The new Premier League season starts today, and if you can wrest yourself away from that Fantasy Football agonising for a moment, here’s an Irish slant on the new campaign – five Irish players for whom 2011/12 is make-or-break.
1. Keiren Westwood (Sunderland)
It might be unfair to say it’s make-or-break for a 26-year-old goalkeeper set for his first real chance of Premier League action, but opportunities are notoriously difficult to come by for ‘keepers and a few fluffed lines early on can signal the end very quickly. So much of a goalkeeper’s worth is his presence, and the confidence shown in him by his defenders. If it’s lacking, the chaos can be infectious right throughout the team, so one poor performance can be the beginning of the end.
There’s a three-way battle on for the starting spot in Steve Bruce’s side, with Simon Mignolet and the injury-prone £9m man Craig Gordon also at the Stadium of Light, but Westwood can be a sparkling shot-stopper and hopefully he gets the opportunity early in the new season.
2. Stephen Ward (Wolves)
Ward enjoyed a breakthrough season with Wolves last year, when he featured in all but four of the club’s Premier League games – including 27 starts. Irish fans will now be hoping that the progress is carried into the international arena over the next few months.
Kevin Kilbane, for all his attributes, is not now, never has been and never will be an international class left back. Ward is the man in the best position to take up the mantle. He started three of the end-of-season internationals for Ireland but Kilbane was the trusted lieutenant for the only competitive fixture in June, the win over Macedonia which kept us in a strong position for qualification for Euro 2012.
“Zinedine” is long enough outside the Premier League now that he’s got used to life in the lower divisions while Ward, just turned 26, is on the way up. He needs a good start to the season with Wolves so that he can be given the nod by Trap for the final four Euro qualifiers, and the famously conservative Italian is seemingly ready to invest his faith. He said this week, “You saw that we finished last season with Ward. Every year we change things when it is possible to change. When we are certain that a new player gives us confidence and trust then we can change it. We need this situation, we need younger strength.”
3. Stephen Ireland (Aston Villa)
Is there any way back for a man who has burnt more bridges than Alec Guinness? Ireland is still living off that one dazzling season at Manchester City, when he looked as good as any playmaking, goalscoring midfielder we’d ever produced. It’s fair to say things didn’t work out under Gerard Houllier and a loan spell at Newcastle only served to create enemies of all Geordies, so he’s back at Villa Park now under new manager Alex McLeish – and if it doesn’t happen for him this season the Cobh man will find himself on a wet metal slide without a handrail.
Bridge-burner extraordinaire
He at least has the potential to perform, something evident in few other places in the squad after a summer of departures, which included two of their best players, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young. Shay Given is confident he can become a star again, and Villa fans are clearly holding out hope, so we’ll be following his progress with interest – even if, given his disinterest in the national team, many Irish supporters will possibly enjoy the schadenfreude of seeing him fall flat on his face.
4. Brian Murphy (QPR)
Murphy joined QPR this week, meaning that eight years after he left Manchester City he’s finally returned to the top flight. Lots of water has passed under the bridge since then, and it’s a case of now or never for the 28-year-old.
The trouble for Murphy is that he’s in just about the same boat as he was at City – down the pecking order and with precious little hope, one suspects, of forcing his way into the team without misfortune befalling someone else. Paddy Kenny, the wayward but occasionally brilliant former Ireland international – who may or may not forever be remembered as the man in situ when Cyprus scored five against us – is likely to be the number one and Radek Cerny, who had a few decent games as back-up at Spurs a couple of seasons back, is next in line.
Murphy is capable if he gets a chance and grabs it. He was by a margin the best goalkeeper in the League of Ireland during his time with Bohemians, when he won back to back titles. He struggled for games at Ipswich last season and the Premier is another big step up, but there’s a bit of Shay Given about him – at just about six foot he’s short for a top flight keeper but he’s an exceptional shot-stopper. But will he get the chance to show it?
5. Shane Long (West Brom)
This is Long’s big chance. A summer of rumour and gossip about his future was finally put to bed less than a week before the start of the new season with West Brom boss Roy Hodgson delving into his club’s coffers to seal the deal.
At 24, he’s just about ready for his peak and he comes into the new season on the back of a 25-goal campaign with Reading. The partnership between the vivacious, annoying-as-a-wasp Long and the super-quick Peter Odemwingie should make Baggies fans confident that their team will pose a threat to any team this season.
Whether Long can hit the net with regularity in the Premier League is one question to which all Irish fans will be hoping to find an affirmative answer. Record-breaker Robbie Keane is seemingly off for a bit of sun and celebrity while Kevin Doyle’s injury problems have started to mount, so Long shoulders a sizeable burden.
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