Conor Bradley was hailed as “outstanding” after he produced arguably the best performance of his Northern Ireland career to keep them in the hunt for a place at the World Cup.
The Liverpool defender played 90 minutes at Windsor Park on Friday night as his side defeated Slovakia 2-0 to move up to second in Group A.
The 22-year-old was handed the captain’s armband for the qualifier in Belfast, which was his 28th appearance for his country since debuting in May 2021.
Per FotMob, Bradley completed the most dribbles (five) and won the most duels (14) – and he was the subject of effusive praise from his team-mates and manager.
“The best player on the pitch by a mile, in my opinion,” said Sunderland defender Trai Hume, who scored Northern Ireland’s second goal of the night.
Meanwhile, manager Michael O’Neill added: “When he plays in a Northern Ireland shirt, he knows he plays really on the front foot.”
Sadly for Northern Ireland, Bradley’s booking 14 minutes from time for a foul on Lukas Haraslin means he will be suspended for Monday’s home tie against Germany.
“There were worse tackles in the game and one just before that was particularly poor on Isaac Price that the referee let go,” added O’Neill.
“To produce a yellow card for that was disappointing.”
Bradley booked SEVEN times already this season
After seven yellow cards from 12 appearances for club and country this season, it is fair to say that discipline is an issue that is hindering Bradley’s hunt for game time – certainly for his club.
In last week’s 2-1 defeat at Chelsea, Bradley was replaced at half-time by Florian Wirtz, with Dominik Szoboszlai moving to right-back, after the No. 12 picked up a booking in the first half.
The fact that Bradley has only managed more than 45 minutes of action on one occasion for the Reds this term – against Everton in September – is proof that he finds himself in a tug-of-war with Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong for a starting role.
On talent alone, Bradley should have no worries about nailing down the position of Liverpool’s first-choice right-back in the long term.
But if the bookings persist, then it will leave Slot no option but to continue to chop and change at full-back.
Should that be the case, then it serves little benefit to anyone as Liverpool continue to search for the kind of consistency and stability that helped them win every available major honour between 2019 and 2022.
In the meantime, Bradley will have to settle for a place in the stands on Monday night when Northern Ireland host Germany.
Wirtz will almost certainly start for the visitors and should have claimed an assist in Germany’s 4-0 thrashing of Luxembourg on Friday, only for Nick Woltemade to fluff his lines with one of the four chances Liverpool’s No. 7 created.
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