GaztonVilla Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Makoun just may be the playmaker to get the best out of Ireland. Not just about getting the best out of Ireland... However, I think a midfield triumverate of Petrov, Ireland & Makoun would be a pretty nifty unit. Makoun wins the ball back better than the other 2. Petrov keeps the play moving better than the other 2. Ireland passes the ball more incisively than the other 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 5-4-1 with Dazza in net, you mental? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeps Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I hope Ireland gets his head right. There is a very good player here. IMO given the 'not much £££' talk he could be like a new signing for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemes1s Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Gazton - If you were Big Eck how would you set up to get the best out of SI? Luckily I'm neither ginger nor Scottish However, to get the best out of SI (and, as a result, the team), I'd go like this Bent Downing - Petrov - Ireland - Makoun - Albrighton Clark - Dunne - Cuellar - Young Given Considering what we have available today, that's doesn't look too bad actually and should give Ireland the freedom he needs to drift around a bit and attack at will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing he disrespected the club and the fans, he has no place at villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Daley Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing he disrespected the club and the fans, he has no place at villa Can somone remind me what he said exactly? Ireland on form (Man City form anyway) could be the best "addition" to the squad this summer. He clearly just needs someone to make him feel wanted, which GH had no interest in doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing he disrespected the club and the fans, he has no place at villa Can somone remind me what he said exactly? . He called Sir Gary Cahill a "Cu*t". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildwood Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing he disrespected the club and the fans, he has no place at villa SGC - You disrepect the club with these crazy scouting reports - but we still love you... why can't we love Stephen too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Daley Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Surely Ireland just comes in to fill the hole that Ashley has left? should have probably done it last year and Young shifted back to the wing he disrespected the club and the fans, he has no place at villa Can somone remind me what he said exactly? . He called Sir Gary Cahill a "Cu*t". Oh right in that case lets chase him out of B6, there really is no way back fo him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 He said: “Houllier asked me to come and live in Birmingham because it was taking me 75 minutes to come to training, but there were 15 players in the same position as me.” “Some came from London and took more than two hours, but he only asked me to move.” “For a start, Birmingham is a crap city and I wasn’t going to make the effort, especially as I wasn’t playing. Might as well be in Manchester if I had to stay home on match days – though I don’t bear Houllier any grudges; it wasn’t him who chose me after all.” In terms of pissing everyone off, for me this really boils down to two statements from the above (and let's not forget that Ireland claims he was not so much misquoted but that what he said was "lost in translation" :winkold:). 1. "Birmingham is a crap city" Not the best way to win over your fans, but ultimately forgiveable if he pulls his socks up and starts producing on the pitch. Alas... 2. "I wasn’t going to make the effort, especially as I wasn’t playing." What I feel will be the epitaph on his career and the point at which I personally considered him a lost cause. His petulant attitude far outweighs the potential gain from hoping that he'll come good; he's as good as said he won't and as far as I'm concerned the sooner we **** him off the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Makoun just may be the playmaker to get the best out of Ireland. This. While I don't think we will ever see the best from Ireland....I think him and Makoun could work very well together because in the games Ireland played he would always make passes that would not work out, but the idea of them was brilliant, just other players were not on the same page really and working for the balls he was playing. Makoun is a very decent and creative player with the ball so him and Ireland could very well partner together in a positive way. Also, Ireland could work very well with Bent. Bent very much likes playing alone up top and sticking Ireland in the hole, he would be able to play alot of through balls and neat passes through to Bent and I think Ireland would have a boat load of assists. My only concern is Ireland cannot defend for shit, so I think we would need an improvement in the DM position on Petrov. Possibilities here could be Mulumbu, bringing Reo Coker back, OR and this is what I would love...playing Ciaran Clark as our DM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaztonVilla Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Ok, I'll reply quickly to that.. "Birmingham is a crap city..." SI maintains that those were not the words that left his lips. He says that what he said was translated into French and then back into English. He maintains that what he actually said was "As a city, Birmingham doesn't compare to Manchester" (paraphrased). It's flaky, at best, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one. "I wasn't going to make the effort, especially as I wasn't playing". This came about when Houllier said to him that he wasn't in his plans, that he would never play for Villa under Houllier regardless of where he was living or how hard he was training. Ireland was in the process of moving to the Birmingham area when Houllier told him not to bother; so Ireland ended up cancelling the relocation. Houllier said to him that the best thing he could do was to request a transfer and expedite his exit. Houllier then went to the press and said that Ireland had requested a transfer when he very definitely did not. Then, 2 weeks later, Houllier asked him to move to the Birmingham area. In those circumstances, I really don't blame him for not being keen on uprooting his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 4, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted July 4, 2011 We'll never know the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Daley Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Ok, I'll reply quickly to that.. "Birmingham is a crap city..." SI maintains that those were not the words that left his lips. He says that what he said was translated into French and then back into English. He maintains that what he actually said was "As a city, Birmingham doesn't compare to Manchester" (paraphrased). It's flaky, at best, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one. "I wasn't going to make the effort, especially as I wasn't playing". This came about when Houllier said to him that he wasn't in his plans, that he would never play for Villa under Houllier regardless of where he was living or how hard he was training. Ireland was in the process of moving to the Birmingham area when Houllier told him not to bother; so Ireland ended up cancelling the relocation. Houllier said to him that the best thing he could do was to request a transfer and expedite his exit. Houllier then went to the press and said that Ireland had requested a transfer when he very definitely did not. Then, 2 weeks later, Houllier asked him to move to the Birmingham area. In those circumstances, I really don't blame him for not being keen on uprooting his family. Gazton, do you think he wants to make it work at Villa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 SI maintains that those were not the words that left his lips. He says that what he said was translated into French and then back into English. He maintains that what he actually said was "As a city, Birmingham doesn't compare to Manchester" (paraphrased). It's flaky, at best, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one. I can definitely see the possibility of such events regarding the first quote. This came about when Houllier said to him that he wasn't in his plans, that he would never play for Villa under Houllier regardless of where he was living or how hard he was training. Ireland was in the process of moving to the Birmingham area when Houllier told him not to bother; so Ireland ended up cancelling the relocation. Houllier said to him that the best thing he could do was to request a transfer and expedite his exit. Houllier then went to the press and said that Ireland had requested a transfer when he very definitely did not. Then, 2 weeks later, Houllier asked him to move to the Birmingham area. In those circumstances, I really don't blame him for not being keen on uprooting his family. Thats exactly what I'd expect to read if Ireland was trying to shift the entirety of the blame onto Houllier. As such (and given Ireland's propensity for failing to engage his brain before opening his mouth), I'm not so sure of it's validity. I suspect the truth lies (as always) somewhere in the middle and as Mike stated, we'll likely never know the full extent of it. If you'll kindly indulge, I am curious as to the source of these refutations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadoftrinity Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Lets be fair, if somehow McLeish can get him to play well next season and do something for the team, then I couldn't really give a shit what he said about Birmingham. You can be pretty sure he isn't the first, and wont be the last football that we sign who doesn't really like Birmingham, Ireland is just a bit more stupid in interviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggyrichard Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Lets be fair, if somehow McLeish can get him to play well next season and do something for the team, then I couldn't really give a shit what he said about Birmingham. You can be pretty sure he isn't the first, and wont be the last football that we sign who doesn't really like Birmingham, Ireland is just a bit more stupid in interviews. Agreed, it's what he does on the pitch that matters, just like i wouldnt be against us signing Barton for £4m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 "As a city, Birmingham doesn't compare to Manchester" SI has clearly never been to the karaoke disco at the red lion in Erdington, that will change his mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Lets be fair, if somehow McLeish can get him to play well next season and do something for the team, then I couldn't really give a shit what he said about Birmingham. You can be pretty sure he isn't the first, and wont be the last football that we sign who doesn't really like Birmingham, Ireland is just a bit more stupid in interviews. I'd be amazed if anybody can get anything out of Ireland. Personally I just think that lad is a complete knobhead and he will just waste his talent a bit like Dalian Atkinson and Stan Collymore did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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