[quote=“Rocko”]I can say it because it’s obvious to people who know soccer, Trap included. Reid is not as quick as any of Duff, Hunt or McGeady and he’s nowhere near as good at tracking back as any of them. He also can’t beat a player which is sadly rather essential for a winger.
Duff cant beat a player either, Hunt hoofs it past the full back and chases after, McGeady can beat a full back in the SPL but at international level has struggled repeatedly to do it. Reid is more than capable of chasing back as any athlete worth his salt would be.
Either French full back would have loved playing alongside him. It’s basically a license to go forward whenever you want.
The French full backs had a licence to go forward anyway on Saturday. Did you even watch the game? Evra should have had a penalty and Sagna was repeatedly on the ball in good positions. Are you sure you know soccer?
I say all this as someone who thinks Reid has a future in this team. But he’s not a panacea for our current ills and until he improves his workrate properly he’s just a luxury that we can’t afford, largely because the luxury he offers isn’t all that special. We didn’t lose the other night because we didn’t have anyone to take set pieces. There was nothing wrong with our set pieces. Only an idiot would argue we missed Reid’s dead ball expertise.
He is better than what he have. Therefore he should be on or at least on the bench. Any other argument is frankly ridiculous.
Andrews tired alright. With a second leg to come it would have been crazy to throw someone like Andy Reid on in the middle of the park. It’s a pity we didn’t have a direct replacement for Andrews when he was struggling but Reid wasn’t the answer and won’t be.
Care to flesh that out? Our strikers and wide players struggle to receive any sort of decent ball to feet something Reid is far more capable of doing than any of the options at the moment. Again suggesting Andy Reid wouldnt have been better than a tired Keith Andrews is just silly.
I appreciate the fact you have a deluded love for the man but he’s not the form Irish qualified player - he’s a limited player playing ok for a shit team. That’s all he is. More importantly, he does’t suit the system and in international football where you don’t get the chance to redeem lapses (unlike league football) then he’ll always carry less weight (unusual for him).[/quote]
He is the form Irish player and that by a distance. The majority of our players play with shit teams. Dunne, O’Shea, Given and Keane are the only ones that play with good sides. Sunderland are a lot better this season with Reid as their main man.
Form?Andrews, Whelan, Lawrence in and out of shit EPL sides, Hunt not pulling up any trees at Hull, McGeady playing shit in shit team, Duff doing ok at Fulham. Only ones to come close would be Richie Dunne or Given. When we went a goal down on Saturday, Trapp’s containing system was a busted flush. Id have reservations about him centrally with Whelan but at that stage it didnt matter, Andrews was out of legs. Reid could have been introduced and we would have kept the ball better. We might have fashioned a decent chance that didnt involve an assist from Given. Yes I have always rated him as a player but he has been blackguarded by Trapp, yet to play a minute for him dont forget, so all arguments about what he cant do need to be qualified by that.
Villa dont want to play in that shite. They gave a walkover last year when in the knockouts.