State of the Republic
09:58, 20 Aug 2012
John Kelly
PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND
Damien Duff (Fulham)
Played 74 minutes (Fulham 5-0 Norwich City)
Made that outside-in run that made him such a threat when he was with Chelsea. A brilliant first touch put him one-on-one and he expertly dinked the ball in for Fulham’s first goal of the season. He was a handful for the away side and it would be nice, in the twilight of his career, to see him released from the defensive shackles he bears on international duty, but we all know that’s not going to happen. And that’s assuming he doesn’t decide to retire.
GOALKEEPERS
Shay Given (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Couldn’t do anything about the close-range goal. Shoved Maiga wide late on and the Hammer had his shot cleared off the line.
Brian Murphy (QPR)
Unused sub (QPR 0-5 Swansea)
Keiren Westwood (Sunderland)
Unused sub (Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland)
DEFENDERS
Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)
Injured (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Clark started the first game of the season partnering new signing Ron Vlaar at centre-back. He didn’t enjoy the best of times first earning a yellow card for a late foul and then heading on inadvertently in the build-up to Kevin Nolan’s winner. Vlaar, meanwhile, was bloodied and bruised after an aerial bombardment predictably aimed in his direction.
Enda Stevens (Aston Villa)
Not in squad (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Derrick Williams (Aston Villa)
Not in squad (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Shane Duffy (Everton)
Not in squad (Everton 1-0 Manchester United)
Stephen Kelly (Fulham)
Unused sub (Fulham 5-0 Norwich City)
Ian Harte (Reading)
Played 90 minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
We feel a bit sorry for Hal Robson-Kanu who’ll have a fair bit of tracking back to do this season to protect a player who’s in the side for his set-piece ability. It’ll be interesting to see how long Harte lasts there after the first time he is skinned by a winger but there were glimpses against Stoke of his still far from dulled free-kick expertise.
Marc Wilson (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke)
Seems to be back in the international reckoning. Was troubled a bit by Jobi McAnuff but was never under too much pressure.
John O'Shea (Sunderland)
Played 90 minutes (Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland)
Started the first game centre-back which is where you wish he’d play for Ireland. It will be finger-in-the-eye pokingly difficult to watch him chip hopeless balls down the line for Ireland in Kazakhstan. And he probably will play there because Trap has reiterated his stance that he ain’t goin' to change nothin’.
Steven Reid (West Bromwich Albion)
Played 90 minutes (West Brom 3-0 Liverpool)
One of three very surprising results on the opening day. Reid suffered in the first half when Liverpool directed all the flow down his channel. He dived in a couple of times and allowed Glen Johnson skip by him once but regained his composure to help his isde to an impressive win.
Joey O’Brien (West Ham)
Played 19 minutes (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
An injury-free run in the Premier League would make a nice change for the often luckless defender.
MIDFIELDERS
Stephen Ireland (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Always neat on the ball but not really the type of player to control a game. Physically outmanoeuvred by the Hammers midfield trio.
Samir Carruthers (Aston Villa)
Not in squad (West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa)
Darron Gibson (Everton)
Played 90 minutes (Everton 1-0 Manchester United)
Parternered ex-United player Phil Neville in midfield and the duo matched Paul Scholes and Tom Cleverley. One brilliant turn by Gibson was followed by a not so brilliant shot on his weaker left foot. We have to keep mentioning his record of not having lost a Premier League game since April 2010 when he played for United against Chelsea.
Seamus Coleman (Everton)
Played 10 minutes (Everton 1-0 Manchester United)
Came on as extra cover when United introduced Ashley Young and provided a much-needed outlet with Everton under so much pressure late on. One run that ended with Nemanja Vidic tugging his shirt helped Everton over the line in what was a good old rip-roaring Premier League tie. Olympics, what Olympics? Welcome back football, we missed you.
Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City)
Played 90 minutes (Fulham 5-0 Norwich City)
Is he still Irish? His inclusion in this list is probably pointless because it’s impossible to ever see him getting a call-up. With his side outclassed he only got one half-chance and couldn’t do anything with it.
Wes Hoolahan (Norwich City)
Played 13 minutes (Fulham 5-0 Norwich City)
Norwich are doomed. Put your house on them to go down.
Jay Tabb (Reading)
Unused sub (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
Rory Delap (Stoke City)
Played ten minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
Glenn Whelan (Stoke City)
Played 86 minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
It was easy for him against Reading’s midfield. Stoke conceded an equaliser after he went off. A certainty to start in Kazakhstan.
David Meyler (Sunderland)
Played 12 minutes (Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland)
Needs more game time this season or a loan move away somewhere.
James McClean (Sunderland)
Played 90 minutes (Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland)
Only had the one chance when he showed a decent touch to make a bit of space but his shot was blocked. He was required to do his fair share of defensive work and, as usual, he didn’t shirk his responsibilities.
James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic)
Played 90 minutes (Wiigan 0-2 Chelsea)
Should start the World Cup qualifying campaign as first-choice midfielder but what are the odds that Trapattoni starts with Paul Green or Keith Andrews? Short, probably. McCarthy needs to be more careful with his distribution but that’s an aspect of his game he will improve on. He seems to have been around for ages but he’s still only 21 and he imposes himself more and more on games.
STRIKERS
Noel Hunt (Reading)
Played 13 minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
The cupboard's a bit bare without all those Wolves players and, ahem, Leon Best, and we're down to the scraps when it comes to strikers. Hunt will be used in the super-sub role this season.
Jon Walters (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (Reading 1-1 Stoke City)
It was amusing to hear and read about this ‘revolution’ in Serbia. How is dropping a striker wide a positive change? Did we not infuriatingly suffer this nonsense in Poland? The answers are ‘it’s not’ and ‘yes’. This qualifying campaign is going to be torture. Trap will never, ever change and will probably fall out with a few more players over the next year or so. What other international manager couldn’t tell you where his captain and record scorer is? Walters, meanwhile, was probably Stoke’s best player among a group of exceptionally limited players. Went close with a header.
Shane Long (West Bromwich Albion)
“Oi, you’re injured.” Oh, no I’m not!” Oh, yes you are!” Etc., etc., etc. Turns out he’s not but we knew that. Good to see Trap’s learnt from the mistakes in Poland, though. What’s that you say, he called him what?! Long didn’t play like an idiot on Saturday, winning any soft penalty going, getting Dan Agger sent off and constantly moving as West Brom launched several rapier counter-attacks. He did miss a penalty but he’s our best striker now and we must hope the problem with the Ireland manager doesn’t fester like so many other schisms have.
Conor Sammon (Wigan Athletic)
Not in squad (Wigan 0-2 Chelsea)
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