Time to Tone Down the Buzz

by CATHAL DERVAN

THREE players, five days, two games. Lansdowne Road on a Tuesday. Old Trafford on a Saturday. An Ireland win against a woeful Canada and a Manchester United victory against a Jekyll and Hyde Blackburn.

Welcome to the world of the traveling reporter. Welcome to the world of Liam Miller, Andy Reid and Steven Reid.

One of the many things they have in common is their Irishness, their ability to play for Brian Kerr when the real work begins in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. Another is their youth, the three of them still under the age of 23 and with the world at their feet. 

The one worry is that all three will be hyped above all reasonable expectation, by this column as much as by anyone.

And it is, I have to admit, an easy trap to fall into. As I write, on a rainy Tuesday evening in Co. Meath, the back page of the Evening Herald is dominated, not for the first time, by a picture of Liam Miller.

The story alongside the photo of the latest boy wonder from Cork contains yet more quotes from Henrik Larsson telling anyone who will listen just how good a player Liam Miller is, hours before the Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

It is a common practice at Parkhead these days. In the past fortnight the likes of Magnus Hedman, Chris Sutton and Neil Lennon have been queuing up to tell us that Miller is the best midfield player of his age in the universe, never mind the world.

Even Brian Kerr and Martin O’Neill, two people fluent in the language of caution that is the preserve of managers, have been talking young Miller up.

Andy Reid too has been the subject of much hype and hope as Irish football looks to build on the shambles that was Basel and that rather tame Euro 2004 exit.

Such was the nature of Reid’s senior debut for the Republic against Canada last week that the Lansdowne Road faithful, for once, actually cheered the decision of the watching media when it came to the man of the match award.

Reid, on a night when injury denied Miller his debut, won it hands down on his first appearance in a big Irish jersey. And deservedly so.

Played inside his normal club position of left winger, he took to the demands of central midfield with ease, hitting precise pass after precise pass with the assured look of a natural.

Since then even the likes of Ronnie Whelan and Ray Houghton have suggested that Reid can grow into a central role, allowing Kerr the freedom to leave Damien Duff where he best belongs – on the left wing.

There was even a suggestion in one paper that Reid and Miller could fill the center of Kerr’s midfield in the not too distant future.

That’s when I knew it was time to call a halt to this particular bandwagon, time to deflate the hype just a little bit.

Andy Reid, from what we saw last week and what we have seen all season in the Forest red, is a great player in the making.

Liam Miller, it could well be argued, is already a great player in his breakthrough season at Parkhead, a player who looks comfortably at home in the Champions League at just 22 years of age.

But this is where the caution must come in. Two years ago Steven Reid got a late World Cup call-up when injury deprived Mark Kennedy of his chance to play in the Far East.

The London-born Reid was so good in training in Japan that he ended up featuring in three of Ireland’s four games at that World Cup. A star was born in the east – or so we all thought.

Since then, and in spite of a huge move to Blackburn after Duff’s departure for Chelsea, Reid has gone backwards.

I couldn’t believe this was the same player as he struggled through 73 minutes on the right side of the Irish midfield last Tuesday night, but worse was to follow.

On Saturday, as I watched from the Old Trafford press box, the other Reid had a stinker in the Blackburn colors against the champions of England.

He didn’t last beyond a halftime tongue lashing from one Graeme Souness, so when Messrs Kerr and O’Neill counsel us to bide our time with the likes of Andy Reid and Liam Miller, they well have a point.

Caution may well be the buzz word here – even if Irish football is crying out for a hero, a new Messiah.