Player by Player rating of the lads this campaign.

[Emmet7]

You haven't answered why this lack of finishing is all Keane's fault, as you've already indicated. No one is excusing poor finishing or saying Keane's great, just pointing out it's a team problem not an individual one. Also quite how you 'get right' not having 'any world class finishers' is another strange one - do we kidnap Torres and rename him O'Toole maybe?

Poor finishing is indicative of poor composure, confidence and experience in a limited group of players. You give them belief - as Trap says - and it grows from there. Finishing comes after that. Hysterical finger pointing and what if's don't come into the equation.

Who is doing the hysterical finger pointing? Where others see a great player, I see major flaws. I see a player who'd rather shoot from 25 yards than bring it closer and then pass. I wouldn't mind if he had the ability to shoot from 25 yards but I've never seen him do it before for Ireland, or indeed ever score from outside the box for Ireland. So he thinks he will start doing it on that night.

In my view Keane is a limited player. There, I've said it, live with it.

I expect the knee jerk patriotic I love Robbie brigade to come streaming out of the woodwork now and tell us how Robbie is a world class finisher, when clearly he is not nor probably never will be.

But we really do need a world class finisher, there's no getting away from that.

[SwanVsDalton]

As I said earlier, he'd rather try a shot from an impossible situation than set up another player. When you think of it, we could have had 2 or 3 more goals in all these games if Keane passed to other players in better positions rather than try the impossible.

And when he gets in one on one situations with keepers he gets cocky and tries to show off.

All of this is at the expense of the team. And if he isn't criticised and merely clapped on the back, he will just continue with his old traits and bad choices and that won't help the Ireland team in the future.

You only have two examples of this, both in the most recent games. Ridiculously selective and hardly outweigh the other points (his scoring record) you have failed to engage with.

Off topic I know (so mods tis up to you), but I just find this attitude so infuriating to be honest. Keane wouldn't have to put up with this kind of intense, and contradictory, scrutiny if he didn't have more talent than most of his teammates. Instead of applauding his undoubted achievements, he is slammed for his few mistakes. If the rest of the team could perform as consistently and with as much composure as Keane, we'd be at the World Cup next year IMO. This isn't to say I think Keane's the last word in football - he has serious flaws. But he takes a barracking for the slightest things.

If he fails to score it's not good enough. If he does he's still rubbish anyway. Seriously, this campaign he has matured into a much better all round player and captain but, still, this is not enough for some.

[Emmet7]

Is this a Robbie Keane Congratulation thread or a thread to identify the weaknesses in the Irish team?

If we ignore the mistakes of the Irish team, we will just repeat them in the future.

[SwanVsDalton]

Is this a Robbie Keane Congratulation thread or a thread to identify the weaknesses in the Irish team?

If we ignore the mistakes of the Irish team, we will just repeat them in the future.

I agree. And no one is ignoring them at all. And no one is congratulating Robbie Keane at all. As for how we got away from the team, eleven men, and on to just one, well...


Keane blew it in Paris, it really is that simple



As for the 40, many of them were penalties which even you would have a good chance of scoring. Many of the rest were scored against the likes of San Marino, Georgia, Albania, Cyprus and so on. Harly top notch opposition.


As for Keane, with the game in the balance he started looking for the fancy goal...go around the keeper when he should have stuck it wide of him, try for a 25 yard screamer when he could have played Doyle in. Same old story with Keane.


The whole campaign was thrown away because Robbie Keane tried to be fancy. His stats throughout the campaign are pointless now.


He wasn't unlucky, he was just crap at finishing the chance and in my opinion showing off which he is prone to do. If Torres, Drogba, Henry or Anelka had that chance, it would be a certain goal.

[SwanVsDalton]

To get back on the team in general -

I've already said somewhere that composure is the key and I stand by that. Our defending has been dreadful and finishing poor on key occasions and both these elements stem from a lack of belief and composure. It's not to be surprised that a team full on inexperienced internationals playing football at lower Premiership level (having emerged from the lower leagues) will lack for belief. With the result we've had in France I believe we can become a much tougher unit at the back, with better concentration, and a more potent attacking force in front of goal.