Irish team v France

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

He has not delivered for us in the big games in a while now, actually since the World Cup if we are honest. So chew on that FACT.

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Robbie has scored 3 goals in his 6 competitive under Kerr. If he keeps that up I'd be very happy. He was our best player in the 4-2 defeat to Russia and in the 2-1 win over Albania. He played superb at home to Georgia and only for Healy's great performance would have been the MOM. Also, as Bowsy said his father's death really effected him and he played the Albania away game when he was nowhere near full match fitness. He didn't play well in the 2 Swiss games but he hardly got any of the ball in the away leg.

So, he has been our best player in 2 games, our 2nd best player in 1, had only played 1 match in 7 weeks before the Albania game and was partnered with Duff and Connolly for the 2 Swiss games and didn't get much of the ball.

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Originally Posted by Bowsy

Wasn't getting at you EB.

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I know you weren't, I was just making excuses for my lack of knowledge on Squillachi. :)

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

He was our best player in the 4-2 defeat to Russia and in the 2-1 win over Albania.

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Was at that game and can't remember him playing well.

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Originally Posted by Condex

Was at that game and can't remember him playing well.

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He was our best player, he played as well as he could given the performance of the team.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/shamroc...sp?newsid=1880

He played well in one game, was average in all the others....whoop di doo. Fair enough, you think Keane should be in on what he's achieved so far, I don't, I think he should be judged on current form. Much the same way that Owen and Beckham should be dropped for England, but never are, no matter how they perform. They have both been abysmal as well in international football over the last year, and England have suffered as a consequence.

Keanes penalty against Cyprus didn't paper over what was a shocking performance from him on the day. Away to France we can't afford to have Robbie fannying on the ball if he's not on form, a la the Cyprus game. Lets see how he does between now and Oct 9th for Spurs, but he'd want to start picking things up as he's playing poor stuff at the moment.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

He played well in one game, was average in all the others....whoop di doo.

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What was that one game? Even if you take out the Russia game I have named 2 that he played great.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Keanes penalty against Cyprus didn't paper over what was a shocking performance from him on the day. Away to France we can't afford to have Robbie fannying on the ball if he's not on form, a la the Cyprus game.

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HE WASN'T MATCH FIT. How in the name of jaysus can you judge a player on a game when he had around 60 minutes of football in the entire season before the game? Of course he's going to be poor. You keep mentioning current form without mentioning that Keane wasn't match fit for the last two games, if we had better quality depth up front he probably wouldn't have played for that very reason but we rely on him so much that he had to play. Despite that, he scored one in two, all be it from the spot, had one dubiously disallowed, nearly set up a goal for Morrison (Which Clinton should have buried) and would have scored when straight through before the linesman made a woeful offside call away to the Swiss. He also came close to scoring from open play. His last few matches before the two he wans't fit for were the pre euro summer friendlys, which he was superb in. Alright, they were only friendlys, but as EB pointed out he did it in the qualifyers too and before that he did it in the world cup.

His club form, as I've said before, has always been class for Spurs, once he has games under his belt again he's a shoe in to start for us, there's absolutley 100% no question about that and that's the way it should be too, he's consistently performed for Ireland when fully fit and available.

I mean you've picked Duff up front (Or attacking mid field, whatever you want to call it) when he's been awful each and every time he's played in the middle for us, where's the current form there? You talk of current form yet you then pick Kilbane in Duffs position, even his best mate would admit he's been rubbish in our last two games, the same games you're judging Keane on, and Kilbane was fully fit at the time, and leave Reid out who was absolutley class against Cyrpus, Or are we going to write off his career now, based on the fact that his last game for us was poor?

Afternoon EB. The point of my post was to try and put a bit of optimism into this forum. Theres a lot of doom and gloom round here !

You obviously know your players but without being critical of other people on here I would be suprised if most fans knew the majority of players I had put a ? against. I was trying to highlight that this is a new team without the famous names that used to put fear into the opposition (Thuram , lizarazu , zidane , trezeguet , Makele etc).

I honestly believe we have a team capable of winning in Paris. Theres a lot of fingerpointing at the form of Keane, Duff, RMK etc but its nothing compared to the state of the french side at this moment in time. They have some excellent technical players but from what I have seen of them lately the dont have any heart and dont want to battle.

I would like to see us play RK, JOS and GK in the centre, put Pires and co up in the air in the first 15 minutes and put them back in their shells. :)

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

HE WASN'T MATCH FIT. How in the name of jaysus can you judge a player on a game when he had around 60 minutes of football in the entire season before the game? Of course he's going to be poor.

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In fairness, he wasn't poor in that Spurs game when he got his sixty minutes, in fact he got MOTM. But you're point is well made, he should be well up for it in France.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

He played well in one game, was average in all the others....whoop di doo. Fair enough, you think Keane should be in on what he's achieved so far, I don't, I think he should be judged on current form. Much the same way that Owen and Beckham should be dropped for England, but never are, no matter how they perform. They have both been abysmal as well in international football over the last year, and England have suffered as a consequence.

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We don't have England's strength in depth!!! If we had Smith, Rooney, Defoe, Wright-Phillips, etc warming the bench your argument may hold water. We don't. We have Macken, Connolly, Lee and Doherty - average pros. Like it or not we have 1 world class striker - Robbie. Dropping him would be madness.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Keanes penalty against Cyprus didn't paper over what was a shocking performance from him on the day.

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If anything he was worse against Switzerland.
I hate being critical of our own players when I'm at a game but far too often we were left shaking our heads in disbelief thinking 'WTF? Take him off.'

I know how good he can be on his day so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and want to see him start against France.
He has to come off if he doesn't look sharp though.
Too much is at stake.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

He played well in one game, was average in all the others....whoop di doo. Fair enough, you think Keane should be in on what he's achieved so far, I don't, I think he should be judged on current form. Much the same way that Owen and Beckham should be dropped for England, but never are, no matter how they perform. They have both been abysmal as well in international football over the last year, and England have suffered as a consequence.

Keanes penalty against Cyprus didn't paper over what was a shocking performance from him on the day. Away to France we can't afford to have Robbie fannying on the ball if he's not on form, a la the Cyprus game. Lets see how he does between now and Oct 9th for Spurs, but he'd want to start picking things up as he's playing poor stuff at the moment.

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Talking through your rusty bullet hole there amigo....
Without robbie, were pronto fooked.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

He was our best player, he played as well as he could given the performance of the team.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/shamroc...sp?newsid=1880

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Yip remember it now, he played just OK tried to it all himself and as often as not lost the ball. That is not what I call playing well.

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Originally Posted by Condex

Yip remember it now, he played just OK tried to it all himself and as often as not lost the ball. That is not what I call playing well.

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I never said he played well but he should be judged on other player's performances as that is what a forward plays off. If the players around him aren't performing you can hardly expect him to go out and set the world alight. He was our best player that night.

He scored tonight BTW.

I reckon he could go for this team

1. Given

2. Carr 3. Finnan

4. Cunnigham 5. O'Brien


7. Andy Reid 6. Keane 8. O'Shea 11. Kilbane

9. Duff

10. R. Keane

I really, really hope he doesn't go with Duff up front. Anything but that, and he surley can't/wont drop Morrison now.

Given

Carr - O'Brien - Cunningham - Finnan

A Reid - Keane - O'Shea - Duff

Keane - Clinton

And whatever formation is picked, have the team train on passing the ball all week long - they couldn't pass over three yards against the Swiss.

i dont see any thing wrong with playing one up front and id have keane before morrison because morrison has the first touch of a rapist and possession will be crucial in paris and the last thing they need is to win possession and lose it cos Clints touch is bad... dont get me wrong i like the guy and i think he will do a job in other matches just not this one

for the record the team i would go for is
Given
Carr O'Brien Cunningham O'Shea
Finnan Keane Kilbane Duff
Reid
Keane

Its got to be....... Shay, carr, obrien, kenny,finnan, duff, kilbane, o'shea, Roy keane, Robbie and clinto. Oshea playin in the middle of the park....

i dont agree with playing a left sider on the right wing even though andy reid did well there against Cyprus he didnt spend much time there he came in field a lot which is why i think he might be better off in behind the front man... as for playing duff on the right side i know he had done well there b4 but i am probably being old fashioned when i want to see us have a left midfielder on the left and a right footer on the right IMO the team will be better balanced