Originally Posted by
Kingdom
The emboldened, underlined elements of your post do not tally.
Richard Keogh might be a lot of things - a 'nam survivor being one of them anytime I see him concentrate - but a hoofer of the football he is not. I've been accused of making posts too long, or having off-the-wall opinions about some of our players, or squads, or performances, but I at least try to back up my opinion with facts trying to use the best of my limited ability to link video clips etc.
For two campaigns I have solidly criticised Randolph and Shane Duffy for their use of the ball - because they bloody well deserved to be criticised - as it was shameful of a pro-footballer to do what they do in possession. This carried over to the very first minute of the game against Gibraltar, when despite playing into a gale, Shane Duffy launched a rocket up top. It was all downhill from there.
Cut to the Georgia game, and it was very noticeable how dominant Richard Keogh was in possession, only using Duffy to engineer some space for himself, and almost not using Randolph at all. He wasn't just dominant in taking ownership of the ball, it was the speed in which he wanted to get us onto the front foot. In fact he played one of the best passes I've seen by an Irish player in a few years. He got the ball around level with the 18 yd box progressed about10 yds and played an arching ball onto Dave McGoldrick (or possibly Hendrick) just beyond the centre circle, completely cutting out two Georgians.
So I disagree that Richard Keogh isn't a technically profficient centre-back.