State of the Republic
12:41, 08 May 2012
John Kelly
PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND
James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic)
Played 90 minutes (Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Wigan Athletic)
Sad news and he will be a loss, even if he wouldn’t have made the first 11. He was outstanding again last night as he drove forward from a deep midfield role, going close on a couple of occasions. The way he has played in the second half of the season indicates that he is the man to fill the Roy Keane-shaped hole in the Irish midfield for the next decade.
GOALKEEPERS
Shay Given (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
If Spurs had been more clinical with the flood of chances they had, Given would have been beaten more than once. As it was, the best of those attempts were hit straight at him. By the way, is it just us or does he never look likely to save a penalty?
Paddy Kenny (QPR)
Played 90 minutes (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
The away side had one shot on target. ‘Nuff said.
Brian Murphy (QPR)
Injured (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
Keiren Westwood (Sunderland)
Unused sub (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
DEFENDERS
Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
It is a travesty that Villa are safe after a performance such as this. Up a man after Danny Rose inexplicably lost his head, Villa hoofed clear and time-wasted until the final whistle. Dunne’s most significant contribution was to foul Sandro in the box. There was no need for him to make the challenge and with Spain likely to spend 80 per cent of the game in and around the box it is something he must be mindful of. More jockeying Richard, more jockeying.
Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
Scored his second cracking goal of the season after his slalom run against Bristol Rovers, though this one took a nick off William Gallas’ head. Did well in his defensive midfield role.
Enda Stevens (Aston Villa)
Not in squad (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
Derrick Williams (Aston Villa)
Not in squad (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
Shane Duffy (Everton)
Unused sub (Wolves 0-0 Everton0
Stephen Kelly (Fulham)
Played 90 minutes (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
Dealt well with JMac and will provide the cover at left-back in Poland. Big Murt’s side is now just a point off unkie Roy’s side’s record haul of 53 points set in the 2008/09 season.
Marc Wilson (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
Timed this disaster poorly from a naming-of-the-squad point-of-view. Great timing from Trap’s perspective, though.
John O'Shea (Sunderland)
Played 90 minutes (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
Sunderland allowed Fulham prairies of space through the middle several times during the game which gets right-back O’Shea off the hook. He deflected Pavel Pogrebnyak’s effort over the bar but was lucky that the under-rated Moussa Dembele wasn’t running directly at him.
Steven Reid (West Bromwich Albion)
Injured (Bolton 2-2 West Brom)
Stephen Ward (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Played 90 minutes (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
Formed an all-Irish left flank for the home side who have now scored four goals in their last game and kept a clean sheet here. Ward didn’t get forward to great effect and will be the only recognised left-back in the squad for next month’s shenanigans.
Kevin Foley (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Injured (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
MIDFIELDERS
Conor Henderson (Arsenal)
Not in squad (Arsenal 3-3 Norwich City)
Stephen ******* (Aston Villa)
Played 90 minutes (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
Villa’s Player of the Year (we didn’t see that coming either) was their only attacking threat after his side gained the man advantage. He showed Spain-esque touches every now and again but lost the ball in dangerous positions, too.
Samir Carruthers (Aston Villa)
Unused sub (Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur)
Seamus Coleman (Everton)
Unused sub (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
Darron Gibson (Everton)
Injured (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
Damien Duff (Fulham)
Played 90 minutes (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
Rumours doing the rounds before the squad announcement had most fans rigid with fear but Duff should start on the right against Croatia. Went close enough with one effort and did more than his fair share of work up and down the right flank.
Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City)
Played 16 minutes (Arsenal 3-3 Norwich City)
Highest-scoring Irish midfield player in the Premier League was never going to make the squad.
Wes Hoolahan (Norwich City)
Played 74 minutes (Arsenal 3-3 Norwich City)
Scored his fifth of the season when Wojciech Szczesny turned his tame effort from harmless to very, very harmful for Arsenal’s Champions League qualification hopes. Needed an extra year of Premier League experience to convince Trap he would have been be worth a shot.
Rory Delap (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
Tony Pulis made a late bid for Most Ridiculous Team Selection of the Season, and he is odds-on to walk away with the award. Speaking to the BBC, he won’t say: “Well, obviously, I’m thrilled. I may have mentioned it before but we’ve played 287 games this season. So, really, this award is for the players and, in particular, to Jonathan Walters, Cameron Jerome, Ricardo Fuller and Peter Crouch. Without naming those boys in the same team, I would not be standing here today talking bollocks to you.”
Glenn Whelan (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
Must have felt faint when he saw Pulis’s team sheet. Covered well, though, and it will be a delight to see him up against Andrés Iniesta and Xavi. It’s like Del Boy walking into the Louvre with a bucket of paint and a roller.
David Meyler (Sunderland)
Unused sub (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
James McClean (Sunderland)
Played 90 minutes (Fulham 2-1 Sunderland)
Nothing much to say about the squad selection. Maybe James McCarthy’s misfortune saved Trap from having to make any tough decisions. Even he, though, couldn’t have justified not picking McClean. On Saturday he was involved in the build-up to Hamish McBardsley’s equaliser but was kept relatively quiet by Kelly.
Keith Andrews (West Bromwich Albion)
Played 74 minutes (Bolton 2-2 West Brom)
It is not often one says this about a midfielder but Andrews should try to be less positive with his passing. We are terrified at the thoughts of what Luka Modric and Iniesta might do if he turns over the ball so easily in just over a month’s time.
Anthony Forde (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Played 19 minutes (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
It will be interesting to see if Forde gets a decent run next year in the Championship if, as seems likely, Michael Kightly and Matt Jarvis are snapped up by Premier League sides.
Stephen Hunt (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Played 90 minutes (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
First league start in 2012 for Hunty. Tried his little heart out and fired in a few decent set-pieces but it didn’t really work for him.
STRIKERS
Leon Best (Sports Direct FC)
Not in squad (Sports Direct FC 0-2 Manchester City)
The text obviously remained unrequited.
Jon Walters (Stoke City)
Played 90 minutes (QPR 1-0 Stoke City)
Fair play to such a limited player for making a career for himself as a Premier League footballer. Has played every game in the league this season but with a return of just five goals. It must be said it is some achievement that Stoke are staying up when they name a midfield of Walters, Whelan and Delap.
Shane Long (West Bromwich Albion)
Played 90 minutes (Bolton 2-2 West Brom)
Had a foot in Chris Brunt’s goal. Showed again how he might be used to ruffle Gerard Piqué or Sergio Ramos in the Euros. Though Spain will probably be four-nil up by the time he comes on so it will be like when the bigger guy nonchalantly holds off the smaller challenger with an outstretched arm while the latter swings hopelessly with both fists.
Simon Cox (West Bromwich Albion)
Played nine minutes (Bolton Wanderers 2-2 West Brom)
Wrote the lyrics as James Morrison sung the melody of Bolton’s demise. Okay, well, he set up the equaliser then.
Conor Sammon (Wigan Athletic)
Played five minutes (Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Wigan Athletic)
Rovers went down without trying a leg.
Kevin Doyle (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Played 90 minutes (Wolves 0-0 Everton)
Nineteen goals at home in 19 games – only Wigan have recorded the same paucity of goal at home this season. Doyle has scored four in 24 starts. He was never prolific but one has to go back to the 2008/09 season for the last time he was at least scoring regularly.
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