After England's defeat on Russkie plastic and wondering how much longer McClaren's going to last, and there's a good report in the posh murdoch, there's really only one thing you want to know isn't there? Did he play or not?
Well, it seems our little irish wizard recovered from his injury enough to try to save Stevie's blushes and started the game in Dublin against Cyprus in the hope of qualifying for Euro 2008. And not only did he start but Reidie was the only Irish midfielder to last the full 90 as all the fella's around him were subbed.
Player scores from eleven-a-side give him a score of 6 and to save you reading it it says that "Again the centre-point of Ireland’s play but the boys in green were technically and numerically outmatched by Cyprus in midfield".
There's a pretty little green pitch on telegraph with more stats. Reidie, was plainly the centre of everything with a total of 73 passes, with his fellow midfielder Joey O'Brien on 26 and he even had more shots that striker Robbie Keane. MOM was given to Steve Finnan who scored the late equaliser.
Meanwhile, another player, out on the right wing, was Andy Keogh who we may meet again on Saturday as he's one of the 6 players that have played all 10 fizzy games this season for Wolves. And just to keep him fit for the weekend he was subbed after an hour.
But will our talisman be fit for the game on Saturday? Ninety long minutes and the disappointment of non-qualification will have taken their toll on Reid, a man who gives his all for his country, and his appearance at the weekend for another 90 may be in doubt, especially as it seems he hasn't trained all week because of worries over his ankle.
Pardew, you remember, left him on the bench for the first half against Colchester on Sept 15 after Reid returned from the Irish game against the Czech Rep the previous Wednesday when he again played the full 90 minutes. Against Colchester, he replaced Thomas at half-time to try to recover a 1-2 deficit which ended with ZiZi scoring the equaliser.
So unlike the still missing Irish Crown Jewels, will our Reidinho sparkle on Saturday? Pards, the decision's up to you.
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