Tordmule

Den bästa spelaren jag har sett i Shelbourne heter Wesley Hoolahan. En briljant tekniker och offensiv mittfältare som lämnade Shels för ett år sen och nu börjar slå igenom i Blackpool i engelska tredjeligan. Så här skriver The Guardian om honom i ett porträtt som publicerades idag:

Wes Hoolahan
Steve Claridge, Tuesday January 9, 2007
I would like a pound for every time I was told by a manager at half-time that, if you give a player space, he will hurt you. Which is what makes Wes Hoolahan an oddity: here is a midfielder who actually hates having time on the ball. He has no real pace so, unlike most wingers, he's not keen on being one-on-one against his full-back, which would require him to go past his marker on the outside. And yet he remains hugely effective.

Hoolahan is the type of player who, if you walked into a ground at any point during the 90 minutes to watch him, you would not know what position he was playing in, such is his desperation to get on the ball. He plays wide, moves up top almost in a front three, sits behind the strikers and pops up all across midfield. In Blackpool's recent game against Doncaster he twice went from one side of the pitch to the other just to take possession in an advanced area from a throw-in, such is his freedom to roam and the team's desire to give him the ball.

He is a player with incredibly quick feet, a low centre of gravity, excellent awareness of those around him and a supreme confidence in his own ability to get out of tight situations. He is always willing to get involved, switches the ball from left to right foot in a flash, but will instinctively move infield and search out cluttered areas where he feels happiest.

Allowing players a free role can mean they lack responsibility, which can damage a side's prospects particularly when they are struggling with confidence. Team-mates can end up giving them the ball at the wrong time, or in poor areas, to take the pressure off. But Blackpool are in form and enjoying life at the top of League One. They recognise Hoolahan as their main threat and, invariably, he ends up proving the difference. Inevitably, when the Ireland under-21 international does go wandering it causes Blackpool to lose a bit of their shape, but the team will put up with that given that Hoolahan clearly recognises the key to his success is his ability to time when he releases the ball.

He is small, at 5ft 7in, so you would not expect him to be great in the air - and he is not - but his defending is adequate, he is strong on the ball and combines well with the closest centre-forward. Against Doncaster he was always willing to offer an option to the player in possession and not at any stage did he panic or give the ball away, even in the defensive third.

Ultimately, it was his ability on the ball that proved Rovers' undoing, with his brilliant run past two defenders and cross from the byline helping to break the deadlock in a tense game. He has a good range to his crosses, which he needs because he rarely passes from the same position. And he also benefits from having full-backs who are willing to get forward in support and exploit space on the flanks.

Hoolahan has taken his time to make it in the professional game, having been signed a year ago by Livingston from Shelbourne, but, if he continues to play the way he is on his loan season at Blackpool, it won't take him long to make his mark.

Med tanke på att Djurgården verkligen behöver en offensiv mittfältare med ungefär dessa kvaliteter... Och de som avfärdar ett lag i toppen av League One kanske ska tänka på att vår gamla stjärna Tobias Hysén som inte riktigt platsar i startelvan i ett mittenlag i the Championship.

Etiketter: Shelbourne