1) He needs to be utilised in the position he's most effective, behind the frontmen, and so Hughes should tweak his system.
2) Over the course of time, he will develop and become a stronger, more rounded player in the middle of the park. We need to keep playing him and accept that he'll have poor days as he's learning.
3) He doesn't fit Hughes' system. Have him on the bench to come on and make an impact like he did on Monday night.
I'm uncertain but leaning towards the second one. We should be in a position now where even if he is off-colour, the quality of players around him can keep the team ticking over.
But one of his strongest aspects I think are his late runs and the way he times them perfectly. He can leave an opposition defence completely for dead, where they think he's in midfield and between blinks he's advanced through the pitch and beyond them. Probably the best example of this was against Everton away last season when he scored our second goal.
![Image](http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/ColinTheKingMCFC/irelandrun1.jpg?t=1254972380)
There he is, in the centre circle. None of their defenders anticipate that he's going to/can do this-
![Image](http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/ColinTheKingMCFC/irelandrun2.jpg?t=1254972460)
And remarkably the time elapsed between those two shots is five seconds; he got from our half after seeing off an Everton break, and had the ball in the back of the net within 8 seconds.
What I'm unsure about is can he make those surging runs if we're playing with just himself and Barry in midfield? Can Barry and the defence cope with the possibility of a counterattack? Or does that system dictate that the midfielders have to restrict their movement?
What I do know is that he has the raw materials to become a world-class footballer. It's just, in the short term, how do we best utilise him?