Paul McShane

[FarBeag]

Not entirely correct. All that decision on Sunday showed was that he thinks McShane's a better rightfull than Higanbotham.

Had it just been Evans that was unnavailabe then that would have been a true reflection on where evans is in the pecking order.

He'll be given another year at Sunderland I reckon, and rightly so. He has had more than just one good game at the start of the season as some here seem to think. I've seen every televised game this Season involving Sunderland. I dunno what the frame of reference is for some people's opinions. Paul McShane is a brutal full back is about all i'll agree with....

Higginbotham is his regular right back isnt he but played in the centre on Sunday as stand in for Evans.If McShane was good enough for the centre why was he not played there?

Its posible that McShane will stay for another season but its not going to do us any favors if we intend to use him as our centre back. He will not get a regular place in the Sunderland team and i am sure Keane will buy some more defenders.He needs to move imo.

[Dr. Ogba]

Higginbotham is his regular right back isnt he but played in the centre on Sunday as stand in for Evans.If McShane was good enough for the centre why was he not played there?

Its posible that McShane will stay for another season but its not going to do us any favors if we intend to use him as our centre back. He will not get a regular place in the Sunderland team and i am sure Keane will buy some more defenders.He needs to move imo.

Higginbotham is a left-full by trade and Collins and Bardsley are their regular full backs

[dr_peepee]

Higanbotham started his career at left full but at Stoke and even I think Southampton before that he was played at centre half. He's only played left full this season when Collins was out.... He's defo not a right full though.

[Pike B]

Higanbotham started his career at left full but at Stoke and even I think Southampton before that he was played at centre half. He's only played left full this season when Collins was out.... He's defo not a right full though.

How come commentators pronounce it : HIGG IN BOTT UM instead of the way it's spelt: HIGG IN BOTH AM....
Just wondering...

[FarBeag]

Ledger and McCarthy? If you're going for comedy value in our defence lets try calling Des Bishop and Andrew Maxwell up first!

Well, you’re one person on here who I would not be looking to for advice on any football related issues so I will just have to ignore this feeble attempt of sarcasm.

[Qwerty]

Sorry for repeating myself yet again but lack of height doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest if he can put in motm performances against Koller, Berbatov, B.McCarthy and Davies. Put him at centre half, let him man mark a target man and he's proven he can eat them up.

Well he was an unknown quantity when he put in those performances, he is not unknown any more and his limitations can easily be exposed by a smart agile striker. He has to improve his concentration, absolutley key for a slow-ass. And curb his inclination to commit to tackles when they're not on.

I agree lack of height isn't a major problem, Fabio Cannavaro is a midget

[eirebhoy]

Well he was an unknown quantity when he put in those performances

Blackburn and Bolton were his 3rd and 4th last starts for Sunderland. The people judging the players in the fantasy football marked him down as the best player on the pitch against Blackburn and 2nd to Jones against Bolton. In fact he still has more bonus points than any other Sunderland defender which shows that he has put in a few outstanding performances. Some people may laugh that I take those bonus points so seriously but I'd trust them more than any other media source since they're judged by ex-pro's.

[as_i_say]

Thats a fair point but at the moment his confidence is on the floor and he was genuinely terrible at the weekend. He could come good again but I wouldnt have him near the team against Serbia. Gotta play your form players if possible. At least he got that dulux dog fringe of his cut so that he can see properly now, unfortunately it didnt do him any good on sunday!

[youngirish]

Blackburn and Bolton were his 3rd and 4th last starts for Sunderland. The people judging the players in the fantasy football marked him down as the best player on the pitch against Blackburn and 2nd to Jones against Bolton. In fact he still has more bonus points than any other Sunderland defender which shows that he has put in a few outstanding performances. Some people may laugh that I take those bonus points so seriously but I'd trust them more than any other media source since they're judged by ex-pro's.

In fairness Eirebhoy fantasy football ratings are the last I'd trust when judging a player. For example most of the fantasy football games in the English tabloids seem to assign a mark to a player then multiply it by a factor of approx 1.5 (not sure the actual weigthed value) if that same player happens to play for England. They are generally fairly poor and not consistent with the actual games that I've watched.

[eirebhoy]

In fairness Eirebhoy fantasy football ratings are the last I'd trust when judging a player. For example most of the fantasy football games in the English tabloids seem to assign a mark to a player then multiply it by a factor of approx 1.5 (not sure the actual weigthed value) if that same player happens to play for England. They are generally fairly poor and not consistent with the actual games that I've watched.

I don't know I find them very accurate. I usually agree with their top 3 players whenever I see a premiership game. I'm talking about the official premier league fantasy football though, not the ones in the papers. I doubt the tabloids have ex-pro's officially assigned to every game.

btw, Dunne had more bonus points than any premiership defender last season and he's top again this season with 33 points, 6 ahead of Laursen, who himself is 6 points ahead of the next best.

And they absolutely love Andy Reid.

[the doc]

Ledger and McCarthy? If you're going for comedy value in our defence lets try calling Des Bishop and Andrew Maxwell up first!

Thats unfair, maybe if you took the time to go to the games you would be able to make a judgement.
St Ledger has been outstanding all season for Preston and has already won 3 of the fans player of the year awards and tipped to win the clubs official awards as well.
McCarthy has played regularly for Charlton too, so in my opinion they are both worth giving a chance.

[tetsujin1979]

btw, Dunne had more bonus points than any premiership defender last season and he's top again this season with 33 points, 6 ahead of Laursen, who himself is 6 points ahead of the next best.

Considering Dunne hasn't scored this season, whereas Laursen and Lescott are the top goalscoring defenders, and Dunne was sent off against Blackburn, it's more impressive.

[John83]

McCarthy has played regularly for Charlton too, so in my opinion they are both worth giving a chance.

Is McCarthy still getting sent off regularly?

[Stuttgart88]

I've heard that McCarthy has had a very good last third of the season. Andy Reid says he's the kind of character you'd want in the trenches with you. I said a year or two ago that I think he's decent but I wanted him to push his game on that bit extra but as yet I don't think he's done it, merly just repeating his better form at Leicester. I was surprised he didn't make the 40 man squad tbh. He was a lynchpin during Givens' most successful period in the U21s (12 or 13 unbeaten, plus a few headed goals) so I'd have thought he'd have had a good word to say about him to the new management.

[Stuttgart88]

Thats unfair, maybe if you took the time to go to the games you would be able to make a judgement.
St Ledger has been outstanding all season for Preston and has already won 3 of the fans player of the year awards and tipped to win the clubs official awards as well.
McCarthy has played regularly for Charlton too, so in my opinion they are both worth giving a chance.

I agree with the Doc here. Both St Ledger and McCarthy should merit consideration.

[tetsujin1979]

He was 3rd in the Charlton player of the year poll, Matt Holland won it

[The Legend]

He may have but I assessed Breen as quite vocal and a good organiser. I think they both complimented each other. He wasn’t afraid to have a go at Keano either. Out of interest would you play McShane before him if he was still in his prime?

I guess my point was there are both naturally pretty slow and get destroyed by quick defenders... thats unlikely to change .... didnt mean to upset all the Gary Breen lovers.

[Dr. Ogba]

He was 3rd in the Charlton player of the year poll, Matt Holland won it

Yikes! Jaysus the whole Charlton team must've been absolute much if the invisible man is still their best player!

[Stuttgart88]

My cab driver in London on Saturday was a Brighton fan. He said McShane is a legend down there, really highly regarded and he can't understand why he's struggling, especially as he noted he had done well at WBA too. They think Wayne Henderson is a tool.

[paul_oshea]

why?!