I like Stirk but I also appreciated Kinsella and they were both asked to play different roles at very different times under very different managers.
Yes Stirk has offered more in terms of in possession but Kinsella consistently over several seasons offered way more than Stirk defensively.
Stirk has 5 assists from midfield which kinsella never offered but let’s not pretend he’s some kind of creative force, 3 of them have been from corners, one was a 8 yard pass to Hutch for his 25 yarder v Colchester and the other was a 5 yard pass for Hutchs first v Gillingham…it was hardly carving open a must score situation!
Kinsellas remit was very different and he comes out top on all the defensive actions.
Stirk is of course younger so we need to see where his career heads because it’s still in its infancy. It could go either way depending on multiple factors.
FWIW I think stirks best position is deeper not alongside Hutch but as it stands I’d put comley ahead of him in that role….
Which is why the signing of another player who can adequately play in one of those number 8 roles in case of an injury to Earing or Hutchinson is actually pretty crucial. I agree, Stirk and Comley should be the ones competing for that holding role.
You’ve hit the nail on the head that it’s tough to compare the two. Both play on the same position but do two completely different jobs and offer different things as you alluded to.
For me though, Stirk comes into his own as he’s given us something that we’ve missed for years. He keeps possession well, but not just for the sake of it. His first thought is always to play forward and he invariably makes the right pass. We’ve looked so much more dangerous directly after we’ve turned the ball over this season and a big factor in that has been Stirk (and Tierney for that matter) looking to play forward. There’s far less of the tiresome tippy tappy stuff between the midfield and defence because the lads that play in the middle are much more comfortable on the ball
It’s not a dig at Kinsella either, because as you say, his attributes suit a different style, but thankfully one we seem to be moving away from
He looked good start of the season but injuries disrupted things since, only featured in 3 games since October.
Difficult to see him getting much chance now as given the signings made two CFs will be very regular from now on and Hutch, Earing and Comley really needs to be the central combination IF they can all stay fit. Stirk will get regular minutes aswell in rotation with Earing so Tierney is about 5th choice and lower if McEntee dosen’t get pushed back into defence.
He really is poor. Sam Mantom wannabe.
Mmmm … not required by Motherwell.
Why do some on here have such low expectations? Why praise players so obviously not EFL quality just because they try? Tierney, Stirk and Riley resulted in us being in the lower quartile of L2!!
Hey, let’s develop our own midfielder RAM
Why have people suddenly started to pick on Ross Tierney? He was a good signing, who has played well for us and appears to have a decent attitude. Generally, when players are injured, their credit goes up in terms of how much we miss them (think Rory Holden). What’s so different with Tierney?
It does normally work that way.Probably because, coincidentally, we’ve improved while he’s been out, and more specifically Earing has done well over that time. Some have interpreted missing him less than we might have as no good at all.
Just because we have one player doing well in a position doesn’t mean we don’t need other players who can play there. Competition for places is good .Tierney is a good player and will push Earing along in my view. I am pleased we have both.
I absolutely agree. It’s not just about our “best” starting XI, we need quality on the bench and also across the wider squad so that we aren’t dependent on the availability/form of any particular player(s).
I don’t think on the whole they do but some people have to have chuck stuff at, especially on any form of social media.
You could have a player who has done really well for us and and helped us improve and then because we’ve improved, signed better players etc, they can’t say they did a good job but now we need something better to continue to improve it’s all of a sudden they’re @%$# and a discgrace.
I remember Tom Bennett came on load, was captain, did great and at the end of the season it was “we must sign him, if we don’t the club is a disgrace and we should protest”. We signed him, I spoke to Graydon at Preston near the start of the season who told me his misses was going through a rough time with a birth, Tom wasn’t drastically bad at that point but there were still immediately some that were “he’s $%@#, get rid of him”
