Thirty-year old Stephen Ireland’s career seems to be over as he has failed to live up to the hype when he started his career.
Some players share the same names as their countries.
Stoke City boss Mark Hughes believes that he is still capable of delivering a top ten finish this season despite having no victories even after five games into the campaign.
The home match against West Brom on Saturday was a great opportunity for the club to get the first league win under way. However, it was not to be as the two teams could only manage a 1-1 draw. As a result, the club remain just one place above the bottom of the table and are fast being pulled into a relegation battle even at this early stage in the campaign.
The 2016-17 season of the Premier League is kicking off on August 13 and players along with managers are getting ready for what is expected to be the most difficult but at the same time most exciting season in the top tier English League.
Martin O’Neill believes what got the better of his team in the Round of 16 is the fact that his players were on the pitch playing second game in a space of 5 days in comparison to the French team which had a week’s gap ahead of the encounter.
According to O’ Neill, having bigger recovery time means you would have more gas in the tank walking into the game and that, in the latter stages, makes a difference as you can beat the opposition in pace which France did.
Stoke City’s midfielder Stephen Ireland might be sidelined for up to 9 months after having broken his leg in training.
It is thought that the incident happened while Stoke City were training ahead of the final game of the season.
The announcement came on the Stoke’s Twitter profile where the club confirmed that Ireland will be out of action for quite some time. Stoke wish him all the best for his recovery and hope that he will be back to action as soon as possible.
Kevin Kilbane reckons with two famous Football personalities present in the team management of Republic of Ireland, they would draw media’s attention more than the team which would let the players be themselves and play without any pressure.
On British Broad Casting Network, Kilbane said, “Coaching-wise, Roy has functioned excellently. He has a lot to give from the technical side of the game and in that way, he has been great to the team and also, to Martin. You can see the two have proved an effective combination for Republic of Ireland.”
Martin O’Neill reckons now that there is likeliness of Shay Given getting some game time for the Potters because of the unavailability of the injured Jack Butland, it might help him earn the ticket to France with the Republic of Ireland National squad.
As Given had lacked much Football of late, it was almost certain that he would not be pondered over even for the second choice shot stopper’s spot when O’Neill finalizes the Irish squad for France, but, it would be a different case altogether if he has some games between the sticks now for Stoke.
Stephen Ireland has been a player of Stoke City since September of 2013 but his time in the Premier League club might be reaching it’s end as the experienced midfielder is struggling with injuries and is being rumored with an exit from Stoke City.
The 29 year old midfielder has not played a single match for Stoke City since October of 2015 but he might just make a return to the main squad of Mark Hughes’ team when the Premier League re-starts in January.
Robbie Keane remained on the bench for the whole duration of the two matches that Ireland played against Bosnia & Herzegovina and he was not given much of a playing time against Germany or Poland either.
He is in his mid thirties now and is by no means a guaranteed pick for Euro. But, he has been backed by his club teammate Steven Gerrard.
According to Gerrard, on the basis of the experience that he has got, the veteran striker should definitely be selected to represent the Green Army in France.
Gerrard was in conversation with the media in an event in Ireland the other day.