Express & Star

Alan Irvine: Gareth McAuley can go on for years

Published
Last updated

Albion boss Alan Irvine insists veteran defender Gareth McAuley could stay at the top for "years" despite turning 35.

more

McAuley won a recall to the Baggies starting line-up at Hull last week a day after his birthday and produced a man-of-the-match display.

And Irvine believes the Northern Ireland international could play on for a long time yet.

Irvine said: "Gareth showed last week just how much he is in good condition in order to play at this level.

"That was fantastic – to just walk into the team after all that time and perform in the way he did. And there was absolutely no thought afterwards of him struggling on Monday.

"He trained just like everybody else and I think, with his intelligence and understanding of the position, he has got years in front of him.

"I worked at Everton with David Weir, who played until he was 40 and he did that because of his brain.

"They go into the right positions, it's as simple as that. If you stand in the right positions you don't have to run as much.

Gareth McAuley and Tottenham Hotspur's Emmanuel Adebayor battle for the ball

"If you watch young centre-backs they are generally stretching and everybody thinks 'what a great recovery tackle' but when you watch old centre-backs they don't have to make those tackles because they stand in the right places.

"Gareth was in the right place time after time after time last week and I'm not concerned about him being able to play week after week."

McAuley expects to start this afternoon against Villa in a crunch Hawthorns derby but striker Victor Anichebe was being assessed yesterday after suffering another injury setback.

[related_posts title="More on Gareth McAuley"]

The former Everton man has been dogged by groin problems since the summer – the latest fitness saga of a career that has been punctuated by injuries.

And Irvine says everyone at The Hawthorns is infuriated by the persistent problems.

He said: "It's frustrating for everyone. First of all it's frustrating for Victor.

"There's no way he wants to have these kind of problems so it's frustrating for him.

"It's frustrating for the other players, because they know when he's in that kind of form he is unplayable and he's a very important player for us.

"And it's frustrating for the coaching staff and myself because you want to be able to pick from all of your players and certainly players who can make a difference and Victor can certainly make a big difference."