What is the future for Ireland’s midfield?

Following Steven Reid’s retirement from international football, JOE takes a look at the Republic of Ireland’s other options in midfield.

By Conor Hogan

“Who the hell is Glenn Whelan?” is a question that was asked of Giovanni Trapattoni when the Dubliner was first selected in 2008. The 24-year-old had played most of his career in the Championship with Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke, and had no international experience.

Back then it was a case of Steven Reid plus one. Whelan was the Art Garfunkel to Reid’s Paul Simon. The Blackburn man played the instruments and wrote all the songs, Whelan was a glorified backing singer. He had a nice voice but that was about it.

Then something terrible happened. Reid picked up his 350th career injury in a qualification tie against Georgia. He aggravated his knee further against Montenegro four days later, and was out for the entire 2008-2009 season. It was heartbreaking for Reid, who had missed all of 2006-2007 with a bad back, and whose international career had been so stop start that he’s earned a mere 23 caps in nine years. To put it in perspective, that’s 80 less than Kevin Kilbane.

Andrews and Whelan

Fellow Blackburn Rovers player Keith Andrews was brought in to replace him. This was a man in his late twenties, who only the year before was playing for the MK Dons in League Two. Ireland’s engine room was now less Simon and Garfunkel, and more Garfunkel and that guy in Wham! who isn’t George Michael*.

Whelan is a solid holding midfielder, Andrews is limited but hard-working. Neither got much possession of the ball, and sat in front of the back four. Amazingly, their partnership kind of worked and helped transform Ireland from a side hammered by Cyprus in Nicosia, to one that was almost impossible to defeat.

Despite these players’ success in the green jersey, we hoped that Steven Reid would return. Like fanboys looking forward to Star Wars prequels, it was the unrealistic kind of hope. It was never going to happen. After his return from injury, Trapattoni had trepidations about selecting the knackered Blackburn man. So he didn’t. Reid finally confirmed his international retirement today.

Central midfield remains the problem position. It is possible to hypothesise that Ireland’s lack of creativity in the centre of midfield may have prevented Trap’s side from turning some of their many draws into wins. Italy’s performances in the World Cup have proved that Ireland’s qualifying group was much easier than we thought at the time, and that we missed a golden opportunity to top it.

Gibson and McCarthy

Ireland’s qualifying group for the European Championships won’t be as easy. Slovakia showed they were a good side by defeating the Italians in the World Cup, while Russia are ranked eleventh in the world, with players such as Andrei Arshavin, Igor Akinfeev and Stuttgart’s Pavel Pogrebnyak. Ireland can’t expect to draw almost every game and finish in a play-off position this time.

There are other options in central midfield. Darron Gibson plays for Manchester United, and scored some great goals this season. Yet he has a proclivity to go missing in matches. When he does get the ball he lacks ideas and is very selfish. Whether he is 12 yards out, 20 yards out, 50 yards out or on his own goal line, his first inclination is to shoot for goal. He’s the kind of player who may look good on Match of the Day, yet fails to impress when watched live.

Wigan’s James McCarthy certainly has potential and has looked good when given an opportunity by Roberto Martinez. Yet he is too young and inexperienced at international level to be expected to start for Ireland. Like Gibson, McCarthy is also an attacking midfielder, so it is unthinkable that Trapattoni would start with both in the middle.

Fahey and Meyler

Keith Fahey impressed Alex McLeish enough to earn a new contract, but was selected to start only 18 times in the Premier League, often as a makeshift wideman. At 27 years of age Fahey has yet to start a match for the Republic, and having spent most of his career in the League of Ireland, it remains to be seen if he is good enough for international football. David Meyler impressed in his nine starts with Sunderland last season before suffering a horrible cruciate ligament injury.

With Ireland’s current under-21 side garnering less points than the Faroe Islands in European Championship qualifying, it seems unlikely that a young unknown is going to break through and claim the place as his own. At the moment it seems like Andrews and Whelan may be our best option.

* The other member of Wham! was Andrew Ridgeley, who currently runs a surf shop.