how regular? He was in the squad a few times alright but i dont think he was ever "regular".
how regular? He was in the squad a few times alright but i dont think he was ever "regular".
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Actually, he wasn't that regular, my mistake.
Under Mick he started on the bench 7 times, and was introduced 5 times. He had 3 starts and only completed 90 minutes once.
Bizarrely his debut was as a second half substitute in a 2-1 loss away to the Czech Republic, and his last game was as a second half substitute a 2-1 home win against the Czech Republic!
I only remember him in that last game, I thought he did alright, got stuck in at midfield and made the tackles. But then he pulled out injured from the next few squads. Probably he should have been called up at the beginning of Trap's reign, considering some of the mildly talented players he did have a close look at.
Better than Kilbane probably even now, but surely too old for a recall now, even with that throw.
His lack of consideration shows the lack of foresight by some, probably even Trap.
According to the Guardian, none of his 11 throws at the weekend found a Stoke player, and then most of the loose balls fell to a Bolton player.
Delap's got 11 bit-part caps, Kilbane's got over a 100. Regardless of how anyone feels about Kilbane, it's obviously a difference. Bringing in Delap now would be like blooding a new player - and if we're going to do that we'd surely be better off looking at someone younger (Coleman, Ward, McCarthy).
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
because the older player is considerably better than the younger players who are playing in his position in the team currently.
i get your point about bringin in the youngsters for the future and agree with you. wilson mcarthy meyler gibson should be in the squad.
my point is that delap is better than green ,whelan
Delap should be in the squad, no question. If we need a goal late one he's well worth throwing on at right midfield and seeing what happens, just for his long throw ability. Can't believe we haven't been taking advantage of his freakish talents.
Because Stoke have 7 or 8 huge lads who can compete for every header. We have maybe 3 or 4 on any given matchday. Not to say he wouldn't be useful but he's a fairly limited player in other ways, especially when you look at our other wide midfield options.
In spite of our supposed lack of height/weight, an awful lot of our goals come from set pieces. I don't think they confirmed it with reference to any statistics or anything, but I think someone said on here the other day that while about 50% of our goals recently have come from Robbie Keane, the other half have been scored as a result of set pieces, so it's not as if his throw-ins would be ineffective, assuming those figures are true. Whether that's an argument for Delap's inclusion overall, I'm not quite sure yet, ha. Maybe as a last-gasp Gary Doherty type? It is quite an ability, even if ridiculously unconventional.
I don't think Delap's throw-ins are really the same as free-kicks and corners though. Stoke usually score either after a flick-on or from the second ball. I don't think we really have big/strong enough players to put that much pressure on goalkeepers and defenders.
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