JAMES McClean has had better weeks. He has been on the receiving end of some sharp criticism throughout the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2020 qualification campaign, but it probably intensified before and after the side’s 1-1 draw with Denmark on Monday night.
McClean made a rare media appearance prior to the Danish clash where he did separate interviews with the broadcast and print media.
Before he began answering questions for the broadcast section, he told one journalist not to be asking any questions before lobbing a verbal insult in his direction.
In the print section, he took aim at another journalist.
Clearly, McClean was annoyed at something the two journalists had written.
Open and honest as ever, the Derryman told newspaper reporters that he “couldn't give a sh*t what you write, to be honest.”
The point was that clearly he does care otherwise he wouldn’t have been so wound up by the words of the broadcast and print media.
In the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, McClean was Ireland’s talisman, grabbing that marvellous winner in Cardiff and producing a string of braveheart displays that contributed massively to the side reaching the play-offs.
But these are leaner times for the 30-year-old and the criticism has had a noticeably sharper edge to it, too.
International football is probably the most scrutinised because the games are sporadic and the national media’s gaze lingers from one international window to the next.
Criticism, of course, comes with the territory as a top level footballer and McClean could have handled last week’s respective media briefings more professionally than he did.
Whether you agree with McClean’s political outlook or not, you have to admire him for standing up for what he believes.
“I would rather stand for something than fall for nothing,” he said.
He gets barracked everywhere he goes for his views and his Poppy stance and just when his form dips, the bayonets in some quarters seem to emerge with slightly more eagerness.
After Monday night’s draw, one internet journalist provided a statistical breakdown of McClean’s performance against the Danes.
The journalist explained how the Stoke City winger led the Irish team with 19 lost possessions and found a team-mate with none of his four crosses. He continued McClean had the worst passing percentage in the opposition’s half of the field with just over 52 per cent success rate.
Statistics undoubtedly have a place in the modern game but sometimes it’s better to consider the stats and then look with your eyes.
To rhyme off a load of numbers is, at best, a truncated analysis and is often oblivious to the essential core of a performance.
Now, that is not to say McClean delivered a vintage display against Denmark because he didn’t.
But it’s unfair to pick and trumpet the bits you don’t like as it’s akin to studying a performance the way you would choose from an a la carte menu.
It’s only on second viewing of Monday night’s qualifier, I saw McClean’s performance in a better light. A cursory look at his second-half display would show that he won back possession four times – more than any Irish team-mate.
He thundered into Martin Braithwaite in the opening minutes of the second period, the kind of tackle that can be a momentum changer.
In the 50th minute, he robbed Henrik Dalsgaard of possession in Ireland’s half of the field and was fouled by his Danish counterpart. He won back possession 10 minutes later to set up an Irish attack.
Twice in stoppage-time he won the ball back from Andreas Christensen and Christian Eriksen.
A couple of McClean’s touches were flicked headers – in the 46th and 65th minutes.
It’s hard to know if these touches were accounted for in statistical breakdowns as ‘spurning possession’ because if they were, it would be a flaw in the analysis.
In the 66th minute, he made a 40-yard run back to deny Yussuf Poulsen space in crossing into the Republic’s penalty area.
In tracking back, he didn’t touch the ball. Where does this kind of work-rate reveal itself in statistical breakdowns of performances?
In the 87th minute, he forced Pierre Emile Hojbjerg into passing back to his goalkeeper from the halfway line.
His attempted cross from the left in the 58th minute was poor.
Seconds later, he had another chance to cross but had two Danish defenders in close proximity and a third who was positioned to intercept the ball. There was little prospect of McClean getting a decent cross into the Danish penalty area with so little space to work with.
Perhaps the most gnawing aspect of the crude statistical analysis of McClean’s performance is that it’s hard to know what people expect of him.
He’s not going to turn up in Dublin on international night and play like Rivelino.
McClean's greatest asset as a footballer has always been his bravery, not just in terms of challenging for balls he has no right to win, but in showing and demanding the ball when he’s not playing well.
It’s part of the gig as a winger that you’re playing in an area of the field where you take risks with the ball, which is made more difficult because of the lack of quality in Republic ranks and the vertical nature of their play.
A lot balls up to Ireland’s front three are hopeful at best, where they have to fight and scrap for everything.
So when some analysts sit down and view football as if it was FIFA PlayStation, they are so far removed from the game’s essential core.
James McClean has won 72 caps and scored 10 goals for Ireland.
No matter how hard some people try to denigrate the Derry man, it’s impossible to wash away that kind of contribution from a footballer who lives for the green jersey.
