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Kenny Cunningham selected him, above all of our players, for criticism and pointed out that the way his lack of pace was exposed, both today and against Birmingham, that he might find it difficult holding down a regular place.

Kenny's analysis was thoughtful, overall, and rather more sober than most of us has been prone to: he also reckons, and he should know, being a former left back converted to centre back, that its too early to write off Lescott, just yet

cheeky git cunningham- forgot he had played on the world stage average player in poor teams and only got in eire team due to small population. he will eat his words

paulh wrote:cheeky git cunningham- forgot he had played on the world stage average player in poor teams and only got in eire team due to small population. he will eat his words

an underrated player who made the transition from left back to centre back, seamlessly, proved himself against the best!

Barry's poor form in recent weeks has been put down to Villa fans giving him stick at Villa & Brum fans giving him stick at Brum.
I'm not buying it! When the crowd gives you some abuse you raise your game to stuff it back down their throats.
What's plain is that he is suffering a dip in form! His speed of decision making is poor of late and he's often caught in posession and looks unwilling to forge forward and put us on the front foot.
Barry's role for England atm is a very deep defensive midfield role which he plays well and it adds to the teams performance.
This is where I think he should play for us with Stevie and possibly Micheal Johnson in front of him.
Confidence looks shot though atm and maybe time to give him a rest and let de Jong take over the role.

M147WN wrote:Barry's poor form in recent weeks has been put down to Villa fans giving him stick at Villa & Brum fans giving him stick at Brum.
I'm not buying it! When the crowd gives you some abuse you raise your game to stuff it back down their throats.
What's plain is that he is suffering a dip in form! His speed of decision making is poor of late and he's often caught in posession and looks unwilling to forge forward and put us on the front foot.
Barry's role for England atm is a very deep defensive midfield role which he plays well and it adds to the teams performance.
This is where I think he should play for us with Stevie and possibly Micheal Johnson in front of him.
Confidence looks shot though atm and maybe time to give him a rest and let de Jong take over the role.

Your spot on bud and i said in a thread couple of days ago...Barry Ireland and Johnno should get a start together.Its a no risk situation and could well be are guiding light..Hope it happens soon.

Mate, MJ is one of those players who doesn't know what a gift he has!
He can judge a ball coming to him and has already made his mind up what to do with it before it gets to him! This attribute enables him to create much more space for himself than other players who think 'one step at a time'.
Some players try to learn it but never suceed others (very few) have the gift. Add to that his ability to get 'box to box' and its easy to see why the early comparisons were made to the greatest City player ever to wear the No. 8 shirt.

I hope this combo gets its chance! MJ will spur on the rest as he may feel he has some making up to do because of his very unfortunate injuries and will give blood, sweat and tears for the cause! This in turn promotes a work ethic which can change a team overnight.
Lets hope!

Two weeks in a row now he should have been subbed.

The Original Special One wrote:

paulh wrote:cheeky git cunningham- forgot he had played on the world stage average player in poor teams and only got in eire team due to small population. he will eat his words

an underrated player who made the transition from left back to centre back, seamlessly, proved himself against the best!

kenny wasnt a left back he was a right back! class player in his day and a nice person, met him a few weeks ago when coming voer for the derby he was on the aul 6am ryanair, obv things tight at rte!

dazby wrote:Two weeks in a row now he should have been subbed.

Exactly what me and my lad were saying with an hour gone. MJ should've been on for him

Exactly what me and my lad were saying with an hour gone. MJ should've been on for him[/quote]

De jong was missed , Ireland going forward is better than barry so i couldnt understand leaving barry on when we were winning , we needed to shore it up at the back, De Jong is a vocal player when too many were switching off last 10 mins he would of made a difference

Dubciteh wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:

paulh wrote:cheeky git cunningham- forgot he had played on the world stage average player in poor teams and only got in eire team due to small population. he will eat his words

an underrated player who made the transition from left back to centre back, seamlessly, proved himself against the best!

kenny wasnt a left back he was a right back! class player in his day and a nice person, met him a few weeks ago when coming voer for the derby he was on the aul 6am ryanair, obv things tight at rte!

I thought it was left back; perhaps he could play both flanks as Denis Irwin.
I don't think I ever saw him play a poor game for Ireland, especially after he moved to the centre.

But the fact that he wasn't rubbishing Lescott , and in fact even described him as a good player, at least gives us hope that he can come good

M147WN wrote:Mate, MJ is one of those players who doesn't know what a gift he has!
He can judge a ball coming to him and has already made his mind up what to do with it before it gets to him! This attribute enables him to create much more space for himself than other players who think 'one step at a time'.
Some players try to learn it but never suceed others (very few) have the gift. Add to that his ability to get 'box to box' and its easy to see why the early comparisons were made to the greatest City player ever to wear the No. 8 shirt.

I hope this combo gets its chance! MJ will spur on the rest as he may feel he has some making up to do because of his very unfortunate injuries and will give blood, sweat and tears for the cause! This in turn promotes a work ethic which can change a team overnight.
Lets hope!

I'm sure Hughes doesn't want to rush him back.
Gradually he'll probably give him longer and longer sub appearances before starting him.
He wouldn't want to set him back before he's fully ready

Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

failsworthblue wrote:Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

and disjointed and horrible going forward with him... If De Jong is the answer then mid table mediocrity beckons.

Socrates wrote:

failsworthblue wrote:Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

and disjointed and horrible going forward with him... If De Jong is the answer then mid table mediocrity beckons.

we don't need him to be going forward: Ireland would do enough going forward for the two of them

The Original Special One wrote:

Socrates wrote:

failsworthblue wrote:Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

and disjointed and horrible going forward with him... If De Jong is the answer then mid table mediocrity beckons.

we don't need him to be going forward: Ireland would do enough going forward for the two of them

That's not what I meant. The side as a whole is disjointed going forward when he is in the anchor role and we get no momentum going forwards. Possibly because of his ridiculously short passing range. We get no sort of flow to the midfield at all. Bit like having Barton back - he looks like he's having a good game himself but makes the rest of the team play shit.

Socrates wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:

Socrates wrote:

failsworthblue wrote:Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

and disjointed and horrible going forward with him... If De Jong is the answer then mid table mediocrity beckons.

we don't need him to be going forward: Ireland would do enough going forward for the two of them

That's not what I meant. The side as a whole is disjointed going forward when he is in the anchor role and we get no momentum going forwards. Possibly because of his ridiculously short passing range. We get no sort of flow to the midfield at all. Bit like having Barton back - he looks like he's having a good game himself but makes the rest of the team play shit.

Harold, I think I love you.

Someone else sees it.

Slim wrote:

Socrates wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:

Socrates wrote:

failsworthblue wrote:Needs to be dropped.

De-Jong for me , we are powder puff in midfield without him.

and disjointed and horrible going forward with him... If De Jong is the answer then mid table mediocrity beckons.

we don't need him to be going forward: Ireland would do enough going forward for the two of them

That's not what I meant. The side as a whole is disjointed going forward when he is in the anchor role and we get no momentum going forwards. Possibly because of his ridiculously short passing range. We get no sort of flow to the midfield at all. Bit like having Barton back - he looks like he's having a good game himself but makes the rest of the team play shit.

Harold, I think I love you.

Someone else sees it.

Thanks Madge.

Think Elano played better than him yesterday and if thats who he is supposed to replace and be better so far I dont think he is living up to it.
He has done nothing yet in my view to justify that he is better.

Rag_hater wrote:Think Elano played better than him yesterday and if thats who he is supposed to replace and be better so far I dont think he is living up to it.
He has done nothing yet in my view to justify that he is better.

Surprise Surprise Cilla