ChrisNichollsToe Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland was playing with Gabby being the lone striker today and, as we saw, Gabby doesn't play on the shoulder on the last defender in the same way as Bent does. Ireland's game is all about through balls to the frontman, or surging runs past the defence, and that's not going to happen when playing with Gabby upfront and static midfield around him. When Makoun came on, his passing and movement brought others into the game. We've yet to properly see Ireland in a midfield with Makoun and Delph with Bent up front, so lets hope we get the cahnce at Derby on Wednesday. Precisely 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZodiakIronfist Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Nice to see other people start to notice why Makoun could be a very vital player this season and what he brings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland needs games, simple as. Judge him after 10 or 15 games. And he also can't be expected to perform without the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland was awful today. No desire, he bottled tackles and he was shown up by Bannan. Let's hope it is just down to a lack of fitness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland was playing with Gabby being the lone striker today and, as we saw, Gabby doesn't play on the shoulder on the last defender in the same way as Bent does. Ireland's game is all about through balls to the frontman, or surging runs past the defence, and that's not going to happen when playing with Gabby upfront and static midfield around him. When Makoun came on, his passing and movement brought others into the game. We've yet to properly see Ireland in a midfield with Makoun and Delph with Bent up front, so lets hope we get the cahnce at Derby on Wednesday. gabby played really well on his own up front when MON was in charge but he seems a different player now. He seems to have lost his spark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland's game is all about casually jogging around doing sod all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland's game is all about casually jogging around doing sod all. and getting about £40k a week. Lucky boy indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowDoINotLikeThat Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 thing is i think Ireland is on bit more than £40 k a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NottingVilla Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ireland will NEVER come good. He's damaged goods. Massively overrated anyway. Was good for awhile at City where Robinhio was holding his hand. Bannan should start ahead of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOne Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I would rather we cut our losses and get him off the wage bill. We already have a creativity midfield of Makoun, Bannan and Delph who seem to have a better work rate on lower wages. I don't see the point of him. Should have sold Milner for more money instead. Awful business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I would guess that Ireland has more premier leagues assists than J2M, Bannan and Delph combined, so to rely on them as a source of creativity may leave you a little short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisNichollsToe Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 I would rather we cut our losses and get him off the wage bill. We already have a creativity midfield of Makoun, Bannan and Delph who seem to have a better work rate on lower wages. I don't see the point of him. Should have sold Milner for more money instead. Awful business. Brilliant idea! Im not this guys biggest fan, but do you really think we can do that without making a loss? Who do we replace with? Would Randy finance a replacement? I figure we are stuck with him, and to be honest, Messi would have done **** all today, because nobody was playing any balls into him. I witnessed somebody trying today, i did not witness it last season. If he does not recieve the ball, what can he do? Besides, him and Bent were the only two whom got a shot on goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic_bouma Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 I was actually quite pleased with Ireland's attitude yesterday..... he seemed very keen to motivate the players and was wasn't helped by them at all IMO..... the gap between Gabby/Ireland and Delph/Petrov was absolutely massive.....its very hard to do anything with the ball when you havent got it and very easy to look like a headless chicken running around if you've got a 1/3 of the pitch to cover pretty much by yourself....... the central midfield is such a massive worry going into the season....no drive, no energy, no forward thinking and no creativity, no strength.... we are so weak in that area and it doesn't matter how much our defence improves if they have no protectiona and it doesn't matter how good Bent is at putting the ball in the net if he has no support..... unfortunately i think a midfield 3 of NRC, Makoun and Ireland could have really worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 thing is i think Ireland is on bit more than £40 k a week £68k per week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthsimo Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 showed passion and a willingness to work today. So he didn't score so f...ing what. Give the guy a chance he only played 60m after a slight injury and in very hot conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummybloke Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 as we are stuck with him it seems we may as well give him a run of 10 games and then either he will be ok or **** him off. our first 6 or8 games are almost a dream start to a season, if he cant do it then, then all the bullshit excuses of trying to find his feat, learning to play with other players, not match fit blah blah will have gone. he gets a 10 game reprieve from me, unless he magically picks up injuries when the going gets tough which appears to be something which has happened far too many times for my liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 showed passion and a willingness to work today.. - you've got to be joking, when?! He jogged around like a sulky teenager for an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 He was incredibly isolated yesterday and struggled to intercept a ball being passed between a very good and especially technical midfield - rather like piggy in the middle in training. I can understand his clear frustration given all he wants to do is impress, get on the ball and play a good pass through. Gabby's positioning of a headless chicken in front of him probably didn't help either. Maybe AMc needed to get him closer to Petrov and Delph, or Ireland himself could have tried to get in there a bit more - although the conditions and his fitness probably played a part in the all round frustration. I was pleased to see his anger though as it at least showed he wanted the ball - a significant improvement on his attitude after the demoralising incidents with Houllier last season. We ultimately fell into the trap of playing the same kind of 'Young in the hole' formation, where the attacking midfielder doesn't get close enough to either the striker (VDV and Crouch) or close enough to the other two midfielders (Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets/Mascherano move forwards and backwards as a unit). It is only pre-season after all, but this needs to be addressed before the start of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-67 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 He was incredibly isolated yesterday and struggled to intercept a ball being passed between a very good and especially technical midfield - rather like piggy in the middle in training. I can understand his clear frustration given all he wants to do is impress, get on the ball and play a good pass through. Gabby's positioning of a headless chicken in front of him probably didn't help either. Maybe AMc needed to get him closer to Petrov and Delph, or Ireland himself could have tried to get in there a bit more - although the conditions and his fitness probably played a part in the all round frustration. I was pleased to see his anger though as it at least showed he wanted the ball - a significant improvement on his attitude after the demoralising incidents with Houllier last season. We ultimately fell into the trap of playing the same kind of 'Young in the hole' formation, where the attacking midfielder doesn't get close enough to either the striker (VDV and Crouch) or close enough to the other two midfielders (Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets/Mascherano move forwards and backwards as a unit). It is only pre-season after all, but this needs to be addressed before the start of the season. Great post Jonno, totally agree. He was asked to play further forward to support clueless Gabby and ineffective Petrov and Delph. Villa play far too deep at times, Petrov and Delph sitting on the toes of the back four, leaving huge gaps in our midfield. Ireland wanted them to get closer to their opposite numbers. Strange how no one has mention Albrighton or Delph getting a roasting from Petrov or Warnock for not being tight enough, yet Ireland gets pointed out. I would say that Ireland was no better than anyone else to be absolutely fair, but it's still pre-season and big mack needs to find his best team in the final two friendlies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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