Ireland to Rags?

[ant london]

How much would we get for him?

ah fuck off you jinxing twat

I'd rather Mancini go than Ireland on current evidence (if only just to fuck Antti off....serve him right too! haha)

[Gloryhunter123]

I said it in the other thread - play him as an out and out central playmaker or sell him.

He has the ability to be one of the best in the country in that position, I hope its with us. The way he is this season reminds me of how he was under Sven - good one week, annonymous the next. Hughes said he was playing in a different role earlier this season and that seemed to affect him. Mancini seems a lot more defensive minded and like Trappatoni, doesn't seem to employ an out and out playmaker.

Arsenal would probably be his most likely destination.

How much would we get for him?

We give them 20m plus Ireland and they give us Cesc In return :)

[Original Dub]

How much would we get for him?

ah fuck off you jinxing twat

I'd rather Mancini go than Ireland on current evidence (if only just to fuck Antti off....serve him right too! haha)

Well, something has to give by the time the summer comes..

[Geo123]

You can be sure if U***d signed him fergie would play him in his proper position (where scholes played for years) and hed piss all over barry and de jong

I know what you mean mate but why do you think he's having such a problem hitting form this season?

It's not as if he's being asked to play right back or something? The Stevie I saw last year would still be pulling out great performances even if out wide or lying deeper. I know it's not ideal and it requires a different approach from him but I honestly think he's good enough (easily) to perform in these different midfield roles

What's going on do you think?

Personally i think with the current stikers Stephen will always have a problem, players of his vintage need strikers who will make runs and drag players with them for two reasons 1)they make a hole for him to run into 2)they provide options for his passes....
ours dont do this

At the moment the relationship between Ade and tevez is terrible and they dont work in tandem and dont give our midfielders options which is making both ireland and barry look/play bad, but more importantly i dont think the players or the manager knows what is desired from them in there positions which makes it very hard for them to do well,
the players are aware we lack width with ireland on the right hence why we constantly attacked down the left yesterday til aj introduction.

Watching him off the ball yesterday he has a natural intinct to run towards the centre, constantly leaving us unbalanced with no options on the right, he should be played centrally or not at all because we have plenty of wide men now.

He is a real confidence player and i would imagine his bad performances are affecting him more than most, his body language is very poor and stinks of frustration, if we continue to use this formation, he will go in summer

[Crossie]

I keep saying it, Tevez negates Irelands influence, they like to be in the same space.

You cant drop Tevez, so asking Ireland to hold more central isnt too much to ask, the fwd runs dont seem to be happening, the breaking up of play, clever out thinking of the opposition. Last season he seemed psycic.

this season if you passed it to him on the edge of the 6 yard box with just the keeper to beat, he would rather pull it back and pass again.

That means confidence is low.

I think some sort of diamond like Chelsea have adopted would get the best out of the midfield and forwards

.......................Vieira

SWP........................................Johnson

........................Ireland........................

.............Tevez.................Adebayor

Tevez would have to be told to stay further forward and concentrate on working the channels rather than the space behind Adebayor. Ireland has the work rate to drop back when needed, and the wingers are good enough to fill in where needed as the play dictates. Can still get Petrov on the left or right, and Johnson switched too, Bellers as well.

4-3-3 didnt really work for Hughes and it's not right for Mancini either. Other than Boyata, that team yesterday was no different to what Hughes would have put out. We all slated hughes for formation and tactics, and I think Mancini needs to take some of the blame for the performance. The attitude was wrong yesterday too, but the manager is also responsible for motivating and getting them playing like they havent just been put together an hour before kick off.

[ant london]

The thing I find most perplexing is that Mancini played a similar kind of role to the one Ireland is best suited to in many ways. Sure Mancini was a classic No 10 striker but he was the one pulling strings for the likes of Vialli in a way that Stevie (slightly deeper at the tip of a diamond 4) would be perfect for.

Makes it all the more confusing that he has been looking out of sorts

[Original Dub]

The thing I find most perplexing is that Mancini played a similar kind of role to the one Ireland is best suited to in many ways. Sure Mancini was a classic No 10 striker but he was the one pulling strings for the likes of Vialli in a way that Stevie (slightly deeper at the tip of a diamond 4) would be perfect for.

Makes it all the more confusing that he has been looking out of sorts

I just want to see Ireland being played directly behind the striker/strikers for a run of games. Its either that or he's gone IMO.

[Geo123]

I keep saying it, Tevez negates Irelands influence, they like to be in the same space.

You cant drop Tevez, so asking Ireland to hold more central isnt too much to ask, the fwd runs dont seem to be happening, the breaking up of play, clever out thinking of the opposition. Last season he seemed psycic.

this season if you passed it to him on the edge of the 6 yard box with just the keeper to beat, he would rather pull it back and pass again.

That means confidence is low.

I think some sort of diamond like Chelsea have adopted would get the best out of the midfield and forwards

.......................Vieira

SWP........................................Johnson

........................Ireland........................

.............Tevez.................Adebayor

Tevez would have to be told to stay further forward and concentrate on working the channels rather than the space behind Adebayor. Ireland has the work rate to drop back when needed, and the wingers are good enough to fill in where needed as the play dictates. Can still get Petrov on the left or right, and Johnson switched too, Bellers as well.

4-3-3 didnt really work for Hughes and it's not right for Mancini either. Other than Boyata, that team yesterday was no different to what Hughes would have put out. We all slated hughes for formation and tactics, and I think Mancini needs to take some of the blame for the performance. The attitude was wrong yesterday too, but the manager is also responsible for motivating and getting them playing like they havent just been put together an hour before kick off.

Excellent post, good instructions but i play bellers instead of tevez


Outside of this,, and i know this will prob come back to haunt me, but positionally mancini should watch Arsenals 433 today,

they have similar style midfielders De jong=song,faber=ireland, diaby=Vieira/barry....

They no how to play 433

[CityFanFromRome]

Outside of this,, and i know this will prob come back to haunt me, but positionally mancini should watch Arsenals 433 today,

they have similar style midfielders De jong=song,faber=ireland, diaby=Vieira/barry....

They no how to play 433

I agree, Arsenal's is the way I'd play 433 too if I were the manager. However I'm not sure Barry/Vieira can be compared to Diaby, the Arsenal man is much faster and mobile than both of them. Also, Fabregas can play well from a CM position and go forward, while Ireland seems to get a bit lost there, or am I wrong?

[Geo123]

Outside of this,, and i know this will prob come back to haunt me, but positionally mancini should watch Arsenals 433 today,

they have similar style midfielders De jong=song,faber=ireland, diaby=Vieira/barry....

They no how to play 433

I agree, Arsenal's is the way I'd play 433 too if I were the manager. However I'm not sure Barry/Vieira can be compared to Diaby, the Arsenal man is much faster and mobile than both of them. Also, Fabregas can play well from a CM position and go forward, while Ireland seems to get a bit lost there, or am I wrong?

Agree about diaby,, perhaps mariga would of been this man,, ireland hasnt really played many in a flat midfield role this year to judge

[Mr Miyagi]

The thing I find most perplexing is that Mancini played a similar kind of role to the one Ireland is best suited to in many ways. Sure Mancini was a classic No 10 striker but he was the one pulling strings for the likes of Vialli in a way that Stevie (slightly deeper at the tip of a diamond 4) would be perfect for.

Makes it all the more confusing that he has been looking out of sorts

Hmmm... if anything Mancini was more like Tevez as a player. A striker who drops deep so the defender doesn't know whether the follow him or not. That could be why Tevez is getting better and having more influence on the team's build up play. Mancini knows how to play that game himself.
Ireland comes from the opposite direction. A midfielder who makes runs forward. Mancini wasn't like that. Mancini was more like the Italian Nigel Clough :-D

There is a good reason why Taggart might be interested in Ireland. With chopper Scholes retiring Taggart can see that Ireland would be a natural replacement. Very similar type of game. Start attacks from midfield, then ghost into the edge of the box and bang a shot in. Of any player I would say Ireland's natural game is very similar to Scholes (without the yellow cards). If Taggart is "an admirer" then I can see why. But surely we can utilise Ireland's talents.

[Original Dub]

The thing I find most perplexing is that Mancini played a similar kind of role to the one Ireland is best suited to in many ways. Sure Mancini was a classic No 10 striker but he was the one pulling strings for the likes of Vialli in a way that Stevie (slightly deeper at the tip of a diamond 4) would be perfect for.

Makes it all the more confusing that he has been looking out of sorts

Hmmm... if anything Mancini was more like Tevez as a player. A striker who drops deep so the defender doesn't know whether the follow him or not. That could be why Tevez is getting better and having more influence on the team's build up play. Mancini knows how to play that game himself.
Ireland comes from the opposite direction. A midfielder who makes runs forward. Mancini wasn't like that. Mancini was more like the Italian Nigel Clough :-D

There is a good reason why Taggart might be interested in Ireland. With chopper Scholes retiring Taggart can see that Ireland would be a natural replacement. Very similar type of game. Start attacks from midfield, then ghost into the edge of the box and bang a shot in. Of any player I would say Ireland's natural game is very similar to Scholes (without the yellow cards). If Taggart is "an admirer" then I can see why. But surely we can utilise Ireland's talents.

I agree completely with this post. I have likened Ireland to Scholes a well and his talents need to be honed and nurtured. He can clearly only play one role and there's nothing wrong with that. He's a better tackler than Scholes though!!

[edge275]

The thing I find most perplexing is that Mancini played a similar kind of role to the one Ireland is best suited to in many ways. Sure Mancini was a classic No 10 striker but he was the one pulling strings for the likes of Vialli in a way that Stevie (slightly deeper at the tip of a diamond 4) would be perfect for.

Makes it all the more confusing that he has been looking out of sorts

Hmmm... if anything Mancini was more like Tevez as a player. A striker who drops deep so the defender doesn't know whether the follow him or not. That could be why Tevez is getting better and having more influence on the team's build up play. Mancini knows how to play that game himself.
Ireland comes from the opposite direction. A midfielder who makes runs forward. Mancini wasn't like that. Mancini was more like the Italian Nigel Clough :-D

There is a good reason why Taggart might be interested in Ireland. With chopper Scholes retiring Taggart can see that Ireland would be a natural replacement. Very similar type of game. Start attacks from midfield, then ghost into the edge of the box and bang a shot in. Of any player I would say Ireland's natural game is very similar to Scholes (without the yellow cards). If Taggart is "an admirer" then I can see why. But surely we can utilise Ireland's talents.

I agree completely with this post. I have likened Ireland to Scholes a well and his talents need to be honed and nurtured. He can clearly only play one role and there's nothing wrong with that. He's a better tackler than Scholes though!!

It pisses me off how commentators are always like "good old scholesy eh? Could never quite tackle properly haha" and laugh it off when in reality he's a dirty twat.

[Vhero]

We should EVER sell a player to them I think we learned our lesson with Giggs. Plus we are big enough now to stave them off.

[Goataldo]

Forgot how unconvincing his wig was, then I saw this: http://man-city-issues.blogspot.com/201 ... nited.html

[Fidel Castro]

As if Mancini would sign an attacking midfielder

[Mr Miyagi]

As if Mancini would sign an attacking midfielder

You never know...