I won’t be reigning in my aggressive mindset, vows James McClean

James McClean has changed. Matured.

He’s no longer the raw kid that tore it up down the flank as a rookie pro with Sunderland and a tendency to put his foot in it off the pitch has been curbed by an absence from Twitter that is now stretching through a fourth month.

However, there is no denying his DNA. He remains as direct and uncompromising off the pitch as he is on it, so there was no hesitation in declaring that nothing less than six points will do this week — “no two ways about it” — even if Martin O’Neill has banned all talk of Moldova.

A player blessed with power and an aggressive mindset, he won’t be reigning in those instincts any time soon, although he despairs at some of the lazy generalisations which, he claims, have hurt his career.

“That’s my game,” he explained after training at Abbotstown yesterday.

“It’s done me well so far. If anything, I have a bit of an unfair reputation. I’ve been sent off twice in my career. One was rescinded. That’s not bad for someone who seems to be a loose cannon running into tackles. I think I have an unfair reputation.”

He didn’t have to dig deep for evidence.

No further than last Saturday, in fact, when Tony Pulis pulled him from the 1-1 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and explained later that he feared another card for the Derryman in front of such a hostile road.

“Things like that, sometimes it does seem a bit unfair,” he admitted.

That aside, life under Pulis is good at West Brom.

McClean had to make do with cameos off the bench for the club’s first two league games this season but he has held down a starting spot in the midfield since and the potential benefits for Ireland are obvious.

It was O’Neill who first unleashed him upon English football when the pair were still at Sunderland and the Republic of Ireland manager again demonstrated his affinity toward him during the last qualifying campaign and at the Euros in France.

Having started against Serbia in Belgrade in last month’s World Cup opener, his place in the Irish firmament is becoming clearer with every international window and he approaches this week’s double-header in perfect fettle.

“I feel I’m a better player than I was four or five years ago when I broke on the scene so, yeah, I’m raring to go and hopefully this campaign is one where I play a lot more from the start rather than come off the bench.”

Whatever his role, he won’t be banging on O’Neill’s door demanding answers. Not that type of player, he said. The same goes with Pulis who, like O’Neill, understands that his winger is a confidence player.

Stephen Kenny got that, too.

Dundalk’ disastrous plastic pitch prompted him to turn off their FAI Cup defeat of Derry last Sunday but McClean has seen enough of the league champions to appreciate the job his old Brandywell gaffer is doing.

“No, no surprise at all. He’s by the far and away the best manager in the League of Ireland and he’s done a lot for my career. Not only as a tactician but also his man-management skills are very good. He’ll make you feel you’re the best player and I’m glad to see him do well especially after the way (Shamrock) Rovers treated him.”

Could Kenny do a job in England? “Well he’s doing it in Europe, do you know what I mean? He could make that step up.”

McClean may well be treading new ground before Kenny.

O’Neill’s preparations for the meetings with a Georgia and Moldova have been compromised by a surfeit of available goalkeepers and strikers. McClean can’t help him between the sticks but he may well be asked to play up front at some point.

That wouldn’t be completely new.

He spent half a campaign ploughing a lonely and unfamiliar furrow in that department for Wigan Athletic a few years back. He did pretty well, too, though he did point out that it wasn’t well enough.

“I scored a few, aye, but maybe not enough given we got relegated. I enjoy the whole physical aspect of the game as well and if called upon to play up front I will be more than happy to do it again.”