"Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish was told to "f*** off" by Stephen Ireland during Sunday's defeat at Newcastle, while winger Charles N'Zogbia also hit out on Twitter.If it was just Ireland having problems with the manager then I'd be more concerned, but it looks as though there are a few players on Villa who have issues.
And as mentioned, the Red Bulls are absolutely not going to be able to get any perfect player over here... If they are that flawless, then they wouldn't be looking at the possibility of coming over.
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Charles N'Zogbia has struggled at Aston Villa
• Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
Ireland was replaced at half-time in the game at St James' Park, where he endured a horror spell on loan 12 months ago, and swore at McLeish after being blamed for the opening goal, scored by Demba Ba on the half-hour.
And N'Zogbia was clearly unhappy at being replaced by Emile Heskey in the 67th minute, too. The France winger, who spent five years at Newcastle, tweeted: "First time in my life, I'm not happy playing football."
McLeish tried to play down Ireland's outburst, saying: "I know he spoke back but, at the same time, players don't like to hear the manager screaming at them from the touchline. But I kick every ball. I'm passionate and I care. I wouldn't be so petty to take a player off for something like that if he is doing a fantastic job.
"When Guthrie side-stepped him to put the cross in, I thought Stevie should have been making that tackle or at least put a block on the cross. But it was clear at half-time that he didn't have the capacity to get close to people. He had an ankle problem.""
Well, I saw what McLeish saw, a poor defensive effort: lackluster. Was it his ankle or does he have a chronic attitude problem? Or only a problem with Mcleish?
Do we want Rafa II or Lindpere II?
I haven't seen Ireland enough to judge, but I hope our braintrust looks before they leap.
Teams win in soccer, not individuals.