Welsh Players' Season Review - Premier League Part 2

Stoke City (and Sunderland)
Danny Collins was Sunderland’s Player of the Year last season so it was a big surprise when new manager Steve Bruce promptly ditched him and sent him packing for Stoke. Danny repaid Sunderland by helping to ensure Stoke finished above them again.
Danny began the season as a regular in Tony Pulis’ team, playing at centre back and left back, but his performances disappointed the fans and one can only assume his manager too (but not me, Danny, I still love you) and he found himself on the bench again. An injury to Ryan Shawcross gave Danny the chance to play in defence again and he generally acquitted himself well but he sent back to the bench again once Ryan was fit.
It’s hard to know what will happen next season. If Danny wants first-team football, he might feel he has a better chance elsewhere. Aston Villa were rumoured to be interested last year although I think that was the papers getting him mixed up with James Collins, whom they did sign (and Danny would be pretty lucky to break into Villa’s defence, not even Luke Young can get in there and I think he’s the best English right back in the League). But I imagine there would be a few clubs interested if Danny did want to make a move. And if they do confuse him with his Villain namesake, that can only help.
Danny dropped strong hints that he’d be happy to make it up with John Toshack and play for Wales again if selected. Meanwhile, Tosh hinted he’d be happy for Danny to play for Wales again if he went to him and asked to be picked. So it’s a bit of a stalemate really but if one of them’s got to make the first move, shouldn’t that be Tosh? Footballers don’t usually go ringing up the national team manager and asking to be put in the team. I bet they’d get a short answer if they did.

Stoke City
Ryan Shawcross has had a great year as far as football is concerned but he might find himself remembered for all the wrong reasons. Credit to Ryan for the way he has bounced back from the incident. In the process of bouncing back he has unfortunately bounced against several opponents with perhaps slightly more force than necessary but it’s good his confidence hasn’t been knocked to the extent that he isn’t the same player he was before. He could be still growing (he was quite recently) so maybe once he’s got to know his own body and his own strength, he won’t be quite so clumsy in future.
But there are also lots of positives from this season. Ryan is a great player and the fact that Manchester United are now realising that selling him to Stoke was a bit of a mistake shows you how far he’s progressed this season. He’s had his first call-up to the England squad (and he would have had his first call-up to the Wales squad if he’d said yes) and if it weren’t for a badly-timed injury, he might have been heading for South Africa this summer.
Ryan will probably get some more attention from the bigger clubs during this transfer window but Tony Pulis knows what he’s doing and he’s not about to let the big clubs get in his way by stealing his best players. If they need some more money, there are plenty of players who can be shown the door before Ryan. The only problem for Stoke could be if Ryan himself wants to play for a bigger club but there’s no evidence so far to suggest he might.

Tottenham Hotspur
Gareth Bale is someone I have written about a lot, insisting he was brilliant and he should be in Tottenham Hotspur’s first team. Nearly everyone else kept saying he was rubbish and he couldn’t defend and he couldn’t leave his hair alone. Well who was right? He might still have the odd defensive lapse but it was at left back that he first became acclaimed this season and he only touches his hair now when he’s missed a chance to score and wants to run his fingers through it.
There are still many who feel Gareth’s defensive abilities are still rather… undeveloped (well you wouldn’t expect him to be at his defensive best at twenty) but there were actually complaints when Gareth was moved to left wing due to injuries because he was such a great left back. Now he seems to be spending most of his time in midfield but as long as he’s on the pitch, I’m happy and more importantly so is Gareth.
All I wanted this season (apart from Arsenal winning the League and me getting a book contract) was for Gareth to score a goal. And that’s exactly what he did. Unfortunately he did it against my team and they never really recovered. Gareth and Messi between them have a lot to answer for. They’re lucky they’re so cute.
There were rumours in January that Gareth could be moving on and it seemed for a while that the only team who didn’t want him were Tottenham. But he stayed and Tottenham must be so glad he did. Manchester United still want a bit of Gareth but he signed a four-year contract with Tottenham (before they got into the Champions’ League) which means he should be with Tottenham at least until January.
No, actually I could see him staying a lot longer than that.
Even when he struggled with Tottenham, Gareth continued to play well for Wales, whether he was playing at left back or in a more attacking role. If he’s not the first player to get 100 caps, I’ll be very surprised.

West Ham United
Danny Gabbidon has spent two years on the sidelines so he must have been so happy when he finally got back into the West Ham United team this season. Unfortunately the season has not gone as hoped and the centre back has again missed at least half the season with injury. He’s now fit and back on the bench but he hasn’t started for ages. But at least he’s on the bench. Not long ago, even that didn’t look like a certainty.
Danny could be one of the players to leave West Ham United as only one player is said not to be on the transfer list and that’s Scott Parker. As Danny isn’t Scott Parker, you can only assume he’s up for grabs. No-one seems interested yet but there are probably plenty of teams who’d like an experienced defender athough they might balk at his alleged wages. But if he does stay at West Ham, I’m sure he can get back into the first team again.
Danny was also happy about being back in the Wales squad after his long absence. With James Collins and Ashley Williams playing so well for their clubs, he might not be an automatic starter (unless Wales play with three centre backs or with Ashley in midfield) but he probably would have started against Croatia if he hadn’t got injured again.

Jack Collison had a great start to the season, scoring goals and assists even when West Ham were stuck at the bottom of the table and not winning. But the knee problems that had ruled him out of a number of Wales games just would not go away, with the result that he finally had surgery last week. He’s expected to be out until January although his former manager Gianfranco Zola believes he could be back sooner than that.
Aston Villa bought the injured Stewart Downing last year but as a rule injured players don’t often get signed up by new clubs. So even if Jack is on the transfer list along with every other West Ham player, a lot of clubs would rather wait until January. However as with Stewart Downing, his price is likely to be marked down due to his injury and it’s not impossible that one or two clubs might be interested in grabbing him on special offer. And he only needs one club to be interested to end up sold.
Arsenal are one club who have been linked with Jack. And they’re another club who have bought injured players recently. However, Amaury Bischoff didn’t work out while Mikael Silvestre’s success has been variable to say the least (although I have been quite grateful for Silvestre’s presence recently, mostly because there hasn’t been anyone else). So let’s see what happens.
Jack insists he wants to play for Wales but the fact is he still hasn’t played for them in a competitive fixture so let’s hope Fabio Capello keeps his hands off.

Wigan Athletic
Jason Koumas had a good start to the season – and was Wigan’s joint top scorer for almost a month although perhaps only a really biased Wales fan would point this out. But then he was dropped from the team and more often than not dropped from the squad too. I don’t know what he did that was so bad but he’s a good player (I am quite glad he didn’t play against Arsenal though, things were bad enough already). But it’s no surprise to hear Jason has left Wigan after his contract came to an end. Even if Roberto Martinez had suddenly seen sense, would Jason have wanted to stay after the way he’s been treated?
A lot of clubs have been rumoured to be interested in Jason. Chief among them is Jason’s old club West Bromwich Albion, who apparently considered signing him on loan but didn’t: one suggested reason was that they had too many loan players already. Another former club, Cardiff City, were also said to be interested but their financial situation made it impossible. Newcastle United are another to be linked.
Jason has retired from Wales but maybe he’ll do a Jamie Carragher.

Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wayne Hennessey was Wales No 1 keeper even when Boaz Myhill was in the Premier League and he wasn’t. And I don’t think he did that badly in the Premier League this season. True, Wolves were looking like strong relegation candidates when he was between the sticks but I don’t think that was Wayne’s fault and they might well have gradually pulled away even if he had stayed as their first-choice goalkeeper.
But as usual, Mick McCarthy and I were not in agreement and as he is the one who’s actually in charge at Wolves, he was the one who got his way: Wayne was dropped to the bench. Many predicted that he would be back as the No 1 goalkeeper before the season ended but far from regaining his firstp-team place, Wayne wasn’t even in the squad for the final two games.
Wayne is a more than promising young keeper with a great future ahead of him and I’m sure Wolves would want to hang onto him if they could. But if it’s true that Liverpool are interested in taking him to Anfield, Wolves might just be tempted. The only question is whether Wayne would want to go to a top(ish) club where he’d be lucky to wrest the shirt from Pepe Reina’s grasp, or whether he’d rather stay at a club who are likely to be in relegation trouble again but where he has a chance of getting back to being first choice. Perhaps his best chance of first-team football is if he goes to Burnley on loan – although their first-choice Brian Jensen isn’t that bad - but they’ll be playing in the Championship.

Dave Edwards probably wasn’t really seen as one of the stars of Wolves’ team at the start of the season. He wasn’t an automatic starter and he didn’t have his own Match Attax card. But impressive appearances from the bench soon got Dave his own starting spot and there he pretty much stayed until an ankle injury ruled him out for a few months. On returning to the team, Dave did get a few starts but more recently he’s been back on the bench again.
Dave has done well for Wolves and Wales so anyone needing a good midfielder could do a lot worse. There are no rumours as yet though and he seems happy at Wolves so I think he’ll stay and fight for his place.

David Jones made the decision to play for England instead of Wales but as he hasn’t played for the A squad yet, he’s still an option for Wales and his form this season means I’d certainly be picking him if I was the Wales manager.
At the beginning of the season, David’s appearances tended to be from the bench if he appeared at all. But when given the chance of playing a more regular role, he grabbed the opportunity and is now a regular starter. David is a threat from free kicks and when there is some sort of attack going on, he’s often there playing a big part in it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were clubs showing an interest in David but as he’s not one of the official big stars, maybe no-one’s noticed and Wolves will be able to hang onto him. If they can survive again,

Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan to Leeds United)
Sam Vokes is seen as part of the future for Wales but until recently his Wolves future looked far from secure. He played only a limited part in the first half of the season and was sent on loan to Leeds United, who also didn’t seem terribly interested and mostly left him to rot on the bench.
On his return to the club, Sam managed to force his way back into first-team reckoning, making a number of appearances from the bench. There had been talk of sending Sam out on loan again but Sam did so well that Mick McCarthy got rid of Chris Iwelumo instead.
But after Sam missed a sitter with his first touch (I mean come on, it’s his first touch, if someone scored with their first touch it’s pretty amazing so why is it so bad if Sam misses?) I don’t think he’s even been near the bench and he was mentioned on a list of players who could be moved on due to lack of opportunities. So it was a bit of a surprise – although a very nice one – to hear that Sam has extended his contract at Wolves.
Sam also continues to play for Wales both in the A squad and at under-21 level. There are plenty of players in the senior squad who are eligible to play for the under-21s but only Sam is selected for both continually.