i could be wrong but i seem to recall that robbie was massimo morratti's pet buy because he loves the premier league.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
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i could be wrong but i seem to recall that robbie was massimo morratti's pet buy because he loves the premier league.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Moratti treated Inter like his own personal fiefdom, and the players like his children. Kanu referred to him as his Italian father for years.Quote:
Originally Posted by ken foree
Ahh Keane denying he is leaving in the transfer window. The kiss of death. wonder where he lands.....
Yesterday's Sun ran the headline "Robbie Wants to Return".
I'm not sure the other members of Take That would be keen though.
Liverpool are drawing 2-2 with Hull right now in the 83rd minute. Benitez subbed on both Al Zhar and Babel instead of Keane. One sub left. I doubt he gets on the pitch. Not looking good for Robbie.
Lucas comes on for Mascherano. Liverpool desperate for a goal with four minutes to play and they leave Robbie on the bench.
Not going to get on now, cause Lucas is on now. Benitez does make some baffling decisions sometimes but then again he has a Champions league medal and I don't
Delighted that they didnt get a winner. What Benitez was doing bringing on the likes of lucas ahead of keane. Benitez is really doing Keane no favours, i wouldve fancied him to score against Hull today, they are the kind of team that Keane plays well against.
If this treatment keeps up, could be bad news for us in the new year.
Or is it?
Sunderland win 4:0 but Liverpool draw as Raffle leaves £20m on the bench.
But will that £20m be there after Xmas or will some scouse tea-leaf have swiped it?
Sunderland win 4:0
If Benitez is trying to destroy Robbie's confidence and morale he is doing a brilliant job. The third substitution was the final insult. Nobody other than Benitez in Anflield would have seriously entertained the belief that Lucas was going to help Liverpool get a winner. Playing one up front in these circumstances was "tactically inept" (No Neil Mc D, I am not going to apologise for what you regard as arrogance, but what every Liverpool fan regards as bloody obvious), but what makes it worse was that Kuyt was totally ineffective and unable to stay on his feet. If Keane has started and played that badly he would have been off before the hour. Benitez is going to lose Loverpool the title because of his stubborn inflexibility and his apparent unwillingness to consistently select his best technical players and show confidence in them.
Andy Reid scored got a high rating.
None of the other Irish there started.
If you know more about football than Benitez why are you posting on an internet forum for free and he is picking up a nice wage packet. I find his decisions baffling but I would not dare suggest he is wrong or that I know more about football than himQuote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
But by that rationale, you would never be able to criticize any professional in sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Benitez may know a lot about football, and may be succesful at what he does, but that doesn't mean he can't make mistakes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
It's objective facts (ie results) not my opinion that determine whether Benitez's tactics are right or wrong in given games. And the facts say that he has failed to get results (and therefore deploy appropriate tactics) against Stoke, West Ham, Fulham and Hull. In all of these games he has failed to make use of his obviously better players to beat technically inferior teams. I dont need "to know more about football than Benitez" to make this observation.
The only reason these results are not piling pressure on Benitez right now is because everyone else is doing their best to screw up too. Watch Man U power through in the 2nd half of the season, where they play the stronger teams at home and the weaker ones away.
Benitez does not seem to count on anything going wrong. He picks a team with Dirk Kuyt as single striker, banks on not conceding and thinks 'we'll win 1-0'. How often does that happen? No team with Dirk Kuyt as main striker is going to win the league, it's a simple fact. If he was any other striker he'd be subbed, but coz he's Benitez's favourite, he's always left on.
If you wanna go on results surely a look at the table would tell you something also. Or is to be top of the table not good enough for your high standards.Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
Both my comments about Benitez's tectical ineptitude (to which you objected) were made in reference to specific games that Liverpool failed to win. So to answer your question, those results and performances "weren't good enough," and as others (including Benitez amazingly) have commented Liverpool are highly unlikely to maintain their top of the league position unless they improve their current performance level. Like a lot of LFC fans I happen to think that dropping Kuyt and playing Keane and Babel more regularly is one obvious way in which Liverpool can improve. Keane and Babel are players capable of doing something extraordinary and exceptional. Between them they offer pace, guile, technique and vision, the qualities that can ultimately break down well organised but mediocre opposition.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
As a Liverpool fan neither of them have offered much of the above this season. They have shown flashes of it but nothing consistant when they've had a chance. Keane seems to still paying the price for missing good chances earlier in the season. Babel often impresses when he comes on as a sub but then when he's given a chance to start a game he often plays like a drain.Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
Kuyt for all his limitations has actually given more but Benitez seems to have a blind spot regarding him in that if he's having a stinker (like yesterday) he never replaces him while Keane gets hauled off no matter how he's performing.
Take your point about Keane and Babel not showing consistent form, but i would argue that niether have been given a chance to play in their preferred position or in a system that is likely to get the best out of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maroon 7
Assuming that we had a fully fit squad I think that Gerrard, Keane and Babel are the perfect three to play behind Torres. I would even be inclined to play Robbie in the centre of that three and Gerrard and Babel either side, but it should be a fluid system utilising the pace, technical ability and vision of Liverpool's four best attacking players. Sorry if this is degenerating into an LFC thread, but if Liverpool cannot get the best out of Keane, then he is unlikely to perform well for Ireland if he is short of confidence and match fitness.
Fact is Liverpool have had their best season for decades(?) with
Robbie. I normally look at 4th or 5th place in the table when looking for
Liverpool.
Just had a look at the short highlights on MOTD2 and Kuyt had assists for both goals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maroon 7
Benitez seems to have totally lost faith in Keane, it's a pity for the national team, but hopefully he'll get another chance soon and get on a bit of a scoring run. Isn't he traditionally much better in the second half of the season anyway?
Normally I'm very critical of Kuyt, but he's been one of Liverpool's best players this season.
He's consistently scoring or setting goals up every game, and the pressure is on with Torres out.
Keane has been given plenty of match time this season and hasn't finished some sitters.
I agree that he hasn't been utilized in a way that would get the best out of him, but at the end of the day your tactical instructions aren't to blame if you can't score a tap in.
I can see some of the points you are trying to make in your posts, but I'd disagree with the above opinion - I don't think a failure to get a result means that inappropriate tactics were necessarily the reason for that failure.Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
I have watched just about all Liverpools games this season and Keane has had plenty of chances to impress but has been awfull. Earlier in the season he was missing sitters but more worryingly when he has played of late he hasnt even had many chances, he seems nervous to make his usual runs and I believe the other Liverpool players have lost confidence in him, they seem to pass to other players when Robbie is in a better position.
Not looking good for him, sometimes its best to keep your dream of playing for your favourite club as a dream.
I reckon he will go back to Spurs.
Spurs can do a deal with Liverpool because they are still waiting on a huge lump sum payment. Spurs can just say to them that they can cancel that little arrangement (I've heard it's at least 10 million) and just have Robbie back. Liverpool as a result have only wasted 10 million.....Still a big loss but Benitez clearly doesn't rate him.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
So, getting back to a discussion we had earlier. Has Robbie Keane's move helped Ireland?
Keane is an overrated player who never produces in the big matches..
Hes worth at most 6/7m...
i'd really like him to stick it out. benitez is playing the "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" card and is really benefitting from the other top clubs' inconsistency. i think chelsea will win it but getting o.t. here. if he does move i guess i'd rather see keane move to villa but only if doyle goes there too :D
The disappointing thing about this is that Robbie’s move to Liverpool really doesn’t answer the question of whether he’s a top 4 calibre player or not. Sure, the results are plain to see in terms of goals but I really query how Benitez is using him / treating him, though maybe Torres’ repeated absence has at least part-dictated this.
I hope he stays and puts a run together.
I don’t think his move has been either positive or negative for Ireland. He’s always been his own player when he comes over, but whereas in the past things when weren’t going well he could return to his bubble-like world at Spurs I think he may actually feel more at ease in the Ireland camp than at his club these days.
I think some of us may have learned that he really isnt versatile and can only play in one system. That is with a partner who plays with his back to goal with good feet. Like with Berbatov and Quinn or potentially with Crouch. There is no way he is a lone striker, we all knew that before hand, but he cant seem to link with Torres, he cant play wide right and he cant play in the hole (though, to be fair, Rafa has hardly tried him here). He can only play in a strict enough 4-4-2 system with a certain type of strike partner. Roussel, Kanoute, Mido, Viduka, Berbatov, Quinn....
Yep, overrated enough as follows:Quote:
Originally Posted by Condex
All Irish Time Goalscorers
35 Robbie Keane
21 Niall Quinn
20 Frank Stapleton
19 John Aldridge, Tony Cascarino, Don Givens
14 Noel Cantwell
13 Gerry Daly
12 Jimmy Dunne
NEVER scores in big matches. To me all our qualifers are BIG matches. This irritating rubbish that you're only a great player if you score against the likes of Brazil, Germany (oops, he's done that), Spain (oops, he's done that), etc
I'll take an "overrated player" anyday, thank you.
There more to strikers then sticking the ball in the net. Remember Andy Cole?
I dont think Robbie has done as bad as what most people think. I think he needs to be given way more time and deserves a run that is worth that.
Yes he has wasted some good chances but soon enough I think his luck will change. Thats if Rafa gives him time to be able to do that.
One vital goal is all it may take for him to kickstart his career at the pool. He needs time and patience from the Liverpool and Irish fans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Condex
Anyone that knows anything about football would see that Keane is not an out and out goalscoring striker.
And he does score against the bigger sides anyways. For Example Czech Republic in 2000, Holland in 2000, Iran in the play-offs in 2001, Germany in 2002, Spain in 2002, Czech Republic again in 2004, Sweden in 2006, Denmark in 2007 and we wouldn't have beaten Cyprus if it wasn't for his goal in October. All of those teams mentioned are top class international sides he scored against.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Agreed, i cant stand the people that come on this site and say that we would be a better team without Keane etc etc what nonsense. his record is phenomenal!
Very much like we have struggled to fill Roy Keane's boots in the team now, Robbie Keane will certainly be missed for a long time when he retires and that says alot about a player.
For example, alot of us would consider Doyler a damn good player but he is very unlikely to get even near the amount of goals for us that Robbie has.
You probably should have stopped after Denmark! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by L37Ultra
You're right though. I cant understand where this Robbie Keane hate brigade came from. Right now he isnt doing all he should, for either club or country, and I do think giving him the Irish captaincy was a mistake and the last qualifying campaign under Stan were probably his worst games ever in an Irish shirt, but those goals that he has scored, all that good that he has done, that doesnt just disappear. That talent is still in there. I think we need to stop him from roaming around the field as much and get him to do more work away from the midfield and just in the final third. We also need to get out of his head, what I see, as some selfdelusional qualities where he seems to try and do things too complicated. He is a gifted goalscorer and should try and simplify his game a bit better again. That was when he was at his best. First time shots, one touch and turn shots, quick passes...these were Robbies trademarks in his prime. Now, he insists on taking 3 or 4 touches before doing anything or that irritating step over which I dont think has ever worked.
In short, Robbie has disappointed me over the last 2 years, but the good Robbie Keane that Liverpool spent £20 million on is still in there. I am sure of it
The irritating bit is that he was probably only worth half that at the very most.Quote:
Originally Posted by HammerNThongs
Lawrenson did say on Matt Cooper last night that Pool have probably only payed out 5m in down payments on him and also said that he spoke to Gerrard last weekend and they share the same agent and Steven had told him he wouldn't be surprised if he does go in the January window.
I disagree...in a league where Andy Johnsons transfer fee rose by £2million during his goal shy spell at Everton to £10.5 million, I think Robbie is worth way more then the £10 million you rate him at....now if you bring in the over inflated EPL transfer rates argument, we're onto a whole other debate!Quote:
Originally Posted by razor
Anyway, I heard that too. I'm sure Gerrard will thank Lawro for that too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HammerNThongs
I think he can play in the hole.. The issue here is not Keane and/or Torres, it's Keane and Gerard. He should stick it out the season at the very least. There'll be a time when Gerard will be unnavailable and we'll see the best of Keane...
I'm not saying that'll be the best for Liverpool, I just think he'll do himself more justice if he doesn't have to tailor himself to the free reign Gerard is rightly or wrongly given.