Robbie Keane

[DannyInvincible]

Robbie's got a good attitude but he's never truly struck me as possessing the commanding mentality you'd expect of a captain, even when captaining us.

[Crosby87]

There is a really funny article about it on yahoo sports with the picture of him, becks and russell brand (where he is listed in the LA times as "unidentified fan") but cant seem to copy and paste it. No one cares probably anyway.

[tetsujin1979]

There is a really funny article about it on yahoo sports with the picture of him, becks and russell brand (where he is listed in the LA times as "unidentified fan") but cant seem to copy and paste it. No one cares probably anyway.
you could link to it?
Wasn't he identified in the original photo, and then someone added in the "unidentified fan" and that went viral?

[Crosby87]

No it was really in the LA times as unidentified fan.....Yeah, the guy takes some mild shots at him i guess saying him captaining LA is the deal made over meetings at bathroom urinals.
I did link to it last night, that was my point, but the freaking link was my email. so...when you clicked on it, you were in like my personal email space through yahoo....it could have been disastrous. I cant beleive yahoo wouldnt notice that. But anyway if you google it you can get it. Warning For Charlie Darwin: there is a shirtless picture of a seemingly gone mad Landy Cakes within the article. I know you dont like that.

[tetsujin1979]

No it was really in the LA times as unidentified fan.....Yeah, the guy takes some mild shots at him i guess saying him captaining LA is the deal made over meetings at bathroom urinals.
I did link to it last night, that was my point, but the freaking link was my email. so...when you clicked on it, you were in like my personal email space through yahoo....it could have been disastrous. I cant beleive yahoo wouldnt notice that. But anyway if you google it you can get it. Warning For Charlie Darwin: there is a shirtless picture of a seemingly gone mad Landy Cakes within the article. I know you dont like that.
I know, but in the original photo, think it was on the photographers site, he was clearly identified, someone else added in the "unidentified fan" bit

[paul_oshea]

I read it on the metro over here as unidentified fan as well.

I think it was people afterwards trying to make out they had some knowledge others didn't possess when they said it hadn't originally been taken in that context. CD(or geysir perhaps kind of thing he would do) on here i think was the first to propose that theory of events.

Crosbys link. Btw crosby it didnt link to "your portal" it was because you were logged into Yahoo at the time.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/robbie-keane-goes-unidentified-fan-la-captain-landon-233029060--sow.html

Its a reuters copyright, fairly reputable.

Why would a journalist go in and then add "unidentified fan"?! And surely it was a journalist who took the photo from the site. What photographer doesn't ask the names of those he takes close up photos of(and he did i believe because the 2 kids there were the son of some ED for a big business afair)?

[MeathDrog]

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/opinion-robbie-keane-is-one-of-irelands-greatest-ever-players-814989-Mar2013/


One of Ireland's greatest ever players? Don't think so.

[Crosby87]

But POSH then i logged out of yahoo and then erased my cookies to see and it still happened. It was weird.

[paul_oshea]

you forgot the bit in thw middle about smoking some largw doobies and speaking with aliens and stuff

[SkStu]

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/opinion-robbie-keane-is-one-of-irelands-greatest-ever-players-814989-Mar2013/


One of Ireland's greatest ever players? Don't think so.

There is no question about it in my mind. He is a living legend. Top 5 player of all time in my humble opinion. And we will miss him when he is gone.

[Crosby87]

Did RK do or say something early in his career or whatever that i am not aware of to turn people off? The opinions of some on here about him are bizarre to me. Take away his goals over his career and wonder where we would be.

[SkStu]

It is truly bizarre Crosby. People, usually culchies, just don't like him. It's incredible. He can occasionally be a bit annoying with the arm waving but that's irrelevant.

[bennocelt]

Maybe that Late Late show thingy and Lisbon stuff - good if he is playing football, nice lad but dont get him to share his opinions!

[Sullivinho]

There is no question about it in my mind. He is a living legend. Top 5 player of all time in my humble opinion. And we will miss him when he is gone.

I'd have him comfortably in the top 5 too. A number I'm gonna go ahead and assume is more than compatible with the term 'Ireland's greatest ever players'.

Genuinely surprised this is even in question.

[squareball]

Can't understand it. He has always given his best for us. Without him we would have been a lot worse but during a poor enough period post 2004, he has managed to rack up so many goals. He has a record of nearly a goal every second game which is top class for anyone. We have only 10 other players who have reached double figures when it comes to goals scored so not considering him as one of our all time greats is a joke.

[DannyInvincible]

Maybe that Late Late show thingy and Lisbon stuff - good if he is playing football, nice lad but dont get him to share his opinions!

It's early; am I forgetting something? What was this ominous "Lisbon stuff"? :confused:

And of course he's one of our best ever. Ludicrous for anyone to say otherwise. Easily in or around our top five of all time with the likes of Roy Keane, McGrath, Giles and Brady. How many more international goals has he tallied than our second-best goal-scorer? About 33, isn't it? He has more "surplus goals" even than Niall Quinn had goals, for crying out loud! And he has done it against the "big teams". Not directing that at you, by the way, bennocelt.

[MeathDrog]

There is no question about it in my mind. He is a living legend. Top 5 player of all time in my humble opinion. And we will miss him when he is gone.

This response sums it up for me.

How is he not seen as a peer of Giles, Brady, Keane and McGrath?
Could it be,
The lack of medals?
Brady, F.A. Cup, 2 Serie A titles and a P.F.A player of the year.

Giles, 2 league titles, 2 F.A Cups, League Cup and 2 Uefa Cups.

McGrath, League Cup, F.A Cup, P.F.A player of the year.

Roy, A kings ransom of F.A.Cups and League titles, Champions League and P.F.A and F.W.A Player of the Year.

Robbie, League Cup.

Never being rated anywhere bar the Irish media?

Brady, Giles, Roy, McGrath were all recognised as great, won personnel as well as team awards and were in teams that challenged for honours. Robbie has flitted around clubs that do not challenge for titles and has never been wanted by a club that does.

Robbie has played for mediocre to poor teams, he has only twice managed 15 league goals (the benchmark of acceptable for strikers) at spurs “greats” such as Defoe and Berbatov were often preferred to him.
But what about the international goals?

Well yes lets look at the goals 20 in friendlies nothing impressive there. If you also remove countries with populations smaller than half of Dublin we get the number 26 international goals. This still includes penalties, handballs (Georgia 11 june 03) and goals against such giants as Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.

Ali Daei has 109 international goals, does this mean he is better than Maradona? No, that would be ridiculous, much like saying Robbie Keane is even close to the quality of Giles, McGrath, Brady or Irwin. All would walk into other international teams, not Robbie.


P.S he is an arrogant so and so exemplified by claiming that goal against Faroes.

[dr_peepee]

He was never "competing" with Berbatov for a start. And without having figures at hand i would say that when Keane and Defoe were both fit and available that Keane got more starts than Defoe. Thats the way i remember it anyway.

[osarusan]

Well yes lets look at the goals 20 in friendlies nothing impressive there. If you also remove countries with populations smaller than half of Dublin we get the number 26 international goals. This still includes penalties, handballs (Georgia 11 june 03) and goals against such giants as Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.


So what you're saying is, if you take out the goals in friendlies and against minnows in qualifiers - he has actually still scored more 'serious' goals than any other player has scored in total international goals?

And on this basis, you exclude him from any list of irish greats?

[BonnieShels]

At this stage I ignore anyone who decides to play the "Robbie is shoite" card. Idiocy.

[MeathDrog]

So what you're saying is, if you take out the goals in friendlies and against minnows in qualifiers - he has actually still scored more 'serious' goals than any other player has scored in total international goals?

And on this basis, you exclude him from any list of irish greats?
I reckon if the likes of Stapleton, Givens Aldridge etc. had the games and calibre of teams that Robbie Keane faced in his international career, they would have scored more.
Also Keane has faced top teams competitively 18 times. Do you know who has a better record than him? David Healy and he wasn’t tucking away penalties either.


Hell, give me Paddy Madden, put him on penos and give him every minute of every game including the pointless friendlies that Robbie played in, and I'll guarantee you 30 goals.

Given and Duff are by far and away the best players of the last generation of Irish players. Keane has only played in weak teams as his club career highlights, that's why he will never be rated as highly as the greats of Brady and Giles.. A good player, but not up there with the great names of Irish football and rightly so.

[AlaskaFox]

So playing up front for Ireland gets goals. How come Doyle has only 12 in 53, Long 8 in 33, Walters 2 in 15, and Cox 3 in 22 then? Surely if it was that easy to score international goals, they'd all have 10 and Doyler 20 by now?

[Fixer82]

His record speaks for itself. Nobody can take that away from him.

Would I prefer him to Irwin?? Up front I would! Silly comparison.

Look at how Robbie played in World Cup 2002, he did it at the highest level. It's not his fault there's more friendlies and matches in general these days. All he can do is play what is in front of him.

PS I definitely cringed when he tried to claim Walters' goal against the Faroes. He's not the brightest spark but he sure can score goals

[kennedmc]

I will remember Keane as a good striker and a very good striker when looking at him solely from an Irish context.

He wouldn't make my top ten list of Irish players of all time.

[DannyInvincible]

I will remember Keane as a good striker and a very good striker when looking at him solely from an Irish context.

He wouldn't make my top ten list of Irish players of all time.

Would you have any strikers in your top ten?

[Charlie Darwin]

I think the reason people don't like Keane is that he has a typical striker's arrogance which, mixed with the fact that he probably hasn't fulfilled his full potential, sometimes looks like an unearned sense of entitlement. That jars with the general Irish preference for humble underdogs, meaning people will always revere a mediocre striker like Kevin Doyle or Niall Quinn who will run all day for the benefit of the team, rather than somebody who puts his money where his mouth is and try and put the ball in the net even if that means failing. Risk-takers have always been viewed with suspicion and antipathy in this country.

[MeathDrog]

So playing up front for Ireland gets goals. How come Doyle has only 12 in 53, Long 8 in 33, Walters 2 in 15, and Cox 3 in 22 then? Surely if it was that easy to score international goals, they'd all have 10 and Doyler 20 by now?

The reason they don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work. What is Kevin Doyle, 5.10? and yet he has been forced to play a Niall Quinn role.


Also, if Robbie was preffered to Jermaine Defoe, why is he still there and Robbie is paying lip service to being a footballer in LA LA Land.

[Charlie Darwin]

The reason they don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work. What is Kevin Doyle, 5.10? and yet he has been forced to play a Niall Quinn role.
How come almost all of Doyle's goals have come with Keane in the team then? You'd think he'd be banging them in in Keane's absence, but in fact the only competitive goal he's scored without Keane was against Slovakia. The others were in friendlies against Ecuador and Oman. Of course, Doyle doesn't only score against poor teams, that's Robbie's job...

[MeathDrog]

How come almost all of Doyle's goals have come with Keane in the team then? You'd think he'd be banging them in in Keane's absence, but in fact the only competitive goal he's scored without Keane was against Slovakia. The others were in friendlies against Ecuador and Oman. Of course, Doyle doesn't only score against poor teams, that's Robbie's job...

Could it be that doyle has played the majority of his games with Keane in the team? Why would robbie not being there lead to him banging them in? He isn't suddenly given licence not to track back and wave his arms about while another player knocks the ball down to him.

Also the argument isn't is keane better than Doyle, he is, it's ''Is Keane a great'', and if you compare him to any great, you will see ''no, no he isn't.''

[SkStu]

A quick look at wiki and, assuming it is accurate, I'd like MeathDrog, and anyone else who shares his opinion, to try and demonstrate that this list of achievements is anything other than great.


Keane has scored 54 goals for the Republic of Ireland from 25 March 1998 to 7 September 2012, making him the all-time record Irish goalscorer, having become the first male Irish player to score 50 international goals in June 2011. He is the 26th highest international scorer in the history of International football, and the third highest International scorer among active players. Keane was Ireland's top scorer at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, with three goals plus a converted penalty in the shoot-out with Spain. With 121 full caps, he is Ireland's second most capped player of all time and is a member of the FIFA Century Club. He is the eleventh highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League with 125 goals (as of 21 January 2012), (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is tenth with 127) and is the tenth highest goalscorer in Tottenham Hotspur history.

[SkStu]

I'm just posting this too for what it's worth.


Tottenham Hotspur
Football League Cup (1): 2007–08

Los Angeles Galaxy
MLS Cup (2): 2011, 2012
MLS Supporters' Shield (1): 2011
Western Conference Championship Playoffs (2): 2011, 2012
Western Conference Championship Regular Season (1): 2011

International
Republic of Ireland
Nations Cup (1): 2011
UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship (1): 1998

Individual
FAI Young International Player of the Year (2): 1998, 1999
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Club Player of the Year (3): 2003, 2005–06, 2007–08
Premier League Player of the Month (3): August 1999, January 2001, April 2007*
Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year (1): 1997–98
SPL Player of the Month (1): March 2010
Celtic Player of The Year (1): 2009–10
FAI International Goal of the Year (1): 2009 vs. France
FAI Senior International Player of the Year (1): 2010
MLS Best XI (1): 2012
MLS Cup Playoffs Top Scorer (1): 2012
Nations Cup Top Scorer (1): 2011
Republic of Ireland All-Time Top Scorer
Scored a total of more than 100 goals in the Premier League – 126 goals
Shortlisted for RTÉ Sports Person of the Year (2011)[115]
(* Jointly shared with Dimitar Berbatov)

[Charlie Darwin]

Could it be that doyle has played the majority of his games with Keane in the team?
Well, obviously, because Keane is our best player and plays in most of the big games, but the fact is that when Keane hasn't been there his scoring record is no better than it is when he's in the side.


Why would robbie not being there lead to him banging them in?
Because he's not doing Robbie's donkey work and can presumably concentrate on scoring goals.


He isn't suddenly given licence not to track back and wave his arms about while another player knocks the ball down to him.
Popular misconception about Robbie. He tracks back regularly, usually a lot more than his strike partner who is invariablya target man further up the pitch.


Also the argument isn't is keane better than Doyle, he is, it's ''Is Keane a great'', and if you compare him to any great, you will see ''no, no he isn't.''
Well your argument is:


The reason they [Doyle, Long, Cox, etc] don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work.

There is absolutely no evidence for this. If it was true, those players would be banging them in which Robbie's not around, but unfortunately it's not the case.

[MeathDrog]

A quick look at wiki and, assuming it is accurate, I'd like MeathDrog, and anyone else who shares his opinion, to try and demonstrate that this list of achievements is anything other than great.

While you're on wiki, have a quick look at the players ahead of Robbie in the goalscoring charts in international football. Some real household names such as Stern John and Ali Daei.

And I'm not knocking the fact that Robbie at least was a decent player. He's just not in the same calibre as the greats of Irish football. Putting up Robbie's roll of honour won't change that (I'm not counting that joke of an MLS league either). I could put up a roll of honour for Steve Heighway, Ronnie Whelan, Roy Keane, Denis Irwin, Johnny Giles, Paul McGrath, Liam Brady.

All of the above won countless trophies and individual honours between them, and were key members of teams that strived to win trophies on a regular basis. Robbie has effectively a League Cup to his name with an average Spurs team who couldn't wait to offload him once they progressed as a club and entered Champions League football.

[SkStu]

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.

[Charlie Darwin]

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.
But he waves his arms, Stu. We can't have someone like him in the Hall of Fame, waving his arms like a mad thing. What if he knocked something over?

[MeathDrog]

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.

A decent striker for Ireland who was a credit to his was never any better than second rate and hasn't been particularly good since about 2008. He has been a good player for Ireland but is in the tier below the great names of Irish football, and I think deep down most fans know this.

What about the Euros, where he turned up out of shape and was one of our worst players. A player with honour like Duff would have retired by now in his position. Robbie is too selfish for that. There's still penos to be got so he can pad his stats and continue to play League 1 standard football in the sunshine.

[SkStu]

Cool bro. I've wasted enough energy on this one.

[AlaskaFox]

A decent striker for Ireland who was a credit to his was never any better than second rate and hasn't been particularly good since about 2008..

Ignoring most of the rest of that rubbish, but...
2009 - 11 apps, 6 goals
2010 - 8 apps, 4 goals
2011 - 10 apps, 8 goals - his best year in a green jersey
2012 - 8 apps, 1 goal

So 2012 was the only year you could say wasn't "particularly good"

[MeathDrog]

Ignoring most of the rest of that rubbish, but...
2009 - 11 apps, 6 goals
2010 - 8 apps, 4 goals
2011 - 10 apps, 8 goals - his best year in a green jersey
2012 - 8 apps, 1 goal

So 2012 was the only year you could say wasn't "particularly good"

We played some amount of scour in 2011. Robbie's game by then is based purely on pouncing on mistakes of mediocre to poor defenses, and to be fair he always has been good at that. It was a no brainer that it would fail at the Euros because we were facing top calibre teams who don't make cheap mistakes at the back.

[DannyInvincible]

But Robbie has scored against plenty of top calibre teams and in crucial games. To pick out just a few; Yugoslavia (Euro 2000 qualification), Turkey (Euro 2000 play-off), Holland (World Cup 2002 qualification), Iran (World Cup 2002 play-off), Germany (World Cup 2002), Spain (World Cup 2002), Italy (World Cup 2010 qualification), France (World Cup 2010 play-off), Russia (Euro 2012 qualification) and Estonia (Euro 2012 play-off).

[geysir]

I suppose there's some Argentinian Drog who complains 'if only Messi could be as important for Argentina as Robbie has been for Ireland'.

[BonnieShels]

I just had a vision of us employing a whacky wavy arm inflatable tubeman up front against Austria.

Well played Messrs Stu and Charlie.

[tetsujin1979]

LA Galaxy's season opener against Chicago Fire live on ESPN UK right now

[Charlie Darwin]

Half-time and he hasn't scored yet. Magee has managed to get himself a goal despite doing all of Keane's donkey work, so good for him.

[Crosby87]

What about the Euros, where he turned up out of shape

Could he really have been in that bad of shape? I know people that watch MLS and have season tickets and stuff and they thought he was the best player in the league.

[gastric]

With the upcoming games, I would love to see Long and Walters start and Robbie be used as an impact sub, possibly coming on with about 30 minutes to go. Quite a contrast in styles which would upset most defences and might help Robbie in terms of longevity.

[Charlie Darwin]

It's an interesting question of whether Robbie could be used as an impact sub. His movement would certainly pose a problem for tired defenders, but it's debatable whether Ireland do enough to tire out opposition defenders and he wasn't suited to the role at Spurs.

[tetsujin1979]

assist on the second goal, Keane received the ball just inside the D, but waited too long to shoot, allowing two defenders to get between him and the goal, so instead he chipped it through to McGee to get his second of the game.
Keane's been playing in the attacking centre mid position, and some of passing in the final third has been sublime. Despite the two goals, McGee has been very wasteful and could easily be on four goals instead of just the two. Hard to judge on the opening day, but this game is about Championship level

<EDIT>

McGee scored the third after some build up play from Keane on the byline, and Keane scored the fourth, finishing from close in after a knock down

[Charlie Darwin]

Hat trick Magee's donkey work has paid off with Robbie grabbing a fourth.

[Crosby87]

Break up the Galaxy! Looking to take over LA with the Lakers struggling and Dodgers doomed to failure. Clips will be RKs competition. And they lost today.