Manchester City Midfielder Stephen Ireland Disappointed At Lack Of Games


Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland has hit out at his manager Roberto Mancini for not handing him first-team opportunities.

The former Republic of Ireland striker failed to live up to the same expectation last season as he did in 2009 where he was voted Player of Year and is now likely to be one of the players shown the door at the City of Manchester stadium.

Mancini is desperate to reduce the size of his squad after the Premier League’s new rules, which states that a squad cannot exceed more than 25 players.

However, Ireland believes he wasn’t given a fair chance by Mancini as City lost out to Tottenham in the race for fourth place last term.

"I came off playing 67 games two years ago to playing just 16 times, including substitute appearances last season,” Ireland told News of the World.

"I can't really live up to what I did before that if I am not getting the opportunities.

"For me, I found that very difficult but if the manager had had a team big enough and strong enough to get through the games and bully teams and get the points we would have done really well.

"I am very ambitious but things are out of my hands.

"I only know what I read in the papers. I haven't heard one bit of interest.

"I have seen Fulham, Spurs and Sunderland mentioned but I haven't been told anything. I'd hope the club would contact me if there was some interest."


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