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It had to be one of his poorest performances for quite some time, and I noticed that when he went off he went straight down the tunnel.

Anybody know if there was a problem?


No replies about his Grandmother(s) please

He might have been mad at himself for not shooting when he was in two minds near the edge of their area.

He's going through some poor form.

Thats all.

Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

Cheers Ted. I thought he may have just been having an Off Day but when I saw him go down the tunnel after being substituted it made me wonder.

Hope he's fit for Sunday!

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

I sit right next to the tunnel now and didn't see him limping when he left.... I think people are trying to make excuses for a bad game. I am sorry but players have bad games it happens get over it. He will be back to last seasons form soon enough so stop trying to look for something that isn't their.

I just think he is simply struggling to adapt to the new role that he is playing in the team this season. Stick him at the forward point of a 3-man midfield, in an attacking role with a fair amount of freedom, and he is at his best. He can play his natural game without having to think every time he gets the ball.

So far this season is he held in a fairly rigid defensive midfield role that isn't giving him the natural freedom to play as he can. He's having to think when he gets the ball rather than playing instinctively and is struggling to know what to do when he gets it. Hopefully he will adjust to the role pretty soon, otherwise he could be spending a fair few games warming the bench

I think because Ireland has little competition for his place as MJ seems to be not fit yet he is not playing with any fear of being dropped as he is everybodies darling.
I dont buy this theory that he is being played out of position and is to deep as Barry seems the deeper of the two to me and puts in far more defensive work than Ireland.
I think he needs dropping for a few games and NDJ replacing him.
Since the season began he hasnt had a good game so it goes deeper than the Brown incident

It was tactical and Hughes said so. He mentioned that he was struggling so took him off. Hughes was spot on and the game turned on that decsion. I think stevie is the arcitect of his on downfall for bring so bloody good last season. The lad is now a marked man and I'm sure other teams work on stoping him play. The sign of a truely great player is that he adapts to this extra attention and evolves.

Vhero wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

I sit right next to the tunnel now and didn't see him limping when he left.... I think people are trying to make excuses for a bad game. I am sorry but players have bad games it happens get over it. He will be back to last seasons form soon enough so stop trying to look for something that isn't their.

You could clearly see on his face as he was coming off the field that he was in pain.

He's playing with an injury and according to someone who knows him on bluemoon he may need surgery.

Stupid really, we have the squad to not play players when they aren't fully fit.

Tokyo Blue wrote:

Vhero wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

I sit right next to the tunnel now and didn't see him limping when he left.... I think people are trying to make excuses for a bad game. I am sorry but players have bad games it happens get over it. He will be back to last seasons form soon enough so stop trying to look for something that isn't their.

You could clearly see on his face as he was coming off the field that he was in pain.

It was obvious as hell he was in pain I don't know what you're smoking Vhero.

That said, he's definitely not having near the same impact as last season. I hope this new 'role' doesn't knock his progress back, but at the end of the day if city are winning I couldn't give too much of a fuck!

I believe he went for a scan today. He hasn't been 100% for a while and it clearly worsened on Saturday but they don't know how bad it is yet.

the_georgian_genius wrote:He's playing with an injury and according to someone who knows him on bluemoon he may need surgery.

Stupid really, we have the squad to not play players when they aren't fully fit.

Who could we have played instead of him yesterday? Johnson's not fit yet; Kompany is injured; Petrov won't do the same amount of work; Etuhu is on loan and not getting in Cardiff's team. Zabaleta? That's the only other option I can see other than... you wouldn't put an untried youngster up against Fabregas, would you?

Despite the influx of players, we are not currrently overflowing with midfielders of Ireland's quality.

Then again, who is?

Original Dub wrote:

Tokyo Blue wrote:

Vhero wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

I sit right next to the tunnel now and didn't see him limping when he left.... I think people are trying to make excuses for a bad game. I am sorry but players have bad games it happens get over it. He will be back to last seasons form soon enough so stop trying to look for something that isn't their.

You could clearly see on his face as he was coming off the field that he was in pain.

It was obvious as hell he was in pain I don't know what you're smoking Vhero.

That said, he's definitely not having near the same impact as last season. I hope this new 'role' doesn't knock his progress back, but at the end of the day if city are winning I couldn't give too much of a fuck!

As Vhero moved house next to a train track?

Vhero wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Was limping badly when he went off. Whether it was affecting his performance, if it's a new injury or the Michael Brown assault flaring up again who knows

I sit right next to the tunnel now and didn't see him limping when he left.... I think people are trying to make excuses for a bad game. I am sorry but players have bad games it happens get over it. He will be back to last seasons form soon enough so stop trying to look for something that isn't their.

Well I fucking did! Just because you didn't fucking see it doesn't mean I'm making it up ffs!

Hey Vhero, I think you may need to get a better seat, because you tried to tell everyone that we're looking for something that isn't there and that we're 'making excuses'... all based on what you saw from your seat.

An apology would be nice.

I hope he's not out for long and like Tokyo said there isn't really an adequate replacement at the moment. We all want him back to his best, but I'd rather we were able to rest him now and get it sorted in case whatever it is gets worse as a result...

The most obvious sign of some kind of injury is in his tackling - its like he's not as confident sliding in full stretch as usual and even when your form is suffering, your bite for the tackle should still be there.

Tokyo Blue wrote:

the_georgian_genius wrote:He's playing with an injury and according to someone who knows him on bluemoon he may need surgery.

Stupid really, we have the squad to not play players when they aren't fully fit.

Who could we have played instead of him yesterday? Johnson's not fit yet; Kompany is injured; Petrov won't do the same amount of work; Etuhu is on loan and not getting in Cardiff's team. Zabaleta? That's the only other option I can see other than... you wouldn't put an untried youngster up against Fabregas, would you?

Despite the influx of players, we are not currrently overflowing with midfielders of Ireland's quality.

Then again, who is?

I would have seen the option as SWP inside and Weiss wide right IF Ireland could not have played.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Tokyo Blue wrote:

the_georgian_genius wrote:He's playing with an injury and according to someone who knows him on bluemoon he may need surgery.

Stupid really, we have the squad to not play players when they aren't fully fit.

Who could we have played instead of him yesterday? Johnson's not fit yet; Kompany is injured; Petrov won't do the same amount of work; Etuhu is on loan and not getting in Cardiff's team. Zabaleta? That's the only other option I can see other than... you wouldn't put an untried youngster up against Fabregas, would you?

Despite the influx of players, we are not currrently overflowing with midfielders of Ireland's quality.

Then again, who is?

I would have seen the option as SWP inside and Weiss wide right IF Ireland could not have played.

I think they showed when Ireland went off that they can still attack perfectly well without him & Weiss would probably have been more effective than Petrov. Against Celtic I thought they looked fine without Superman & Weiss on. No one is irreplaceable especially once everyone is fit. I'd much prefer to have a full squad to pick from v rags though having said that.

Stevie being the kind of player he is, hopefully he'll come back (post-injury?) raring to go, be nice if that was at the derby on Sun.