Zinedine Kilbane

[Éanna]

If anyone EVER slags this guy off again, they should be banned from every football ground in the world. An excellent performance, full of running, tackling and very good passing. Simply, brilliant

[Burner]

Yeah, I heard today that Milan and Real Madrid are fighting for his signature- Madrid are offering Zidane, Beckham and Figo plus another 20 million. But sure he's worth it.....nobody ever slag him off again. ;)

[dynamo kerry]

nonsense he's had 20 or so stinkers

[roboyle]

nonsense he's had 20 or so stinkers
Didn't realise he was so flatulent - who does he room with on international duty?

[zinedineontour]

Well ****ed off before the game at how many people were slagging my kevin kilbane flag and giving out cause he was playing. After the game suddenly everyone loved him and was praising the flag. Finally the bloke is getting the recognition he deserves..

[DolansWaistcoat]

Good performance by Kilbane alright and he has been getting better every time he plays for Ireland.Playing regular premiership football as well has to give him the advantage over Kavanagh.

[Donal81]

Kilbane had a great game and I hold my hands up as I certainly thought he was a poor choice for central midfield. He had a cracking game but I won't forget that he's won over 50 caps and this is his first truly excellent performance. He's been in the squad for a long time and this is the first time he has played this well. Hopefully he's finally come good but I won't be putting my house on him just yet, if you don't mind.

[brine3]

It's his second decent Ireland performance, to be fair. He had the Dutch defence ****ting their pants in the Arena in 2000.

[Bondvillain]

Aye, once again, the chap played like Christ on amphetemines. Good show all round.
I do, however, reserve the right to have a go at him should he lapse into shytehawkery at any stage in the future.

[$Leon$]

one of the greatest preformances i've ever seen in an irish shirt. played everyone else off the field

[SÓC]

He made the other two more famous central midfielders (Dacord and Roy Keane) look like there were not in his class.

One french paper (JD) gave him man of the match, the other (l'equipe) gave him 6 out of 8.

A few Turks I spoke to later in a Kebab place had never heard of him before but thought he was pure class

[Donal81]

It's his second decent Ireland performance, to be fair. He had the Dutch defence ****ting their pants in the Arena in 2000.

Apologies, I was out of the country for that match so obviously no performance sticks in the mind. I'm happy for the bloke, he's been around for a long time and has taken a good bit of criticism. Most of which, I must say, was justified. I never thought he should have been played on the left wing, given that Duff was there the whole time, but that's McCarthy's story. Fair play to Kilbane and let's hope this is the start of a new era for him but I'll reserve judgement for the moment. Everyone likes the chap and if this is how he intends to play in the future he'll become an Irish legend for the right reasons. Having said all that, I don't think anyone who thought he would be rubbish in midfield (I'm one of them) should be asked for an apology, his only consistent run has been when he was consistently poor. Anyway, enough negativity, I always feel bad criticising him as he's a bloke from Preston who's always wanted to play for Ireland and gives his all each time. I hope he takes a look at this website and reads all the praise coming his way. Once again, fair play Zinedine, you deserve it.

[sligoman]

Didn't realise he was so flatulent - who does he room with on international duty?

Oh, ha ha, very funny Mr.Sheep

[Dillo]

Kilbane was unquestionably the best Irish player on the night. He was a tower of strength, displayed some excellent ball distribution and broke up the french attack exquisetly. A truly smashing performance from a great genuine pro. No wonder they call him Zinedine down Goodison way! :p

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

Aye, once again, the chap played like Christ on amphetemines. Good show all round.
I do, however, reserve the right to have a go at him should he lapse into shytehawkery at any stage in the future.

Typical rubbish. You obviously don't go to many Ireland games. Kilbane is a breath of fresh air in the Irish team. No player gives so selflessly to the Irish cause. He was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch on Saturday night. He passed well, tackled ferociously, provided drive in the middle of the field, got forward well, and generally looked like the perfect midfield partner for Roy Keane. As always, Kevin Kilbane gave all he had.

It disgusts me how people like you can call yourself a fan when you think you have the right to abuse a player over a poor performance. If Kilbane has a poor performance in the future, then he's well entitled to it, just like Duffer, Roy, Robbie, or any other player. All players will have off-days. Why do football fans have to be so fickle? Kevin Kilbane can be an easy target. However, no one can question his commitment or his ability after Saturday night.

[brine3]

I thought he had a decent game putting himself about and made himself a bit of a fly in the ointment for the French, but some of the superlatives being thrown about are going a bit too far. I thought he passed like ****e and a there were many times when he was out of position some distance between two French players, allowing the French players to lob the ball over his head to each other. But yeah, he ran about a lot and credit to him for that. But this isn't the Olympics, it's football.

[Bondvillain]

Typical rubbish. You obviously don't go to many Ireland games. Kilbane is a breath of fresh air in the Irish team. No player gives so selflessly to the Irish cause. He was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch on Saturday night. He passed well, tackled ferociously, provided drive in the middle of the field, got forward well, and generally looked like the perfect midfield partner for Roy Keane. As always, Kevin Kilbane gave all he had.

It disgusts me how people like you can call yourself a fan when you think you have the right to abuse a player over a poor performance. If Kilbane has a poor performance in the future, then he's well entitled to it, just like Duffer, Roy, Robbie, or any other player. All players will have off-days. Why do football fans have to be so fickle? Kevin Kilbane can be an easy target. However, no one can question his commitment or his ability after Saturday night.

Sorry, it seems Ive not made myself clear, but all i can say in my defence is : what part of Aye, once again, the chap played like Christ on amphetemines. Good show all round. makes it seem like im abusing him?
Have a look at previous posts of mine, I think the buggers great! I even went so far as to predict he'd score the winner for us on Saturday!
Kudos to you for your spirited defence of the man, but my Sign-off was only a tongue-in-cheek reference to Eanna's opening declaration :"If anyone EVER slags this guy off again, they should be banned from every football ground in the world"...... so we'll put it down to crossed wires then.... (and, btw, I have actually been to a coupla matches in my time,so I've seen him good, bad & Indifferent, but never mind, I'm just relieved people dont pay to watch ME work...) :D

[Hither green]

Typical rubbish. You obviously don't go to many Ireland games. Kilbane is a breath of fresh air in the Irish team. No player gives so selflessly to the Irish cause.

Kevin Kilbane can be an easy target. However, no one can question his commitment or his ability after Saturday night.


I have to agree with you there. Kilbane's been harshly treated in the past. Even when not playing well he always gives his all and looks really lively. One gripe though,... if only he could score. I can't remember another player who has got into so many scoring positions for club and country but scored so few of them. If he could put away half of those chances he's already be a legend.

Here's hoping he's found his niche in central midfield. Anyone know where he's been playing for Everton this year?

[zinedineontour]

been playing on the left this year for everton and by all accounts doing very well. He says himself its the best start to the season he has had...

[bryanodowd]

To the tune of the French National Anthem:

He plays in midfield and his name is...
Zinedine Kilbane
he runs through defences and scores
he tracks back and wins the ball
Zinedine zinedine
zinedine zindine
his name his name his name is....
Zinedine kilbane
kilbane!

[LadyJane]

Aye, once again, the chap played like Christ on amphetemines. Good show all round..


Typical rubbish. You obviously don't go to many Ireland games.
It disgusts me how people like you can call yourself a fan when you think you have the right to abuse a player over a poor performance. No one can question his commitment or his ability after Saturday night.

Phew! You're easily Disgusted, eh J.P.M.?

Im Confused. Is ur point that the only ones who can have an opinion are those that have ticket stubs for all the games since 1768, or is it that the only ones who can have an opinion are those with nice things to say about our Kev?
But seriously, standing up for KK is admirable, but do u think maybe u over-reacted just a little to what was obviously a joke? "descending into shythawkery" is hardly a serious career destroying criticism, now, is it?

No one DID question Zin's commitment or ability on this thread, and the one member u chose to have a go at actually compared him to Jesus! (again, possibly hyperbole, but hey, the country's in a good mood...)
Anyhow, just to say Live & let live etc.... 3 points and a v.positive goal diff on Wed if ur listening please, god of football. :D

[carnstien]

very good passing. Simply, brilliant
I agree that Kilbane played well against France but I will never agree that his passing has ever been or will ever be very good. He did the running and donkey work very well against France but I still question his use of the ball.

He is well behind Reid, Miller, Kav or O'Shea, all of whom could play in his postition, when it comes to passing ability.

When we play the Faroes on Wednesday and his use of the ball will be in the spotlight I think he will be found out again.

[pete]

Still there will be people slagging him off tomorrow at Lansdowne.

He had one of his worst games in basel & shows guts to follow it up with one of his best.

[Irish_Praha]

It was a big big improvement on Basel. Carr is back to his best, Robbie wasn't as annoying as usual, the two centre backs were excellent and Given was very reliable. For the most part we managed to contain the French. I'm just a little disappointed that we had so few clear cut chances with all the possesion we had in their half. Maybe things would have been different if Morrisson didnt have to come off.
Kilbane was great at breaking up the French play and forcing them into giving away throws and a few corners. Stopping the French from playing it around is as good as scoring a few goals and a Keane-Kilbane combination is probably our best option for playing against teams that are arguably more skillfull than us. However, I think it is a bad choice for playing against weaker teams. Admit it, we all had a little bit of fear going into this game that the French could tear us apart with a piece of magic from their remaining stars. I for one was worried about them catching us on the break. So when they were stringing a few passes together it was a big relief to see big KK get a foot in and disposses them before their attack came to anything. It was great to see him do this allover the park too. I'll say it again this is exactly what we needed against the French but against the Faroes we are going to need a bit more skill to open up their 11 man defence it's not good enough just to deposses them and be happy to prevent them from creating anything. Remember Kilbane is supposed to be our creative midfielder. He did win a lot of possesion and several corners but he didn't give any decent passes or crosses into the box on Saturday.
He deserves his chance to start again tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if he can do anything creative. If not he should be replaced by Reid or Miller with about half an hour to go. We need to get realistic here it was his first decent game in a while. He might play total w@nk again tomorrow but I hope he shows another side to his game and actually sets up or scores a goal or two now that he wont be under so much pressure to defend.

[tiktok]

I agree that Kilbane played well against France but I will never agree that his passing......will ever be very good........

you'll never agree?
whether his passing actually turns out to be good or not?
Never?

Get over it :rolleyes:

He was arguably the best player on the pitch on saturday, the French were raving about him aswell. I agree he was poor in basle, but IMO that makes the way he upped his game all the more impressive.

[Éanna]

He is well behind Reid, Miller, Kav or O'Shea, all of whom could play in his postition, when it comes to passing ability.
if they were all better than him in that position, then they would be the ones playing regularly for a premiership club, wouldn't they? As for O'Shea, the guy's been found out, one good season and thats it. He's been very poor recently

[zinedineontour]

have to say kilbanes passing was exemplory on sat . he did the easy thing and i think playing alongside keane has really helped him in the middle. osheas passing has been abysmal for a while now and kav is more a workhorse than a passer.

[Slash/ED]

if they were all better than him in that position, then they would be the ones playing regularly for a premiership club, wouldn't they? As for O'Shea, the guy's been found out, one good season and thats it. He's been very poor recently

By your own logic, if O'Shea was so poor he wouldn't be the one playing regularly for a champions league club.


kav is more a workhorse than a passer.

I would say with some confidence that Kav is a better passer then Kilbane, who surley fits that description more perfectly than any other player in our squad. I'm not having a go at Kilbane as he was outstanding on saturday mind you.

[Éanna]

Kavanagh's a great passer IMO, but he's relatively untried at premiership/international level. As for O'Shea, I meant playing regularly at centre-mid, which as far as I know, O'Shea has only done a few times.

[Slash/ED]

No, you said he'd been "found out" "one good season and that's it" by your own logic, if that was true he wouldn't be the one playing regularly in a champions league side, in any position.

[Éanna]

Ok, didn't make my point very well.
1. He hasn't played centre-mid regularly/often enough to be considered there for Ireland.
2. As a defender he had one good season and hasn't lived up to the hype since IMO.

[zinedineontour]

I like Kav as a player but his passing and dead ball work in the couple of games he had with us recently was terrible. I think hes a first div player who will give 100% but is lacking that extra bit of quality needed at int level

[Stuttgart88]

Kilbane has got so much character it's fantastic.

I was crying out for him to be dropped half-way through the WC02 qualifying campaign. This was for his sake. The poor guy was having a mare at club level and everyone was on his back. Nobody is suggesting he's a great passer, but you can't argue against how effective he was. I also felt he should make way for Kavanagh for the Paris game. Wrong call.

He was fantastic in Paris. If Gerrard or Vieira gave the same performance we'd be raving about them. For God's sake, Pele thought that Nicky Butt was a class act. KK any day please. And since when has Vieira been such a great passer anyway? And have you ever seen him shoot?

I don't see why O'Shea is getting so much flak. He was fine on Saturday. He had Pires and Gallas to contend with.