Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane

[geysir]

Too clumsy, rash in the tackle and lacks dominance. Has always played for teams that have leaked loads of goals. Derby are where they are in spite of and not because of him.

Delaney, O'Shea, Dunne, Clark, Wilson, Duffy and Pearce are all better options and St Ledger too on International form but not club form.
That statement has very dubious merit.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

That statement has very dubious merit.

Derby have one of the best midfields in The Championship. They have no problem scoring goals. Their downfall has always been leaking soft goals and Keogh (in particular) being a penalty waiting to happen.

[Charlie Darwin]

One can only hope, for Derby's sake, that they drop such an obvious and proven liability.

[DeLorean]

He's injured for a month now anyway. Derby had a soft centre because they were not defending well as a team. It was as much down to their midfield as their defence. McClaren has them organised a lot better and, as a result, everybody looks better, Keogh included. He won the fans award for Derby's player of the season 2012/13. What TOWK's is saying just doesn't really stack up and I'd be interested in hearing what he's basing his opinion on, given how little TV time Keogh and co actually get? Of course, he could be completely right that Keogh isn't cut out for international football but, given what a success Sledge has been for us, I'd be very slow to rule him out completely.

[geysir]

Derby have one of the best midfields in The Championship. They have no problem scoring goals. Their downfall has always been leaking soft goals and Keogh (in particular) being a penalty waiting to happen.
Being labelled as "a penalty waiting to happen" has very... very... very.... dubious merit on Foot ie.

[Charlie Darwin]

How long were we waiting for Coleman's penalty to happen, 3 years?

[paul_oshea]

3 years later he is still getting away with it :)

I think its about 2 though...; )

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

We all have different opinions on different players but I think my criticism of Keogh is every bit as valid as the criticism of Conor Sammon.

[tetsujin1979]

Too clumsy, rash in the tackle and lacks dominance. Has always played for teams that have leaked loads of goals. Derby are where they are in spite of and not because of him.

Delaney, O'Shea, Dunne, Clark, Wilson, Duffy and Pearce are all better options and St Ledger too on International form but not club form.
Played every minute of every game for Derby last season - 49 games. Was booked three times. Can't be that clumsy or rash at tackling.

[Charlie Darwin]

Perhaps he's so rash in the tackle he doesn't get close enough to the player to commit a foul. Presumably the three bookings were for rashly taking out bystanders.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Well I have been at Pride Park enough to ascertain that he is not good enough to step up to International football and that would be the consensus of most Derby fans.

But if people think he should be in Ireland squads when we have O'Shea, Dunne, Clark, McShane, Delaney, Wilson, St Ledger and Pearce then that's their prerogative.

He also played every minute of every game for Coventry when they got relegated to League One! :p

[Charlie Darwin]

Has it occurred to you that you might not be the best judge of who can make the step up without actually seeing them in that environment? I wouldn't have him in the squad ahead of most of those named either but if he continues to succeed, I'd certainly like to have a look at him. I doubt many people around here would have predicted a year ago that Damien Delaney would be playing in the Premier League.

[Grafter]

McClaren rates Keogh from what I've read. Certainly deserving of Ireland game time at this moment in time IMO

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Ahead of Wilson, Clark, Dunne, O'Shea, McShane and Delaney?

Even Duffy and Pearce?

[Grafter]

To be fair, can we say Duffy or Pearce is a better defender at this point? With regards to the others, a couple of injuries and you would be on the phone to Derby for sure.

[geysir]

Well I have been at Pride Park enough to ascertain that he is not good enough to step up to International football and that would be the consensus of most Derby fans.
But if people think he should be in Ireland squads when we have O'Shea, Dunne, Clark, McShane, Delaney, Wilson, St Ledger and Pearce then that's their prerogative.
That statement has no value. Consensus indicates unanimity of opinion. "We" don't speak on behalf of others, especially when the others have not expressed any opinion on the matter. Do you seriously think there are more than 10 Derby fans would have a clue about our team?

Regardless, the general opinion amongst Derby fans about captain Keogh is favourable. We are the ones who have opinions about such and such a player being good enough for our team or the squad or worth a look at.

[SkStu]

Ah Jesus, lads give him a break, he's just giving his opinion on a player he has seen in the flesh a lot more than any of us probably! Tough crowd!

Though the penalty waiting to happen comment from Geysir made me chuckle. I thought PoS had intellectual property rights on that level of foresight! :D

[Charlie Darwin]

You'll all be glad to know that Richard Keogh gave away a penalty three years ago: http://forum.football.co.uk/about327777.html

Also, because I'm sure you're all dying to know, his namesake on the journal.ie site is dead against the death penalty.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Are you Richard Keogh's agent? :p That wasn't the last penalty he conceded.

[Charlie Darwin]

No, don't you know how this works? I'm a close admirer of Richard Keogh who in no way knows him but watches every game he plays and knows what he's thinking, but I am in no way the actual Richard Keogh. Just ask the doc, he's not a professional footballer either. Neither of us are.

[Crosby87]

Speaking of the doc how is Ruud doing?

[SkStu]

No, don't you know how this works? I'm a close admirer of Richard Keogh who in no way knows him but watches every game he plays and knows what he's thinking, but I am in no way the actual Richard Keogh. Just ask the doc, he's not a professional footballer either. Neither of us are.

Hmmmmmmm...I wasn't suspicious before but...that's exactly what the actual Richard Keogh would say.

[DeLorean]

Well I have been at Pride Park enough to ascertain that he is not good enough to step up to International football and that would be the consensus of most Derby fans.

But if people think he should be in Ireland squads when we have O'Shea, Dunne, Clark, McShane, Delaney, Wilson, St Ledger and Pearce then that's their prerogative.

He also played every minute of every game for Coventry when they got relegated to League One! :p

Derby are one of the few clubs I see from time to time, in the flesh, myself. The consensus amongst the fans I've been talking to is that he is solid. Of course, as SkStu points out, you are more than entitled to your opinion based on what you have seen. That said, he won all three Derby player of the year awards last season, including the fans vote. As someone else pointed out, the majority of Derby fans wouldn't care if he can step up to the plate for Ireland, but I do know the ones I've been talking to rate him a lot higher than Sledge. Granted I doubt they've seen him play for us very often. Nobody is campaigning for his inclusion a such, I just don't think we can afford to rule the likes of him out completely. Do you mind me asking what brings you to Pride Park (iPro!) so regularly?

Of the players you mention, Dunne, O'Shea and Delaney aren't getting any younger, and I think Delaney and Keogh are fairly comparable anyway. We've seen enough of McShane to have a look if Keogh could be a better option, certainly worth some more game time. There's a good chance Wilson will be used at left back and Sledge has his own problems. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes for Keogh but I'd be happy that he's on the radar. He's a good age as well for an emergency centre back I think.

Keogh won Coventry's player of the year for the second season running the year they were relegated, got a swift transfer to Derby and was immediately installed as captain.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/christmas-report-card-ireland-team-2013-1214052-Dec2013/

Christmas report card.

[DeLorean]

Roy Keane's new book 'The Second Half' (http://balls.ie/football/roddy-doyle-ghostwrite-roy-keanes-new-autobiography/) to come out this Autumn. Nothing like some Keano controversy and bridge burning to kick start the Euro qualifiers!

A short film (http://thescore.thejournal.ie/dave-tynan-roy-keane-film-director-interview-1267459-Jan2014/) in the pipeline too.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Roy Keane is inevitably going to have run ins with players. It's simply a matter of time. Everyone knew that when he was hired.

[Paddy Garcia]

Roy Keane's new book 'The Second Half' (http://balls.ie/football/roddy-doyle-ghostwrite-roy-keanes-new-autobiography/) to come out this Autumn. Nothing like some Keano controversy and bridge burning to kick start the Euro qualifiers!
.

Apparently to be written with Roddy Doyle.

[Crosby87]

He defends his alleged hygiene issues and flatulence problems at length and as the book ends he is just dialing up Stephen Ireland and it says "To Be Continued in 2030".

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/3942/ireland/2014/01/19/4550815/roddy-doyle-to-write-roy-keane-memoir?ICID=HP_BN_8

A new book and a new movie. Keane is a man in demand.

[geysir]

Joe Pesci would be a shoe-in for the role.

[Crosby87]

Don Rickles says Joe Pesci was very sensitive on the set of Casino and did not take well to any jokes busting his chops. He doesn't like short guy jokes. Don made it seem like he is a very faux tough guy with thin skin.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Don Rickles says Joe Pesci was very sensitive on the set of Casino and did not take well to any jokes busting his chops. He doesn't like short guy jokes. Don made it seem like he is a very faux tough guy with thin skin.

I don't want to take this thread off topic but I just have to say that most real life Italian American gangsters are somewhere between 5 ft. 5 and 5 ft. 8 so Joe Pesci was actually inspired casting in that role.

[Charlie Darwin]

Don Rickles says Joe Pesci was very sensitive on the set of Casino and did not take well to any jokes busting his chops. He doesn't like short guy jokes. Don made it seem like he is a very faux tough guy with thin skin.
To be fair, if I had to listen to Don Rickles make jokes all day I'd want to deck somebody as well.

[Closed Account 2]

Apparently to be written with Roddy Doyle.

Could be called "The lack of Commitments", I look forward to Doyle's ghost writing of McGeady's autobiography, "The Man Who Walked into Doors"

[Stuttgart88]

...or Ciaran Clark. Ha Ha Ha.

That'd be Sledger's book, more likely.

[SkStu]

Could be called "The lack of Commitments", I look forward to Doyle's ghost writing of McGeady's autobiography, "The Man Who Walked into Doors"

Follow up is the Robbie Keane autobiography "The One Who Knocks"... ;)

[tricky_colour]

The book should be call "Alfie Inge Ha Ha Ha (take that you cnut)"

[Charlie Darwin]

The book should be call "Alfie Inge Ha Ha Ha (take that you cnut)"
That is actually brilliant.

[BonnieShels]

I just notice that the thread title has been edited to remove the superfluous 'd'.

However we still have it as 'O Neil', For shame admin. For shame.

[geysir]

Who could have predicted that when Tricky, in one of his repetitive thread phases, started this thread with that deformed title, that it would then go on to become the default thread for O'Neill and deputy Keane
I thought as the pages grew in number, it had become a mark of our admiration for Tricky that we could accept his dysfunction and just talk football.
Now we are left with an embarrassing botched repair job ('Roy Keane and Martin O Neil to manage Ireland').

[Crosby87]

What does Neil's middle initial stand for anyway? Orenthal? Otis? Surely not Othello.

[CraftyToePoke]

What does Neil's middle initial stand for anyway? Orenthal? Otis? Surely not Othello.

Out. As in Brits.

[SkStu]

I just notice that the thread title has been edited to remove the superfluous 'd'.

I miss the d. A lot. Seriously. :(

[tricky_colour]

That is actually brilliant.

I thought of quite a very variations around the same theme, not too sure which was best.

If they were to uses one I think it would have to be just "Alfie Inge Ha Ha Ha", but then there is little clue it is about Roy Keane, but certainly sound like a good book.

I always thought the original title "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" was very clever, there is something about the "Ha Ha Ha"
which draws the attention, just "Paddy Clarke" sounds rather drab.

[tricky_colour]

Who could have predicted that when Tricky, in one of his repetitive thread phases, started this thread with that deformed title, that it would then go on to become the default thread for O'Neill and deputy Keane
I thought as the pages grew in number, it had become a mark of our admiration for Tricky that we could accept his dysfunction and just talk football.
Now we are left with an embarrassing botched repair job ('Roy Keane and Martin O Neil to manage Ireland').

Kind of agree there, I was a bit embarrassed at first especially when I realised I could not change it, but then I grew to quite like it,
the past tense of managed also gave some sense of impending doom!

We still have that 'O' in there though, perhaps an indication of the total number of points that wil be gained under the new regime!!

[gastric]

Nice challenge coming as we play Italy in a friendly. Hopefully an improvement in performance on our last effort.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ireland-set-for-friendly-date-with-italians-29963390.html

[OwlsFan]

Nice challenge coming as we play Italy in a friendly. Hopefully an improvement in performance on our last effort.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ireland-set-for-friendly-date-with-italians-29963390.html

I'd take any of the three previous results before that.

[geysir]

Trap's record against Italy W1 D2 L1.
Even though, by itself, the performance when getting beat by Euro finalists Italy wasn't a disaster, it should be no problem for O'Neill to do better, it's understood isn't it? We don't even have to hope for a better performance.:rolleyes:
And should we get Italy in the Euro qualifiers, it should be no problem for O'Neill to improve on our 2 draws gained under Trap, or was it 2 wins lost?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Martin O'Neill could lose two of those games against Italy and still have a better competitive record than Trap. Never really understood the infatuation with draws in the Trapattoni regime. Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

[OwlsFan]

Martin O'Neill could lose two of those games against Italy and still have a better competitive record than Trap. Never really understood the infatuation with draws in the Trapattoni regime. Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

We shall see. Trapattoni's last campaign was a disaster but if Martin can bring us to a play-off and a qualification in three campaigns I will be pleased. Anything else will be a bonus.

Abwarten und Tee trinken as they say in German.