He had/has loads of potential. He just refuses to accept responsibility of the roles that normal midfielders should have. He has no defensive capabilities. Imagine a decent midfielder with the ability to spray passes all over the pitch and to occasionally make bombing runs up the pitch when required. Unfortunately Ireland is a shit midfielder who believes his true position is in the hole when the fact of the matter is that there are so many players better than him at playing in the hole. He SHOULD be a midfielder and concentrate on becoming a decent midfielder.