Robbie Keane

cant believe some people are even contamplating dropping keane for this must win match where we must score goals. he is streets ahead in talent of the other contenders and he has scored crucial goals for us in the past. accepted, he is off form at the moment, but we havent exactly got world class to replace him have we. besides he got 90 minutes into him on saturday (or near it) and should be better for it..
'supporters', how about starting supporting our players......not getting on the backs of them....too much knocking going on here...looks like too many buying into the british tabloid traits...
btw: i'd stick with elliot after his encouraging performance on saturday...

This is a good argument because for once we do have 3 good strikers available for 2 slots. (I still would like to see connolly back at some stage but thats for another days rant).

Either one of them could do it for us on wednesday but its up to Kerr to make the decision and have the guts to do something about it if one of them isnt performing-and not in the last 5 minutes.:rolleyes:

Kerr will be slaughtered by the media & fans if he changed his team wholesale from earlier in the campaign.

I think he will stick with tried & trusted for wednesday but shouldn't be afriad he make radical changes if not working.

Have to say I'd be looking at dropping Robbie to the bench. He's been poor for us lately and I think Elliot and Clinton could do the job. There's always the option of bringing (a probably more motivated) Keane on if it's not working anyway.

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Originally Posted by aidz1

cant believe some people are even contamplating dropping keane for this must win match where we must score goals. he is streets ahead in talent of the other contenders and he has scored crucial goals for us in the past. accepted, he is off form at the moment, but we havent exactly got world class to replace him have we. besides he got 90 minutes into him on saturday (or near it) and should be better for it..
'supporters', how about starting supporting our players......not getting on the backs of them....too much knocking going on here...looks like too many buying into the british tabloid traits...
btw: i'd stick with elliot after his encouraging performance on saturday...

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I don't think most people on this board can be accused of not supporting the players. We are entitled to give our opinion on the relative merits of the players. COme K/O on Wednesday and everyone will be supporting the players on the field no matter who they are. I for one think Robbie should be droppped but if he gets picked he will have my 100% support come Wednesday.

The guy is a bit of an eejit but he is the top goalscorer of all time - Would give Robbie the first 45 to go for it - if he is not at the races by then, Elliot to come on - One of the things that ticks me off with Brian is he is slow to make the changes that need to be made - Playing up front is a confidence thing - If Robbie isn't showing it in the first half, it is unlikely to magically appear at the start of the second

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Originally Posted by ZoolEire

has anyone told kerr your able to make substitutions before 80 mins?

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Must have, he brought Holland on at half time on Saturday.

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Originally Posted by ZoolEire

if things go belly up on wednesday and were down by one kerr should go for broke and stick on keane, morrision, elliot & doc

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The last manager to try something like that at Lansdowne would have been Van Gaal, sending on Hasselbaink, Van Hooindonk to supplement Van Nistelrooy and Kluivert. We all know how that ended.

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Originally Posted by Peadar

If someone is to be dropped on Wednesday to make way for Clint then it should be Robbie.

It is also my opinion that Kevin Doyle is the only striker in the squad, physical enough to deal with the Swiss. I'll wager that Doc gets thrown on.

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will the city fans ever take off the blinkers??

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Originally Posted by TheJamaicanP.M.

The Swiss would love to hear that Robbie is on the bench.

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Not only the Swiss but the majority of people contributing to this thread would like to see him on the bench...

Why make the assumption that the Swiss would love to see Robbie on the bench. IMO Elliot was one of only two players who started the game to come out of the Cyprus match with any credit and deserves his chance. Clinton has always caused the Swiss more problems than Robbie. I think they would prefer to see Robbie on the pitch in front of Clinton given the relative recent form of both players.

IMO the team 2moro should be
1. Given
2. Carr
3.Finnan
4.Cunningham
5.Dunne
6.Kavanagh
7.Stephen Reid
8.Holland
9.Elliot
10.Morrison
11.Andy Reid
This is the team who are the most on form but sadly i feel kerr is too inept to pick this team.

Robbie keane has to play tomorrow regardless of his performance against france and cyprus. We have very little creativity without Duff and keane (possibly fatty reid) are the only players capable of getting a goal out of nothing.

Its got to be keane and morrison to start tomorrow.

given
carr
o brien
cunningham
finann
reid A
reid S
kavanagh
holland
keane
morrison

Only for an excellent clearance off the line Robbie would have scored on Saturday and there would be very few people wanting him dropped. He wasn't that bad against Cyprus.

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Originally Posted by KopKiller

Robbie keane has to play tomorrow regardless of his performance against france and cyprus. We have very little creativity without Duff and keane (possibly fatty reid) are the only players capable of getting a goal out of nothing.

Its got to be keane and morrison to start tomorrow.

given
carr
o brien
cunningham
finann
reid A
reid S
kavanagh
holland
keane
morrison

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robbie and morrison will start tmow .. just think really unfair on elliott who had a decent game on sat and ran his heart out ... though i can see why kerr will play keane as one he would be slated and two if keane actually does perform he is our most creative player .. hopefully he will do the business for him now he realises his place is under pressure now ..

Brian Kerr would need to be off his rocker on cocaine before he'd drop Robbie this week. Considering his job is up for grabs anyway, do you really expect him to do it? I agree with the statement if he does do it, he should be sacked on the spot!

We simply cannot gamble on dropping our best striker for this game. I think Robbie's been bearing the brunt of the stick for a **** poor team performance for the past few games. You can't expect to get much service when your central midfield is Kavanagh and Kilbane! I would start Robbie and Clint up front, because we know that combination has a history of working. If it's not working with 45 gone, then have a look to Elliott.

I agree that we need to make a number of changes for this game, and I think Ian Harte must play, purely because he genuinely can make a goal out of nothing. Gentlemen, we are needing 3 points here and we have to overlook some of Harte's defensive frailties and play him on his attacking merits. The free kicks, the corners, the diagonal balls and the crosses all outweigh his dubious defensive skills.

I am in favour of dropping Kavanagh, he works very hard but so does Kilbane, and he offers less than Kilbane. Lets go for the jugular, put O'Shea in midfield and try our luck a little bit. He's got surprisingly got attacking attributes for a defender.

So, my team would be as follows.

Given

Carr
Harte
O'Brien
Cunningham

Finnan
Reid
O'Shea
Kilbane

Keane
Morrison


We've got options on the bench.

I think we'll need to score two to win this one. Unless Shay Given gets even more amazing they are likely to breach our defence once.

Last minute winner, Robbie Keane.

Ade

if brian kerr had balls he would drop keane but he has shown already he doesnt.

i think its a vital week for robbie, on and off the training park.

if he bursts his ******** and is in bed by 19 every night he may have tipped the scales in his balance.

but dont for a second think kerr will risk his career on any player who moans through training and goes on the ****. scapegoats may well be needed.

Here lads while we're talking about dropping our record goalscorer for our most important game in 3 years let's also bring Lee Trundle and Richie Foran into the squad and play them up front together.

They can then line up alongside our newly formed midfield made up entirely of Eircom League players (the majority from Cork City of course) and while we're at it lets play John O'Shea in goal in place of Given because he's so versatile and bring Paul Butler back from the International wilderness.

As I said earlier fatty Keane's persistence setup Elliot's goal on Sat and he always looks like our main goal threat when playing. Elliot's time may come alongside Keane but not in place of him. Bring him on if fatty get's tired and is playing s**t. To suggest anything else is silly at this stage of the qualification.

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Originally Posted by youngirish

Here lads while we're talking about dropping our record goalscorer for our most important game in 3 years let's also bring Lee Trundle and Richie Foran into the squad and play them up front together.

They can then line up alongside our newly formed midfield made up entirely of Eircom League players (the majority from Cork City of course) and while we're at it lets play John O'Shea in goal in place of Given because he's so versatile and bring Paul Butler back from the International wilderness.

As I said earlier fatty Keane's persistence setup Elliot's goal on Sat and he always looks like our main goal threat when playing. Elliot's time may come alongside Keane but not in place of him. Bring him on if fatty get's tired and is playing s**t. To suggest anything else is silly at this stage of the qualification.

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Good post youngirish. Sums up the stupidity of this thread and the idiotic comments made by the George O'Callaghan/Joe Gamble/Neale Fenn brigade.

Keane will play tomorrow night and rightfully so.