Trap’s too lazy to do it, so leave it to JOE to look back on the performances of the established and potential members of the Ireland squad over the weekend.
Richard Dunne
Poor old Richie suffered something of a fall from grace at Loftus Road yesterday with a last-minute own goal that denied Aston Villa all three points at Loftus Road, but to concentrate solely on that would be a shame because otherwise he was immense in a deserved man of the match display.
The Honey Monster stood firm at the heart of a Villa back four that only briefly looked like conceding against Neil Warnock’s expensively assembled bunch of new recruits, thanks mainly to a display by Dunne in which he continued in the same vein of form he has showed since THAT night in Moscow.
Dunne’s performance against QPR will be remembered for a far more unfortunate reason, however. By turning the ball into his own net, Dunne scored his ninth ever Premier League own goal, breaking his own embarrassing record in the process.
Glenn Whelan
We’ll be quick to acknowledge that Whelan has been much maligned on these pages for his performances in a green jersey, but he certainly wasn’t found wanting against the might of Manchester United at the weekend.
His committed tackle on Patrice Evra that sent the Frenchman spiralling skywards set the tone early on and he hustled and bustled United’s flashier midfield quartet all evening long at the Britannia as the Potters unceremoniously put an end to United’s 100 per cent start to the season.
Jon Walters and Marc Wilson also deserve honourable mentions for their roles in Stoke’s victory even though their contributions (particularly those of Wilson) continue to go unnoticed by our absent commander in chief.
Andy Keogh
Like Whelan, we haven’t always been Keogh’s biggest cheerleaders but we have to give credit where it’s due and Keogh deserves some for netting Leeds’ opener against Brighton on Friday night.
It was an opportunistic finish by the blonde bombshell, who beat Brighton ‘keeper Casper Ankergren after U2 bassist Adam Clayton’s initial effort was blocked down in the box after 18 minutes.
Still, it was only Keogh’s fourth goal in 45 appearances for club and country, hardly international standard by any stretch of the imagination.
Andy Reid
The cuddly midfielder didn’t add to the penalty he scored against Derby last weekend, but did add much-needed composure and passing ability when he was introduced in Forest’s 1-0 win over Watford at the weekend.
Reid hasn’t been getting a fair crack of the whip under Steve McLaren so far this season and we’re not the only ones to think so. Another man with a bit of a spare tyre around the waistline, devoted Forest fan Lee Westwood, took to Twitter at the weekend to declare his admiration for Reid, saying: “I’m glad andy reid has been brought on to put his foot on the ball!”
A similar ability to put the foot on the ball is badly needed by the current Ireland side, but Reid continues to be a Giovanni Trapattoni outcast, apparently largely down to the infamous sing-song in Germany over three years ago.
Should Andy Reid be back in the Ireland squad? Now that’s a tune we could all sing along to. (We’re very sorry!)
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