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Roy Keane, sat beside Wim Jansen with David Moyes, Phil Neville and Don Givens all close by, was at Villa Park to watch Ciaran Clark.
Scouting Report

How did the Ireland squad members get on over the weekend?

With Martin O’Neill’s first game coming up on Friday, we give a complete rundown of the players’ most recent performances.

David Forde — Made his 250th appearance in a Millwall shirt but was unable to prevent Bolton from earning their first home win of the season. Went to ground early for Jermaine Beckford’s cheeky chip but couldn’t be blamed for any of the goals.

Keiren Westwood — The Sunderland number one was expected to be fit to face Man City after coming off injured against Hull last week but wasn’t risked with Vito Mannone replacing him as the Black Cats earned a huge win.

Rob Elliot — Newcastle’s back-up goalkeeper Elliot watched from the bench as team-mate Tim Krul put in one of the performances of his career to keep Spurs at bay in the 1-0 victory.

Sean St Ledger — The Leicester defender hasn’t featured for club or country since August. As well as suffering a knee injury, he is out of favour at the Foxes and is keen on a loan move away.

Marc Wilson – Came on as a late substitute for Stephen Ireland in Stoke’s 3-3 draw away to Swansea yesterday.

Seamus Coleman — Everton full-back Coleman started in the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace and was part of the Toffees defence which now hasn’t conceded a goal in the Premier League in over 330 minutes of football.

John O’Shea — The Sunderland captain was excellent alongside Wes Brown as they kept Man City pair Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo quiet to earn a crucial victory at the Stadium of Light.

Alex Pearce — Pearce will be looking to add to his single senior cap earned against Oman but was an unused substitute in Reading’s 1-1 draw with QPR.

Stephen Kelly — Royals team-mate Stephen Kelly began at full-back as Nigel Adkins’ side bounced back from a heavy defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Joey O’Brien — There was no place for O’Brien in the West Ham team which lost out to Norwich at Carrow Road.

James McCarthy — McCarthy marshalled the Everton midfield and importantly avoided a booking that would have put him out of the Merseyside derby on 23 November.

Ciaran Clark — With new assistant boss Roy Keane watching from the stands, the Aston Villa defender kept Cardiff at bay but picked up a foot injury which has ruled him out of the upcoming Ireland games.

Stephen Ward –The Dubliner made his 13th appearance of the season for Brighton in their 3-0 win at home to Blackburn.

Glenn Whelan — Three Ireland players featured for the Potters yesterday but Whelan wasn’t one of them.

Paul Green — Having started the season as a regular in the team, Green has fallen down the pecking order at Leeds and it is over a month since he last played.

Andy Reid – Played a super disguised pass to Jamie Paterson who in turn set up Simon Cox for Nottingham Forest’s opener and his corner resulted in a second goal from Jamie Mackie in the 2-0 defeat of Leceister.

Aiden McGeady — The big game in Russia over the weekend saw Spartak Moscow move to within three points of the top with a 4-2 win over current leaders Zenit St Petersburg and McGeady played 87 minutes.

Anthony Pilkington — Was forced off the pitch after just 33 minutes against West Ham after picking up a knock but hasn’t pulled out of the squad.

James McClean — Rumours that McClean had been dropped by Wigan for refusing to wear a poppy on his shirt caused a hullabaloo on Twitter before Owen Coyle set the record straight by revealing he was suffering from a dead leg.

Robbie Brady — Named in the squad but withdrawn yesterday as he hasn’t yet fully recovered from a hernia operation.

Stephen Quinn — Handed just 10 minutes in Hull’s loss to Southampton.

Wes Hoolahan — How quickly things can change. Last season, Hoolahan was a key man for Norwich. Now he is resigned to the bench and wasn’t called upon on Saturday.

Shane Long — It was a big day for Shane Long on Saturday as the West Brom striker scored his first goal of the season before being taken off 11 minutes from time against Chelsea.

imageLong scores against Chelsea. Credit: Stephen Pond/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Robbie Keane — The Ireland captain’s club season is over as La Galaxy were dumped out of the MLS play-offs after losing out to Real Salt Lake last week.

Jon Walters – Another striker to get off the mark, Walters opened his account for the campaign with the first goal against Swansea. Incredibly, he was playing in his 100th consecutive league game.

Kevin Doyle — Came on as a 60th minute substitute as Wolves drew 1-1 with fellow League One outfit Oldham in the first round of the FA Cup.

Anthony Stokes — Introduced into Celtic’s league game with Ross County with 19 minutes remaining, Stokes had a hand in the build-up for their fourth goal.

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