Daweii Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Well I think the MLS has gone up a gear in the last few years Ireland is not a known name, Henry was Ballack is He'll become a pretty big name though after he gets a game or two.. MLS is getting more competitive but for a player like Ireland the league will be easy for him. Once he gets a few assists and maybe even a few goals as to be fair MLS is no where near Premier League standard, the NYRB fans will be hailing him as the best signing since Henry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Good riddance to him I say. Has been ok in some games, very good in 2 matches and utter tripe the rest of the time. He is holding back Bannan and Gardner's development and they have shown far more comitment to Villa than Ireland. Hope we get a decent fee for him. We don't need selfish arrogant pricks like him at Villa! Sigguardson is a great shout, he has a big future. Bannan will never cut it in the premier league, it's wrong to say Ireland holding back his development. I expect Bannan to prove you wrong there. He is easily the best passer in the squad, if used as the main playmaker in a 3 man centre midfield unit he could become one of our best players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Wanting to keep him, Ireland going to NY RedBulls makes perfect sense. Their Manager is Hasse Backe who was Sven-Göran Erikssons assistant manager at Man City, the same season Ireland was player of the year at Citeh. Hope he is still at Villa next season, we definatly need players with football brains, no more hoofing please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 He's to an intelligent footballer for McLeish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Good riddance to him I say. Has been ok in some games, very good in 2 matches and utter tripe the rest of the time. He is holding back Bannan and Gardner's development and they have shown far more comitment to Villa than Ireland. Hope we get a decent fee for him. We don't need selfish arrogant pricks like him at Villa! Sigguardson is a great shout, he has a big future. Bannan will never cut it in the premier league, it's wrong to say Ireland holding back his development. I expect Bannan to prove you wrong there. He is easily the best passer in the squad, if used as the main playmaker in a 3 man centre midfield unit he could become one of our best players. I don't, he seems reluctant to make a short pass, preferring to try the Hollywood pass instead. That's why he'll struggle at this level in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatsthismalarky Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I don't, he seems reluctant to make a short pass, preferring to try the Hollywood pass instead. That's why he'll struggle at this level in my opinion. You say that but the pass to Gardner that lead to his shot against Fulham was a simple short pass. I think part of the problem is firstly that Bannan keeps on getting brought on at about the 80 minute mark when we're often looking for a goal, so he feels the pressure on him to try and set something up. The other problem is he often drops deep to collect the ball off the defense, but our movement is so bad that he has either the choice of passing it back again or playing one of those hollywood balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 To be fair, the MLS is really the only place where we can get a decent bit of money for Ireland. Also Backe the coach of New york doesn't care about bringing in a big name signing to get them media attention. Backe would rather buy a player that he feels would best suit the team so if he thinks Ireland will produce more than Ballack but Ballack will get more fans, he will go with Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 He's to an intelligent footballer for McLeish... Your post does not make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Good riddance to him I say. Has been ok in some games, very good in 2 matches and utter tripe the rest of the time. He is holding back Bannan and Gardner's development and they have shown far more comitment to Villa than Ireland. Hope we get a decent fee for him. We don't need selfish arrogant pricks like him at Villa! Sigguardson is a great shout, he has a big future. Bannan will never cut it in the premier league, it's wrong to say Ireland holding back his development. I expect Bannan to prove you wrong there. He is easily the best passer in the squad, if used as the main playmaker in a 3 man centre midfield unit he could become one of our best players. I don't, he seems reluctant to make a short pass, preferring to try the Hollywood pass instead. That's why he'll struggle at this level in my opinion. He just needs a run of games, at the moment he is only getting a few minutes here and there, plus after his drink driving episode he seems to be trying to force things a little too much (everyone on here was raving about him up until then). Given a run in the team I think he could do well. The problem is who he is played alongside as he will need a strong def mid and and a midfielder making forward runs to provide another forward passing option. Unfortunately that means playing Gardner and Herd alongside him which is a risk McOnALeish won't take. Thats why I am so frustrated with the Villa right now. Potentially (at least) we have a midfield trio to build the team around that could be together for the next 10 years, but unless we get a manager that is prepared (or forced) to take that risk we will never know. Those 3 compliment each other so well. Herd - Tenacity and work rate Bannan - passing awareness and vision Gardner - Good in the air, good shot on him, good passer, potential to score goals. Its a very nice balance. If we are going to unearth any top class players they are going to come from our youngsters, they certainly have the talent. The only real hope we have at Villa right now is in the shape of those youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I'd be extremely disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I'd be extremely disappointed. Why? He's not worth the best part of 70k a week he gets paid We desperately need him off the payroll Let the kids flourish now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelboyVilla Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I'd be extremely disappointed. Don't see why? He has hardly earned the 16M he has cost us so far? A couple of acceptable performances is not good enough for a player of his reputation? Plus AM will never set up the team to play to his strengths and Ireland hasn't got the drive or intellegence to fill the Keane role? Get rid while he is at least worth something!! Another Shit Lerner/Faulkner signing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I'd be extremely disappointed. Don't see why? He has hardly earned the 16M he has cost us so far? A couple of acceptable performances is not good enough for a player of his reputation? Plus AM will never set up the team to play to his strengths and Ireland hasn't got the drive or intellegence to fill the Keane role? Get rid while he is at least worth something!! Another Shit Lerner/Faulkner signing!! he's been our best player for 85% of the games he's played for us :? :? :? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 20, 2012 Moderator Share Posted March 20, 2012 he's been our best player for 85% of the games he's played for us :? :? :? Even though its purely subjective, I think that 85% is considerably over the top, he's been MotM possibly twice since he's been here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 MOTM at Chelsea away & Fulham home That's it for me, he didn't really take a stranglehold of the games at Wigan and Blackburn albeit Wigan he started in the bench Upto that Chelsea game his input had been somewhere between 0-5% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swerbs Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Our only creative spark I'd say and one of the best technical players here, be silly to sell him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelboyVilla Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 he's been our best player for 85% of the games he's played for us :? :? :? Even though its purely subjective, I think that 85% is considerably over the top, he's been MotM possibly twice since he's been here. I'd agree with that, in the rest he has been either at home, on the bench or looking decidedly uninterested on the pitch. Two decent games, that's 8m per good performance, how's that for good value?? SI falls into the expensive flop category atm. I wish people would stop lauding him as some kind of footballing genius, he's not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Agree, I'd happily drive him to the airport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 People are taking this tenuous MLS link very seriously. It sounds like Ballack's agent is pimping his client out for one last bumper payday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_The_Villan Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Think about how much we paid in terms of fee and how much wages hes on. To put it into perspective, Spurs picked up Van Der Vaart for the same sort of money. Now think about how those two perform on the pitch. Nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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