender who gives 110%.

[The Legend]

wow what happened there?

[dr_peepee]

I cant for the life of me see what some people see in this bloke. He played a couple of good games for Ireland and slightly more for Sunderland..

Yes he did. As a 20 and 21 year old.. He's literally just gone 22.. Far too much scope there to write him off. He has his limits, sure. But I think he'll make one half of a decent partnership. I don't think he needs an organiser either. He played very well beside O'Shea didn't he??

I still think him and Nosworthy could do a job for Sunderland and at the moment he's behind O'Brien to partner Dunne, for me.

Hopefully St Ledger makes a move up during the Summer... Bruce has made a habit for going back for players he was into while at Brum, so hopefully he takes a punt on him at Wigan.

[Seagull-4-life]

Am I the only person in Ireland who didn't think he was exceptional on his debut? When Koller scored he squatted him away like a fly.

Chmapionship player at best

[tetsujin1979]

Am I the only person in Ireland who didn't think he was exceptional on his debut? When Koller scored he squatted him away like a fly.

Chmapionship player at best

Well, he nearly scored, kept Koller quiet for most of the game, and I blame John O'Shea for the goal.
And he won MOTM.

If he's a "championship player at best" why are people recommending St Ledger, McCarthy, etc who ARE championship players ahead of him?

[livehead1]

If he's a "championship player at best" why are people recommending St Ledger, McCarthy, etc who ARE championship players ahead of him?

Probably because McShane's made a bit of a clown out of himself this season and many feel others wouldn't be so out of their depth...

[eirebhoy]

I can’t go along with the 'he needs an organiser beside him like Richard Dunne' bit. No player at this standard should need someone to hold his hand everytime he plays a game.

The vast majority of young players do. Dunne did at that age. O'Brien needed to be led up until recently. O'Shea still does.

[Paddy Garcia]

Am I the only person in Ireland who didn't think he was exceptional on his debut? When Koller scored he squatted him away like a fly.

I agree he was to blame for the goal. We do though seem to swing from one extreme to the other with some of the young guys. I suspect that some of the criticism voiced now is a reaction to the stupid hype earlier. Not McShanes fault.