Manchester City midfield ace Stephen Ireland has dismissed all plaudits that have come his way this season.

Ireland told the Daily Mail: "I take football very seriously.

"I don't think I'm having a good enough season. I should have scored more goals, delivered more assists. I am a big believer in looking in the mirror and saying, 'Are you good enough? Did you do good enough today? Did you fight hard enough?'

"If something is not going right in a match then you need a player who can spark something off. I want that player to be me.

"It's like Keane was at Manchester United. Whenever things were getting hot and heavy for them, Keane would just get in there and hit someone hard - someone like Zinedine Zidane - and everyone would be like: 'Look at that!' They would take their lead from that and they would be off and running. In my head, that's me. That's the person I want to be."