Kilbane against Isreal

[carnstien]

I reckon this was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an Irish player. The guy was abysmal. He is not international standard, to think he is our player of the year! All he did was give the ball away and foul the opposition.

In fairness, Roy didn't have one of his best games and did not inject enough urgency, but I can't believe that Kerr left Kilbane on the pitch and Andy Reid on the bench. I have honestly never seen anything like it in my life.

[Éanna]

He is not international standard, to think he is our player of the year!
:rolleyes: one bad game and he's muck? Kilbane is at his best on a big pitch when he has space to pass the ball and run. It was a small pitch and the movement from the other irish players was very poor. keane was so negative it was beyond belief :mad: as for not international standard based on that game- see Carr, Steven. Worst player on the park by a mile

[carnstien]

Kilbane is at his best on a big pitch when he has space to pass the ball and run.

as for not international standard based on that game- see Carr, Steven. Worst player on the park by a mile
Pass the ball! Are you having a laugh, the guy can't send a straight pass 5 yards! His awareness is terrible and he has the touch of a rapist!

Granted Carr was dreadful as well, time to give Stephen Kelly a look at right back and play Andy Reid in the centre beside Keane.

[Éanna]

Pass the ball! Are you having a laugh, the guy can't send a straight pass 5 yards! His awareness is terrible and he has the touch of a rapist!shows what you know I guess :rolleyes:

[brine3]

Quality players are good in small spaces where accurate passing is paramount. I guess the small pitch showed up Kilbane for what he is - anything but a quality player.

There was a moment in the first half when he passed the ball directly to an Israeli player for no apparent reason, but then recovered by charging the player down and putting in an excellent tackle. The man sitting next to me said, "Good man Kev!" To me this illustrates the whole divide between the anti-Kilbane camp and the pro-Kilbane camp. The pro-Kilbanes admired how he charged the ball down, whereas I'd prefer if he just didn't give it away in the first place.

[carnstien]

shows what you know I guess :rolleyes:
OK, I'm sorry, Kilbane is a quality passer of the ball, his first touch is excellent, in fact I would say that Kilbane is the most technically gifted player in the Premiership :rolleyes: .

[ken foree]

There was a moment in the first half when he passed the ball directly to an Israeli player for no apparent reason, but then recovered by charging the player down and putting in an excellent tackle. The man sitting next to me said, "Good man Kev!" To me this illustrates the whole divide between the anti-Kilbane camp and the pro-Kilbane camp. The pro-Kilbanes admired how he charged the ball down, whereas I'd prefer if he just didn't give it away in the first place.

that's football innit. another moment was o'brien or kenny dribbling two players out of the back and i was applauding - if he'd lost it there though i woulda been spitting the vitriol like everyone else. it's all about taking chances and taking your chances.

i.e. not enough forward risk in our passing last night. no clever one-touch ball (benayoun was the only player pulling that off i thought), midfield/keane et al were okay but the geometric two-touch sideways ball looked mid-table prem quality and that can be a problem against any foreign teams that have a few decent players and are at home..

[Éanna]

OK, I'm sorry, Kilbane is a quality passer of the ball, his first touch is excellent, in fact I would say that Kilbane is the most technically gifted player in the Premiership :rolleyes: .
Where did I say that? I don't even support the FAireland team, but Kilbane gets a lot more stick than he deserves- he's a handy scapegoat for people who want someone to blame.

[thejollyrodger]

everyone is going to hard on Kilbane. That pitch was way to small. He had a brilliant game against france and the french rate him, even reckon he is a very good technical player.

There were a lot of **** ups last night. Carr was all over the shop but its an away game and the irish team doesnt travel well. It takes a long time to travel away from home and win. Look at england. it took them AGES. They even nearly slipped up this WCQ.

I expect Ireland to win all of its remaining games. The team is starting to come together now and we have most of the hard work done. We can beat ANYONE at landsdowne road. As long as the players are pyched up for it.

[FarBeag]

Quality players are good in small spaces where accurate passing is paramount. I guess the small pitch showed up Kilbane for what he is - anything but a quality player.


Have to aggree there.



He had a brilliant game against france and the french rate him, even reckon he is a very good technical player.

The guy is too inconsistant .He should be able to play as he did against France in every game not just the odd one.He is a very very average player that has a good game every so often nothing more.

[Condex]

Kilbane was no worse than a load of others, he is not a great technical player but gives his all, whats the other option play either Holland, Kavanagh or O'Shea in midfield.

I would like to see McGeady get in hes looks technically very good

[thejollyrodger]

exactly , i would rather see kilbane on the pitch than mr invisible . Kilnae wouldnt be playing in a top 3 EPL club if he was crap.

[Slash/ED]

Kilnae wouldnt be playing in a top 3 EPL club if he was crap.

Hence why he isn't :)

Kilbane is a great worker and trys his heart out but the sooner we realise he isn't an international class central mid field player the better.

[Éanna]

Hence why he isn't :)

Kilbane is a great worker and trys his heart out but the sooner we realise he isn't an international class central mid field player the better.
maybe the guy's not world class, but what world class central midfielders DOES Brian kerr have to pick from? The only player who might be better than Kilbane is Kavanagh, none of the others are anywhere near good enough. Its all well and good slagging the guy off, but there are no better alternatives .

[Slash/ED]

Well you've named the one I'd play. I know he's not world class, but he'd be better there than Kilbane imo.

[Closed Account 2]

Yeah I'd have played Kav instead of Kilbane. The past few games I've seen Kilbane in hes looked very tired for Everton, I think he's had to carry their midfield in that gap where Gravesen was sold and Cahill was out. He looks like he could do with a break.

The other thing that strikes me is Kav always looks up for a match when he plays for us. He has the hunger, he has the desire, he has the guts to drag our team through. We needed that last night, we had far too many drifters, too many of our lads switched off.

[ancapall]

I think I just read that somebody ( indeed, I think two people!!) suggested that Graham Kavanagh would be a better option/player than Kevin Kilbane.

Do I need to change my medication?? Does anyone know a relatively cheap ( but good) psychotherapist or optician as I clearly need assistance.

Someone even suggested that Kav would be more up for playing for Ireland than Kilbane.

Nurse, Help!!!!

[Closed Account 2]

Someone even suggested that Kav would be more up for playing for Ireland than Kilbane.

Nurse, Help!!!!


If Kav was 10 years younger we would all be raving about him, and he would be the answer to our prayers in terms of next generation holding player. As it is his age means he will only be of use for at most the next two tournaments, its a real shame his career stalled a bit over the past few years. I would say he's by far and away our most motivated player, he's an industrious player. You just have to look at his body language, and you know that he's up for every match. He's a battler, a fighter and last night we needed a player like that badly. Dont bother seeing a doctor, just watch the Swiss ('04) game again (the one in Basle) you can see that Kav came on when we were going thru a risky time in the game, but he shut their midfield down and had the beating of Yakin (who had caused us problems all night). Kav has a great desire to win, and huge hunger, we were missing that last night and I'm of the opinion that paucity was the biggest factor in our failure to hold out for all 3 points.

Kilbane is skillfull, but he does have a tendancy to drift a bit in the latter stages of some games. When hes good (primary example being Paris game) Kilbane is great but last night, like a lot of our team, he was treading water, drifting. Kav might not have the same level of skill, but he would never drift. He would have grabbed the game by the neck and dragged us thru, he wouldnt have let us be sloppy, and he'd have had a pop at shutting down the Israeli midfield as the game went on. IMO he is by far and away the most underrated and under used player in our squad. To this day I am still sure had he played more post WC 2002 we would have at least made the play offs for Euro 2004... oh and he might have tested their dodgy keeper from range had he played.

[Stuttgart88]

I've said it on other threads: I'd have started with Kilbane too and you know what? I'd probably pick him for the game on June 4th too.

BUT, once it was obvious he wasn't playing well & was having no impact we should have made a change. I'd have brought on Kavanagh. He can put his foot on the ball and take & give good passes. He'd have been more effective in a crappy tight pitch like that one.

Likewise Carr was poor, but I'd have picked him too. Again, though, I'd have subbed him. Brought Reid on & dropped Finnan back. That's why we have subs.

[eirebhoy]

One things for sure, if Holland is Keane's replacement for the Israel match in a few months we'll have a tough time. Kavanagh just sends confidence through every player in green and fear through the opposition. Just like Keane. Fantastic composure too. I think if he partners Holland tomorrow agianst China we'll get to see the box to box Kavanagh that we haven't seen for Ireland under Kerr and I'll have him on for first scorer. :)

[boysingreen]

Likewise Carr was poor, but I'd have picked him too. Again, though, I'd have subbed him. Brought Reid on & dropped Finnan back. That's why we have subs.

Same as all above. Seemed a complete no-brainer to take Carr off for the 2nd half, with the stamp being put on his walking papers just before half-time when he picked up a yellow card.

[Éanna]

Kavanagh is a very good player, and I'm a big fan, but his experience at Premiershi*level is next to none- Kibane has that experience and thats why he wins out IMO.

[eirebhoy]

Kavanagh is a very good player, and I'm a big fan, but his experience at Premiershi*level is next to none- Kibane has that experience and thats why he wins out IMO.
I agree but Kavanagh has played 5-10 times more premiership games in central midfield than Kilbane. Experience on the left wing isn't really going to get you anywhere if you're playing for a central midfield spot. Anyway, its Matt Holland I don't want to see play against Israel tbh. Kilbane-Keane is first choice in my eyes still with Kav backup.

[Irish_Praha]

"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 Kavanagh 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."


This is what I wrote about Kilbane after the France game and I still stick by it.
Basically he is not the answer to our need for a creative midfielder.

[carnstien]

exactly , i would rather see kilbane on the pitch than mr invisible . Kilnae wouldnt be playing in a top 3 EPL club if he was crap.
2 words, Lee and Carsley.

[lopez]

It's like f*cking Groundhog Day with you, Carnstein. Kilbane this. Kilbane that. What's the story here? Did the autograph you asked for get lost in the post? Carr has a 'mare (not that I could do much better with my belly) but it's Kilbane that get's your wrath. Isn't it time your f*cking cojones dropped and you grew a little bit up, you muppet. :rolleyes: Mind you, the same can be said about Silvio Dante over on 'Kerr's been rumbled' and his ghost of McCarthy sh*te.

[tall chapy]

Kilbane is a strong hard working midfielder with height.
He used these attibutes in the French game, against the Israelis he did not.
His workrate was at 50%, he he did not pit himself about much, he is not the creative midfielder, he is Roy Keane's deputy dog !!
Kilbane's touch is not great, but his work rate makes up for it. Kilbane is the prime target for 99% of Given's goalkicks. His passing is ok, he does not give the ball away too much , he takes the same old soft option Roy Keane takes hit it back to the nearest guys, no insicive passes splitting the defence, Kavanagh can do that , but his workrate and tackling does not touch Kilbane's for the majority of times. Having said that I believe Kerr needs to shake things up to stop people being complacent about their place in the team including Roy Keane,Duffer and Robbie Keane...Roy Keane was lost for the first 15 minutes, do I hold, do I mark Benayoun..?? One hard tackle late and he knew what to do.
Saturday's game was a nightmare for so many reasons but Kilbane is not wholly to blame.
Finnan had his worse game ever in a green shirt he spun around that many times chasing players and shadows he should have been dizzy !!
Carr is a liability, I said to fans at the game and he only added to my argument with that display. We lost 2 easy points, that we will have to fight 10 times harder to get.In simple terms it means we must beat France, Switzerland and Israel at home, easier said than done, going by Saturdays performance.

[eirebhoy]

In simple terms it means we must beat France, Switzerland and Israel at home, easier said than done, going by Saturdays performance.
For the 10th time, no we don't.

[carnstien]

It's like f*cking Groundhog Day with you, Carnstein. Kilbane this. Kilbane that. What's the story here? Did the autograph you asked for get lost in the post? Carr has a 'mare (not that I could do much better with my belly) but it's Kilbane that get's your wrath. Isn't it time your f*cking cojones dropped and you grew a little bit up, you muppet. :rolleyes: Mind you, the same can be said about Silvio Dante over on 'Kerr's been rumbled' and his ghost of McCarthy sh*te.
I've already said that Carr was ****, but at right back you can generally get away with it, in central midfield you cannot.

Central midfielders have more off the ball and make more PASSES than any other players on the pitch to play a player there who cannot PASS the ball and has an aweful 1st touch is wrong.