Stephen Ireland

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I agree, though I think TOWK was trying to say some craft was needed to complement the graft of the others rather than us only having grafters in midfield. I think Miller had a bit of craft in him but he was frighteningly lightweight.

Agreed - On re-reading TOWK's post , i think i may have been originally overzealous - Apologies TOWK and I do now see what you mean.

Although if Mr Ireland had made himself available back then instead of being a grade A tw*t then this debate would not be happening

Originally Posted by back of the net

IMO - Trap never should have called up /kept faith in Miller

But.....

Rowlands hasnt played enough for Ireland to make that kind of comment surely? He was very good for QPR for quite a few seasons pre his injury against Montengro in 2009. He scored alot of goals from midfield and deserved his chance with Ireland.

Andrews has been great for Ireland and proved himself on the international stage - so I strongly disagree with your comment on him.


And Paul Green is another player who has done his job very well for Ireland when he has been asked - and the criticism he gets .... is bullsh*t and unfair.
Green can do a job for us that stephen Ireland cannot nor will ever do

Pretty much agree with all of this.

Also the phrase "Make himself available" does my head in wrt to SI. He should be grateful of a call up if it's forthcoming.

Originally Posted by back of the net

IMO - Trap never should have called up /kept faith in Miller

But.....

Rowlands hasnt played enough for Ireland to make that kind of comment surely? He was very good for QPR for quite a few seasons pre his injury against Montengro in 2009. He scored alot of goals from midfield and deserved his chance with Ireland.

Andrews has been great for Ireland and proved himself on the international stage - so I strongly disagree with your comment on him.


And Paul Green is another player who has done his job very well for Ireland when he has been asked - and the criticism he gets .... is bullsh*t and unfair.
Green can do a job for us that stephen Ireland cannot nor will ever do

Green has fare pretty well over 1 or 2 recent matches but I don't think the criticism aimed at him is any more overzealous than the praise. I think compared with Whelan, literally anyone would look like an improvement. I still remember Green being Armenia's single biggest attacking threat in Yerevan. I don't want to be overly hard on Glenn. He has had a respectable career with Stoke but based solely on his Ireland performances since the 2010 campaign, it is a miracle he reached 50 caps.

We have to start valuing players like Hoolahan, Reid, Ireland and O'Kane.

It isn't just the starting 11 who are important. Substitutions have a vital role and any of those players would arguably impact a game more than Cox, Walters or Trap's secret weapon Andy Keogh.

Re: Miller

He has Champions League and Europa League experience and has played a significant amount of his career in the Premier League and at the high end of the Championship. Rowlands has played at Football League level, mostly with mid to lower end Championship teams and at International level, didn't really get much of a chance to show he's any/better than Miller. Miller was alright but the two of them were keeping out better players. They only made about 25 appearances between them anyway so unfortunately for them, they will always be a foot note.

SI could have had a bunch of goals today after coming on if Assaidi would stop playing around and pass the ball. I think a three year old could have done it.

apologies if posted already but it seems the FAI have read between the lines and think he might be ready to return:

http://www.fai.ie/component/content/...71665-26083577

bit of a strange thing to put on the official site i would have thought.

If he wants to play I'd welcome him back. We've plenty of other players who seem to be tossers. And I absolutely hated Trap so I can't blame him totally for not coming back. Imagine waiting in midfield to get ball to feet and Given or Westwood launches it over your head to Doyle or Long. Again.

Originally Posted by Yard of Pace

And I absolutely hated Trap so I can't blame him totally for not coming back. Imagine waiting in midfield to get ball to feet and Given or Westwood launches it over your head to Doyle or Long. Again.

Not sure what the relevance of this is, since it wasn't in any way a factor in Ireland not playing for us.

Well, there's a deluded line of thought that SI would have come back but not with Trap in charge.

Good to hear he's busy fighting the good fight.
"I think they know the stage I am at here, fighting for a contract, and they are just leaving me to it."

Maybe O'Neill/Keane regard SI as one of their lowest priorities, have more important matters to attend with and just have not considered paying any attention to SI.

Originally Posted by zero

apologies if posted already but it seems the FAI have read between the lines and think he might be ready to return:

http://www.fai.ie/component/content/...71665-26083577

bit of a strange thing to put on the official site i would have thought.

Just saw that and was thinking the same. Why would the FAI publish a story about the potential return of a player who has exiled himself unless there was some sort of contact from him or an indication that a return was imminent? It does say that neither Martin nor Roy have gotten in contact, but might someone else at the FAI have been in touch?

Originally Posted by Yard of Pace

If he wants to play I'd welcome him back. We've plenty of other players who seem to be tossers. And I absolutely hated Trap so I can't blame him totally for not coming back. Imagine waiting in midfield to get ball to feet and Given or Westwood launches it over your head to Doyle or Long. Again.

Stephen Ireland would never have got any game time under Trapattoni. Trapattoni did not seek out Ireland under his own volition. He was coerced into meeting with him. I can't read Ireland's intentions and it is hard to gauge how firm his interest is but I have no problems believing him when he says that Trapattoni was discourteous and uninterested when he met him.

He is out of contract at Stoke in the summer and his next long-term contract is the most important of his career so I have no problems giving him the benefit of the doubt. However, a call up and game time in March is a firm indicator of how much O'Neill and Keane value him so if he was to turn that down, I will fully get behind whatever course of action O'Neill and Keane decide to take.

Did anyone see the match last Saturday and notice his body language when he gets frustrated that he isn't getting the ball? I mean as I said a few posts up that Assaidi guy is a moron but SI flipping his hands around, kicking into the air and yelling, then dragging back slowly and sulking.....that would not fly with his Irish teammates, am I right? And how would Roy deal with that? (I'm assuming that at his age SI cannot change his stripes.)

Originally Posted by Crosby87

Did anyone see the match last Saturday and notice his body language when he gets frustrated that he isn't getting the ball? I mean as I said a few posts up that Assaidi guy is a moron but SI flipping his hands around, kicking into the air and yelling, then dragging back slowly and sulking.....that would not fly with his Irish teammates, am I right? And how would Roy deal with that? (I'm assuming that at his age SI cannot change his stripes.)

What a nice problem to have; someone who isn't afraid of the ball.

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Just saw that and was thinking the same. Why would the FAI publish a story about the potential return of a player who has exiled himself unless there was some sort of contact from him or an indication that a return was imminent? It does say that neither Martin nor Roy have gotten in contact, but might someone else at the FAI have been in touch?

I wouldn't read anything into that piece making the FAI news page.
edit - it's not even on the latest news menu anymore, it was beside the one on Keane.
And if he's peddling that pathetic excuse, I definitely wouldn't read anything into SI's comments. Can you imagine any other international player saying as an excuse to a new international manager who's preparing his team for the qualifiers, 'I'm sorry but I might get injured and mess up my career, just call me later when me mind is at peace'?

Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

Stephen Ireland would never have got any game time under Trapattoni. Trapattoni did not seek out Ireland under his own volition. He was coerced into meeting with him. I can't read Ireland's intentions and it is hard to gauge how firm his interest is but I have no problems believing him when he says that Trapattoni was discourteous and uninterested when he met him.

Aye. Gun to Trap's head. And Stephen Ireland probably said he was ready to come back, repeatedly, but that Italian moron just didn't understand. Poor Stephen, the wee dote.

Anyone who makes any case any manager (ever) should go cap in hand to a disinterested, petulant and unwilling individual, who has barely mustered a run of first-team football in three years, is Kool-Aid powered. Positing the argument as about creativity vs tactics (ie Trap didn't trust him) is hardly credible since Stevie showed about as much interest in playing for us over the last few years as Andy Goram.

If Ireland wanted to play, he knew where the phone was. If he wants to play now, quit the foreplay and knuckle down.

Personally, I think there should be a quality review in terms of the FAI and those who administer their social media... some vacuous stuff they post like - Shane Long turns 27! So what?

First Andy Goram reference in ages!
Somewhere Dr Peepee is smiling.

Originally Posted by Grafter

Personally, I think there should be a quality review in terms of the FAI and those who administer their social media... some vacuous stuff they post like - Shane Long turns 27! So what?

I think that happens with most sports teams Grafter. The Pittsburgh Penguins twitter feed tells us fans when Malkin has to move his bowels, basically. They just try to....fit into the tech world by number of tweets or whatever. The Dallas Cowboys will tell you what Romo had for lunch (literally).

Originally Posted by Crosby87

First Andy Goram reference in ages!
Somewhere Dr Peepee is smiling.

But which Andy Goram?

That's in bad taste. I won't stand for it. Neither will Peepee.