Robbie Keane faking injury?

[passinginterest]

A notoriosu trend of Benitez's reign is pulling "injured" players from international friendlies only for them to feature days later for the club. We've seen it countless numbers of times with Finnan and this week alone both Keane and Gerrard were pulled from their respective countries.

Given that Keane is said to be in line to start on Saturday it makes me highly sceptical. It might be tolerable for others but if he plays on Saturday he'll be going against everything a Captain should stand for.

He reported to Dublin and was assessed by the Irish medical team. Injuries can be short term.

[tetsujin1979]

We've seen it countless numbers of times with Finnan and this week alone both Keane and Gerrard were pulled from their respective countries.

Keane wasn't pulled out, he was assessed in Dublin and sent back to Liverpool. Likewise Gerrard was called into the England squad and sent back when they were satisfied he couldn't play.

<EDIT>
just beat me to the punch passinginterest!

[NeilMcD]

Ciaran you have hit a new low with this one. Robbie has turned up every time for Ireland and always puts his all in even when his form is poor and his efforts may be misguided. He was assessed by the Irish medical team and sent back to Liverpool. He has now recovered and is available for Liverpool on Saturday. Do you think that all injuries should last a min. of 2 weeks. Or what is your expert medical opinion.

[NeilMcD]

What bit of the he was assessed by the Irish medical team do you not get.

[tetsujin1979]

You have to admit that this kind of thing is a regular occurence with Liverpool. He had no injury when he left the pitch last week and is not an injury prone player, the old "he picked it up in training" but doesn't wash with me where Rafa is concerned.
he didn't have training after the game at the weekend, he was in Dublin on sunday, assessed, and sent back on sunday night.

[cavan_fan]

What bit of the he was assessed by the Irish medical team do you not get.

Oh rubbish, can you really see them saying 'We think you are lying about being injured, so you are going to play on Weds whether you like it or not.' This whole bein g assessed by the national team doctors is a gimmick. No player will ever be passed fit to play unless against the wishes of their club.

[dublinred]

he didn't have training after the game at the weekend, he was in Dublin on sunday, assessed, and sent back on sunday night.

He was spotted in a pub drinking a bottle of Corrs light on Sunday night , absolutely shocking behaviour from the Captain of Ireland , you wouldn't have seen big Mick or Roy drinking such a girly drink.

[Morbo]

I was a bit suspicious to be honest but given that it was only a friendly I wasn't too bothered, completely different situation to Finnan pulling out, Finnan pulling out really hurt our chances of qualifying last year while Robbie pulling out of this friendly isn't going to make any difference for our prospects of qualifying

[galwayhoop]

personally i think it really is a waste of time to have a friendly sandwiched between two club fixtures. what on earth are the international management team going to possibly learn. i mean any regular players won't be happily sent by their clubs anyway so it is only good for the lads who aren't going to get a full regular game (i.e folan, kilbane, gibson, whelan, o'shea).

in fairness to the clubs who play in europe the schedule would have been like this...
league game, champions league, league game, carling game, league game, international Friendly, league game, champions league, league game... and not too long to the busy Christmas period.

it really is a bit of an ask imho and can't be too surprising when players are withdrawn due to (even slight) knocks. i mean most of the big teams wouldn't even play all of their players in the weeks involving league, champ lge, league games anyway so it is a bit of an ask on the players.

btw: club v country - country every time!!!

[DeLorean]

I think it was a reasonable post by Ciaran to be honest. He only said he was a bit sceptical when it came to Pool players and injuries, not sure why so many got touchy about it. Fair enough I personally don't think Robbie Keane is the type that would go along with it especially when I would think he would want to score as many goals for Ireland as possible before he finishes up, twould be nice if he beat the English record of 49!!!Having said that he's only barely getting his game at L'Pool these days so probably wouldn't want to p!ss Rafa off by playing. On the other hand if he was carrying a knock, minor or otherwise it was better for everybody, Ireland included that he gave this one a miss, bigger fish to fry down the road.

As for the whole "being assessed by an Irish doctor" thing....complete rubbish. How many people here have got a cert off a doctor to say they missed work due to illness when really had a couple of days on da beer!!!

[gufcfan]

What bit of the he was assessed by the Irish medical team do you not get.

All of it apparently...

[irishfan86]

If he's got a slight knock, why risk him making the injury more serious by playing a game that means nothing in terms of qualification?

We already know what Keane can do, and his withdrawal meant that we got to have a look at Folan (which in my view was probably the biggest positive from the friendly).

Bottom line: if it was a qualifier, I'm sure he would have played, but why risk injury in a game like this?

[galwayhoop]

Bottom line: if it was a qualifier, I'm sure he would have played

course he would have. also with proper games they get released for 5 days before the game and generally have another 2 or 3 after before playing for their clubs whereby most little knocks have cleared up (for the international game anyway). this sandwiching internationals between 2 league fixtures is a bit silly in that regard as even a very slight knock on the sat/sun and you are 99% going to miss the game as a call is made the night after your league game or the next day at the latest.

[Maroon 7]

A notorious trend of Benitez's reign is pulling "injured" players from international friendlies only for them to feature days later for the club. We've seen it countless numbers of times with Finnan and this week alone both Keane and Gerrard were pulled from their respective countries.


Gerrard has been ruled out for Liverpool tomorrow by the way.

Not sure why you're pushing the Benitez angle though. I thought Alex Ferguson was the master of pulling players out of friendlies only for them to play for Man U days later. Giggs must have missed countless games for Wales down though the years only to recover for the weekend.

As others have been saying I'm sure if it was a qualifier he would have taken the risk and played.

[tetsujin1979]

I'd imagine very few players play every game when they are 100%, there's usually little niggles that get picked up over the course of a season. Because of the saturday - wednesday - saturday schedule of games that top players have to stick to, they don't get time to let these little niggles clear up.
There's no doubt in my mind that Robbie Keane does have a shoulder problem (when was that last time we saw the forward roll goal celebration?) and the medical team felt he was better off resting it than risking anything in a friendly. For what it's worth, what we learned from playing Folan up front might have just made up from missing out on giving him another cap.

[NeilMcD]

I think it was a reasonable post by Ciaran to be honest. He only said he was a bit sceptical when it came to Pool players and injuries, not sure why so many got touchy about it. Fair enough I personally don't think Robbie Keane is the type that would go along with it especially when I would think he would want to score as many goals for Ireland as possible before he finishes up, twould be nice if he beat the English record of 49!!!Having said that he's only barely getting his game at L'Pool these days so probably wouldn't want to p!ss Rafa off by playing. On the other hand if he was carrying a knock, minor or otherwise it was better for everybody, Ireland included that he gave this one a miss, bigger fish to fry down the road.

As for the whole "being assessed by an Irish doctor" thing....complete rubbish. How many people here have got a cert off a doctor to say they missed work due to illness when really had a couple of days on da beer!!!

When we sad an Irish doctor we did not mean he went out to Tallaght to the family doctor and sad any chance of a cert for Il Trap there doc. He was assessed by the Irsh medical team, I don't think they would be handing out "certs" to Keane just for the craic cause he does not feel like playinig or has had one too many Coors lights. The doctors he was assessed by are FAI doctors.

[kingdomkerry]

What the story with people complaining that players were on the beer at the weekend before a friendly. Fair play to them. My only gripe is that john o se fell down the stairs of Krystal and not coppers or even flannerys!

P.S Kevin doyle is a gentleman.

[shakermaker1982]

I'd imagine very few players play every game when they are 100%, there's usually little niggles that get picked up over the course of a season. Because of the saturday - wednesday - saturday schedule of games that top players have to stick to, they don't get time to let these little niggles clear up.
There's no doubt in my mind that Robbie Keane does have a shoulder problem (when was that last time we saw the forward roll goal celebration?) and the medical team felt he was better off resting it than risking anything in a friendly. For what it's worth, what we learned from playing Folan up front might have just made up from missing out on giving him another cap.

are we not seeing the forward roll because of his lack of goals? :D

[jbyrne]

Given that Keane is said to be in line to start on Saturday it makes me highly sceptical. It might be tolerable for others but if he plays on Saturday he'll be going against everything a Captain should stand for.

is this the same robbie keane that played for us in albania a few days after he buried his father. enough said

[DeLorean]

When we sad an Irish doctor we did not mean he went out to Tallaght to the family doctor and sad any chance of a cert for Il Trap there doc. He was assessed by the Irsh medical team, I don't think they would be handing out "certs" to Keane just for the craic cause he does not feel like playinig or has had one too many Coors lights. The doctors he was assessed by are FAI doctors.

Fair enough that comment was more tounge n cheek to be honest but the overall point stays the same. If Robbie Keane tells the doctors (FAI or otherwise) that he's got a slight niggle I don't think they're gonna push the issue too much.

[EalingGreen]

I think it was a reasonable post by Ciaran to be honest. He only said he was a bit sceptical when it came to Pool players and injuries, not sure why so many got touchy about it. Fair enough I personally don't think Robbie Keane is the type that would go along with it especially when I would think he would want to score as many goals for Ireland as possible before he finishes up, twould be nice if he beat the English record of 49!!!Having said that he's only barely getting his game at L'Pool these days so probably wouldn't want to p!ss Rafa off by playing. On the other hand if he was carrying a knock, minor or otherwise it was better for everybody, Ireland included that he gave this one a miss, bigger fish to fry down the road.

Rafael Benitez doesn't ever want any of his players to play international football, just like every other club manager who fears for his job (i.e. all of them!).
But that is not the point, since FIFA Rules clearly protect the International Associations in the event of conflict.
In which case, the two key factors are the determination of the international manager to enforce the rules, and the desire of the player to represent his country.
Re. the former, whilst there may be occasions when Trapattoni may not want to p1ss a club manager off unnecessarily e.g. over an unimportant friendly etc, nonetheless I cannot imagine his ever being intimidated from doing so, either, in games which are important to him.
And as for the player, is there any evidence that Keane is less than 100% committed to representing his country? I certainly haven't seen it, including the years when he was with my team (Spurs).

P.S. With a strike rate of 35 goals in 85 matches, statistically Keane would need to gain 121 caps to notch up 50 goals and overtake Sir Bobby Charlton's 49 goals (in 106). At 28 years old, he's certainly capable of playing for the 5(?) seasons it should take to gain another 36 caps.
Mind you, even if he does, he might still be "playing catch-up" on David Healy, seeing as "Sir David" has scored 35 goals in 70 games. At this rate, the 29 year old Healy theoretically only needs another 30 caps to hit his half century of goals...;)

[NeilMcD]

Fair enough that comment was more tounge n cheek to be honest but the overall point stays the same. If Robbie Keane tells the doctors (FAI or otherwise) that he's got a slight niggle I don't think they're gonna push the issue too much.

Refer to comment above about him playing against Albania just after his Dad died. Its a stupid thread and scandalous to call into question Robbie Keanes commitment to play for Ireland. There are many other reasons to may have a go at him but not this one.

[Stuttgart88]

The only thing Robbie is faking at the moment is being a goalscorer.

I thought Schwarzer blocked the shot well though. After last week I think Keane thought it better to whack it rather than be cunning. If he'd scored last week I think he'd have taken that chance on Saturday. I think this was a case of credit to the keeper though - he was out really quick.

[paul_oshea]

keane just needs to look at robhino and ireland for city. All he had to do is chip it over the keeper, its like he is thinking its going to be easy i dont have to worry and he just taps hits it without thinking about placement or anything and then misses. The liverpool fans are only going ot wait so long....

[DeLorean]

P.S. With a strike rate of 35 goals in 85 matches, statistically Keane would need to gain 121 caps to notch up 50 goals and overtake Sir Bobby Charlton's 49 goals (in 106). At 28 years old, he's certainly capable of playing for the 5(?) seasons it should take to gain another 36 caps.
Mind you, even if he does, he might still be "playing catch-up" on David Healy, seeing as "Sir David" has scored 35 goals in 70 games. At this rate, the 29 year old Healy theoretically only needs another 30 caps to hit his half century of goals...;)

Ya it might be a bit beyond him alright but who knows, we might draw San Marino again at some stage and he might hit another hat-trick or two!!! that is of course assuming San Marino don't develop into that force that aul Stan was predicting!!

[DeLorean]

Refer to comment above about him playing against Albania just after his Dad died. Its a stupid thread and scandalous to call into question Robbie Keanes commitment to play for Ireland. There are many other reasons to may have a go at him but not this one.

I couldn't agree more. I'd never question his loyalty to Ireland, especially in the modern era of overpaid assh0les seemingly not giving a sh!t anymore.