Robbie Keane

[Colbert Report]

Yes, and the Premier League issues it's own interpretation rules to referees each season too.

Anyway my fundamental point was that Keane was level anyway (I.e. even his head wasn't offside).

Robbie doesn't play in the Premier League, and the Premier League has no jurisdiction over the interpretation of the offside rule.

[Colbert Report]

Offside in one league is the same as offside in another, that's why each individual leagues are not allowed to issue their own "interpretation" of the law. That's the whole point of having a single unified governing body, in this case, FIFA. Remember when the Scottish Premier League were going to start using video replay to issue suspensions for diving a few years ago? FIFA told them that their national team would be kicked out of qualifying groups for the world cup and euros and that's why they had to drop the idea.

[EastTerracer]

LA Galaxy 2-0 up through a Beckham free-kick.

I'm going to delete all my posts above about offside because I don't think it adds anything to the thread. It's a meaningless debate with CR as far as I can make out.

2-0 final score. Keane played a full 90 minutes. Hopefully he will be on a flight to Dublin tomorrow evening.

[Colbert Report]

LA Galaxy 2-0 up through a Beckham free-kick.

I'm going to delete all my posts above about offside because I don't think it adds anything to the thread. It's a meaningless debate with CR as far as I can make out.

Don't be embarrassed that you didn't know the offside rule inside out. If you do a search you'll see a similar debate with me taking your exact position about two or three years ago on here and a few people put me in my place! It happens.

[strangeirish]

Surprised Keane is not offside all the time with the size of that head...

[DannyInvincible]

Surprised Keane is not offside all the time with the size of that head...

One of the things that used to irritate me about Robbie was his constantly being caught offside. Thankfully, he appears to have cut it out in recent years.

[paul_oshea]

ya he cut it out cos he is too slow to get ahead now!

[Stuttgart88]

You have to be in the opponent's half to be offside. Maybe that's why he wasn't offside much in the euros.

[Crosby87]

Keane was on TMZ tonight! For about a minute at the very end. He really is making it big time in LaLa land.:cool:
Movies next?
And yes the pap that recognized him was from Cork.

[OwlsFan]

Anonymous for most of the game but the one player to be on the spot to stick the ball home in the 87th minute until fouled - that's why we need him. Great peno as well. Not sure anyone else in a green jersey could have been so calm. 54 and counting.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Agreed. But that's not really enough, is it?

[Stuttgart88]

Hard to judge a guy when he gets eff all service or is trying to feed off inaccuirate knock-downs from high balls. Maybe he's not doing enough to get involved, maybe he hasn't a chance to do anything. I'm inclined to think the latter.

Quality penalty.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Except any decent captain/forward would be pressing the manager to change the system to suit them...
Perhaps he doesn't fancy all the work involved in a system based around so little creativity. Can't say I blame him, sometimes...

[Duggie]

im sick of seeing robbie been questioned. on friday you could have had pele,maradonna and messi upfront and they would have looked poor. balls hoofed into the air isnt robbie's game. he won the peno and put it away with style, ice cool when we needed him as usual. hes carried us for years with his goals and hes still doing it. i wonder about the people who critise him do they actaully know much about football. ask yourself how many games would we have won without him since he started playing for ireland. quite a few less is the answer. hes number 1 on my starting 11 every time.

[Murfinator]

Keane having a bad day is him missing chances, when you don't see him at all its our midfield and gameplan having a bad day or a "regular day" as the case may be. Keane's a poacher: it isn't his responsibility to drop deep and find the ball, its his responsibility to take up dangerous positions and be patient waiting for his teammates to carve out the opportunities. Just as well his conversation rate is so high because we create so precious little that there's seldom room for missed chances, even against the weakest teams.

[Murfinator]

im sick of seeing robbie been questioned. on friday you could have had pele,maradonna and messi upfront and they would have looked poor. balls hoofed into the air isnt robbie's game. he won the peno and put it away with style, ice cool when we needed him as usual. hes carried us for years with his goals and hes still doing it. i wonder about the people who critise him do they actaully know much about football. ask yourself how many games would we have won without him since he started playing for ireland. quite a few less is the answer. hes number 1 on my starting 11 every time.

Correct, you can spot those a mile off who don't have a clue about the game when they start criticising Keane for "not being involved". Or indeed people whos tart flagging our attack in general as a problem, when we create quality chances we generally score from them. Who plays up front is genuinely the least of our concerns.

[Duggie]

when hes retired then it will be clear how important he is for us. like this is a guy who is 32 living in LA now so he could have said ive done enough i will retire now but no he loves playing for ireland to much. the amount of flying hes doing now is unreal but hes up for it. look at his reaction when doyle scored friday, that said it all for me. 110% committed which is more than can be said for others.

[Stuttgart88]

Hmm, I see you put parentheses around 3 words very similar to what I asked above! I thought my question was fair and valid, although I answered it in Robbie's favour. Keane's not just a predator, his general play is also very good. In fact he used to drop so deep many were critical of him. Could he be doing more of this? Wasn't there talk of Robbie dropping deep before the game?

[Murfinator]

Hmm, I see you put parentheses around 3 words very similar to what I asked above! I thought my question was fair and valid, although I answered it in Robbie's favour. Keane's not just a predator, his general play is also very good. In fact he used to drop so deep many were critical of him. Could he be doing more of this? Wasn't there talk of Robbie dropping deep before the game?

Drop deep to where? The space that the ball is constantly being lobbed over?

[Stuttgart88]

The space that the ball is constantly being lobbed over?But if he offers himself and demands it...?

As said elsewhere, passing takes two: one to pass it, one to show for and receive it.

As it happens I think Robbie did about all he could on Friday but as there were suggestions from Trap (I think) that he could play deeper it's fair to ask that as leader on the pitch could he have done more to stop the hoofball and offer anotther option, or at least some variation.

[Murfinator]

But if he offers himself and demands it...?

As said elsewhere, passing takes two: one to pass it, one to show for and receive it.

As it happens I think Robbie did about all he could on Friday but as there were suggestions from Trap (I think) that he could play deeper it's fair to ask that as leader on the pitch could he have done more to stop the hoofball and offer anotther option, or at least some variation.

The gameplan was quite clearly for long balls to Walters and Keane to work off the knock downs. If he dropped deep the plan obviously wasn't going to work. As it happened Walters was utterly dominated in the air, but there's nothing Keane can do about that. Not to mention the fact that Whelan and McCarthy were both playing quite advanced, or well not playing but were defending in an advanced position. If Keane had the authority to drop deep, start demanding the ball and insisting to play it on the ground and build from deep then you'd wonder why the two midfielders were even there to begin with and why they weren't doing that.
The idea of a striker dropping deep is to support the midfield, we don't really have a midfield so it seems like you're suggesting for Keane to drop deep and be the midfield. Which might help but he can't do everything.

[ifk101]

Wasn't there talk of Robbie dropping deep before the game?

Yes. But dropping deep to help "pack" the midfield rather than dropping deep to be a creative outlet.

On this idea of players taking and receiving the ball, we have done this under Trapattoni. If you look back at some of his earlier games in charge, we did play some good possession football - the game away to Norway comes to mind. But we have become progressively more negative and simplistic in our approach to games which is by design. Trapattoni has long harped on about cutting out little mistakes to the extent that how we currently approach games is a reflection of Trapattoni's trust in our players to play football.

[AlaskaFox]

hes number 1 on my starting 11 every time.

I didn't think we were that stuck now Given has retired.

[tetsujin1979]

Robbie scored his twelfth goal of the season for LA Galaxy against Colorado Rapids last night: http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2012/09/goal-robbie-keane-gets-his-12th-season

[Murfinator]

5th on the scoring charts and 9th for assists. 20 overall goals he had a direct hand in, only Donovan (21) and Wondolowski (24) have more.

[gastric]

Dion Fanning having a pop at Trap about picking Robbie. It seems every Sunday now we have to have an anti Trap/ Ireland article in the Indo.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/getting-keane-out-of-his-system-beyond-trapattoni-3230067.html

[Stuttgart88]

I think the point about Robbie necessitating 442 whereas we're always up against 433, is fair. We've highlighted that dilemma here many times before.

I honestly think that in Keane, Doyle, Long, Walters and Cox we have the strongest depth of forwards we have ever had. Finding a way of accommodating them in some way is a tough question and most will have to lose out. However, whatever the solution is, it shouldn't involve Keogh!

I liked the "intelligence" quip, a dig at McClean perhaps, and the criticism of Trap picking a player inappropriate to the requirement of a 3 man midfield in Serbia is bang on, and was predicted by me and Paul O'Shea here beforehand.

[Murfinator]

Robbie is one of the greatest international goalscorers in the world, no manager in their right mind would build a system without him. I understand the merits of dropping him, so we can play a lone striker and a proper 5-man midfield. While that'd potentially solve one problem it could very much create another for goalscoring. That's not so much a dig at Long/Doyle but a dig at our midfield who all are unusually poor at goalscoring for midfielders, which is something Trap has eluded to already. Building a system where only one player on the pitch is a proven goalscorer is asking for trouble.

[Charlie Darwin]

Dion Fanning having a pop at Trap about picking Robbie. It seems every Sunday now we have to have an anti Trap/ Ireland article in the Indo.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/getting-keane-out-of-his-system-beyond-trapattoni-3230067.html
Fanning's been doing this for about 4 years.

[Crosby87]

Is that the paper that printed the underwhelming Kate pics? Ive seen better racks on Deer.

[Stuttgart88]

I more or less agree with Murf above except that I think one can say that Robbie has crowded out Long (and others) to some extent and that Long has been deprived of the chance to be a regular goalscorer at international level. His record is good and would be better if he hadn't been marginalised.

But isn't Keane only 31 anyway? Stupid to be writing him off. I rememember all the know-alls writing Brian O'Driscoll off in 2008.

I'd like to see a system where Robbie is more involved in the game. He's not just a fox in the box, he has more than that. If we can't find such a system we can look at a system that doesn't involve him - that's what friendlies are for.

A system where Robbie never gets on the ball and is isolated is the worst of all worlds as far as I'm concerned.

[Charlie Darwin]

One sentence I don't understand from Fanning's article:


McClean is at least closer to the players than he was, if even further from the team.
He seems to be suggesting that they players agree with him, but all the indications are to the contrary. Players like O'Dea, Doyle and Long seem completely bemused by the likes of Gibson and McClean who feel they are entitled to spots in the team despite never really working for it or impressing in the green shirt.


Is that the paper that printed the underwhelming Kate pics? Ive seen better racks on Deer.
That was the Daily Star, which is co-owned by the company behind the Independent but they have no input in what goes in the paper.

[Murfinator]

He seems to be suggesting that they players agree with him, but all the indications are to the contrary. Players like O'Dea, Doyle and Long seem completely bemused by the likes of Gibson and McClean who feel they are entitled to spots in the team despite never really working for it or impressing in the green shirt.


Yep O'Dea had very strong words against Gibson to the media and Doyle to McClean. Unusual in fact for players to talk about other players in that manner.
The message from the core playrs is for those guys to cop on and knuckle down, but of course the media want to suggest that there's some hostile undercurrent against the manager going on.

[The Fly]

One sentence I don't understand from Fanning's article:


Originally Posted by Dion Fanning
McClean is at least closer to the players than he was, if even further from the team.


He seems to be suggesting that they players agree with him, but all the indications are to the contrary. Players like O'Dea, Doyle and Long seem completely bemused by the likes of Gibson and McClean who feel they are entitled to spots in the team despite never really working for it or impressing in the green shirt.


I think he's alluding to McClean's own comments on the matter, namely that the resulting slagging and banter he's been on the receiving end of have brought him closer to the other players. In other words, his twitter 'tirade' really broke the ice.

[geysir]

I wouldn't exclude that the players' (or some of them) bone of contention is less to do with the colourful description of the team performance but more to do with 'whatever you say out there - say nothing'.

[DannyInvincible]

Yep O'Dea had very strong words against Gibson to the media and Doyle to McClean. Unusual in fact for players to talk about other players in that manner.

To which comments are you referring exactly? I don't think anything that critical or out-of-the-ordinary was said. O'Dea and Gibson are good mates, to the best of my knowledge, and Doyle said the tweet helped McClean integrate more than anything.

[EastTerracer]

Goal number 13 of the season for Keane tonight at home against Toronto FC. Darren O'Dea is playing for Toronto.

And Robbie gets his 14th in injury time.

Final score LA Galaxy 4 Toronto FC 2

The first goal is online here (http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-09-22-la-v-tor/highlights?videoID=201040)

and the second goal here. (http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-09-22-la-v-tor/highlights?videoID=201089)

[Colbert Report]

Robbie's second goal was a joke, it really shows you just how poor the defending is in the MLS. O'Dea is a terrible player, I'm sorry but he really is very very poor. He took a yellow for a terrible tackle on Landon Donovan - just just walked right up to him and kicked him in the knee! Donovan was ticked right off and started a pushing match, O'Dea really should have been sent off.

[Acornvilla]

Robbie's second goal was a joke, it really shows you just how poor the defending is in the MLS. O'Dea is a terrible player, I'm sorry but he really is very very poor. He took a yellow for a terrible tackle on Landon Donovan - just just walked right up to him and kicked him in the knee! Donovan was ticked right off and started a pushing match, O'Dea really should have been sent off.

Seen that, was pretty funny, dunno what the hell O' Dea was at.

[Charlie Darwin]

Keane finds that league far too easy. He wouldn't be wasting his time doing the cartwheels if he wasn't so untaxed.

[Grafter]

At the end of the day, he's playing regularly, scoring goals and seems to be enjoying his football which all bodes well for the October double-header. Regardless of the opposition, Keane still remains our most natural and trickiest forward whose game is based on subtlety not the power of a Doyle, Walters or Long. Could anyone honestly argue that any of those strikers possesses the type of invention and footballing intelligence that Keane has. He's our wily old fox in the box that our workmanlike team requires.
Added to that when on form he does have the type of personality, character and confidence of a street footballer which too few of our players possess at present...

[Yard of Pace]

Jaysis, that ball they use looks like the ball from the Amiga game Speedball 2....:)

[Murfinator]

Awesome looking ball, looks impressive traveling at speed.

[Crosby87]

Robbie continues to take the USA by storm, making it into The NY Post's famed "Page 6" Sunday Gossip section:

David Beckham had a "low Key" boys night out at Rock&Reilly's on the Sunset Strip. The soccer star, flanked by security, met up with his Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane and two male friends at the Irish Rock 'n' Roll whiskey bar for a belt before heading out to hotspot restaurant Ink for dinner. Later, Becks and his crew were spotted back at Rock & Reillys. Keane led a singalong and ordered cocktails for the group, signing autographs along the way. A fellow patron overheard Becks requesting that a DJ play Keane's favorite music by Stone Roses and Oasis, which they rocked along to. The boys then grinded on eachother before being whisked out by club security among a throng of wellwishers. When one over zealous fan asked Keane if he played for England, the Irish Captain good naturedly admonished him for making such a mistake before ordering some whiskey from a perky Irish Bartender who asked for a photo with her hero.

And I'll add this from the Posts "Weird but True" section:
Dozens of residents in Northern Ireland were in a sticky situation after a brazen vandal glued the doors on their homes shut. More than 25 homes were targeted in CO Donegal--locking some people in and some out. "Me Ma is in their trapped, and we can't get any food to her for the better part of the morning." Said Resident Hugh O'Brien, adding that he expected the doors to be shut "For the foreseeable future" until a solution to the problem could be found. Several of the more obese residents who were trapped could be seen vainly attempting to climb out of windows as a crowd of gawkers gathered.

Discuss.

[youngirish]

[/I]And I'll add this from the Posts "Weird but True" section:
Dozens of residents in Northern Ireland were in a sticky situation after a brazen vandal glued the doors on their homes shut. More than 25 homes were targeted in CO Donegal--locking some people in and some out. "Me Ma is in their trapped, and we can't get any food to her for the better part of the morning." Said Resident Hugh O'Brien, adding that he expected the doors to be shut "For the foreseeable future" until a solution to the problem could be found. Several of the more obese residents who were trapped could be seen vainly attempting to climb out of windows as a crowd of gawkers gathered.

Discuss.

When did Donegal rescind from the Republic and sneak back into the UK? I've missed that newsitem.

[Crosby87]

Yeah i thought it would be unethical for me to edit that.

[Charlie Darwin]

Robbie continues to take the USA by storm, making it into The NY Post's famed "Page 6" Sunday Gossip section:

David Beckham had a "low Key" boys night out at Rock&Reilly's on the Sunset Strip. The soccer star, flanked by security, met up with his Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane and two male friends at the Irish Rock 'n' Roll whiskey bar for a belt before heading out to hotspot restaurant Ink for dinner. Later, Becks and his crew were spotted back at Rock & Reillys. Keane led a singalong and ordered cocktails for the group, signing autographs along the way. A fellow patron overheard Becks requesting that a DJ play Keane's favorite music by Stone Roses and Oasis, which they rocked along to. The boys then grinded on eachother before being whisked out by club security among a throng of wellwishers. When one over zealous fan asked Keane if he played for England, the Irish Captain good naturedly admonished him for making such a mistake before ordering some whiskey from a perky Irish Bartender who asked for a photo with her hero.
Good thing he's not a Phil Collins fan or we might have been seeing Robbie on a different page.

[Junior]

The boys then grinded on each other. What does that even mean????

[Colbert Report]

It means that they are gay for each other. Can't say I'm surprised when it comes to Beckham.

[Grafter]

It means that they are gay for each other. Can't say I'm surprised when it comes to Beckham.
Ah they're grand, male dogs do it all the time when their bitches are feeling frigid:)