Nobody is denying that Whelan is a very limited player. But even when the pressure is off he isn’t really capable of playing telling passes, he is one paced and one dimensional. If it was a case that he actually could play a decent pass but completely hid when the going gets tough like Darren Gibson has done at times in an Ireland shirt then I would say you would have a case. But the fact is that he is just not a very good footballer and has no real discernible talent as opposed to a fraud or cowardliness, even if he demanded every ball when the going gets tough he still wouldn’t have the technique to wherewithal to do anything with it.
For some reason many different managers have made him a first choice player at both club and international level. i think @rocko isn’t far off when he says that he is durable and can take onboard instruction which means that managers like him and rate him. Whelan seems to know his limitations aand plays as such, I don’t rate him and I wouldn’t have him in the team but for some reason numerous managers do
The point is he plays for himself and not for his team. Would you rather Keogh on the ball trying to pick someone out or Whelan? Whelan is the midfielder, he should be looking for that ball, collect it off his defender and try and make a progressive pass - instead he is happy to hang that noose around the defender’s neck. He is far too absorbed in his performance and protecting his own limitations that he won’t try and take on the responsibility himself. A coward.
But he has never at any point of his career been able to do that. He is a very limited and one dimensional player and isn’t asked to do that at club or international level because he isn’t able to play a incisive pass or pass the ball any other way aside what where he is facing. That isn’t due to him being a coward, it is due to his limited technical and physical ability
I think he shows plenty to get the ball off his centre backs but his passing is limited and he often just gives it back. And I certainly don’t think he’s selfish, he plays to his limitations and to instructions and that earns him loyalty, perhaps undeserved.
No, that’s just nonsense. He’s a central midfielder, he doesn’t have to play defence splitting passes but he should be taking the ball off his defence turning around and facing the play and trying to play the ball forward. He doesn’t do that, what he will do is play balls straight back to where they came without looking. He will have the defenders deal with tiddling balls back with lads charging down on him. He will shirk the responsibility of being progressive, he will pin it all on the defenders to be theffective ones who make the mistakes.
His performances are completely focused on him not making mistakes, he doesn’t care that the team would benefit on him being braver and taking chances rather than O’Shea and Keogh being forced into making mistakes. That doesn’t bother him as all he’s focused about is himself and having no blot marks beside his name. He is the same as Gibson who you completely deride, it’s only that he’s a much worse footballer.
The point I’m making is he plays for himself. What about the likes of his centre backs who he consistently forces into a corner of knocking it aimlessly long, he consistently hangs their limitations out to dry to protect his own. A coward.