Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia
This excuse is beyond ridicioulous. Robbie does NOT have to drop back but he always gets the urge too, often when we are not under pressure. I cant understand for the life of me why he will not stay up forward. I personally would like to see Stokes and Doyle up forward. But Kenae playing left wing is a slight possibility. I remember him doing it for Spurs at home to Chelsea this year and he tore Boulahrouz asunder
Last edited by carloz; 13/01/2007 at 7:21 PM.
Perhaps a Connolly/Stokes partnership will bear fruit for Sunderland.
At the very least all of this Irish strikers should at least put paid to the abomination that is Damien Duff up front.
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
Yugoslavia and Turkey were in the last century. Holland was nearly seven years ago, Germany and Spain nearly five years ago. The other matches you mention were friendly matches.I seem to remember him scoring against Germany, the World Cup Finalists that year but perhaps they all have rubbish defenders. He has also scored against Yugoslavia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Holland, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Crotatia and Sweden: all total lightweights. DOn't let facts get in the way of sweeping statements about our all time record scorer. Who else has performed up front for US that you would like to replace him with?
Our all time record scorer hasn't been up to much in a green shirt for nearly five years now, besides the odd hat trick against San Marino.
In fairness most of the Irish team hasn't shown up in the last couple of years. Not just Keane but pretty much most of the team.
Those 2 goals against Israel were Keane's fault?
Henry's touch of magic was Keane's fault?
Cyprus was Keane's fault?
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
As far as i know he scored two goals against ajax in a match that won them the game so became a bit of a cult hero.
Keane certainly was a joy to watch in the chelsea match, and i'm sure you noticed his hard running all over the pitch. he is an effervescent character who likes to be involved in games so when he plays for ireland in a team whose passing ability pales in comparison to that of spurs it isnt surprising that he drops deep instead of waiting all day for a bit of decent service.
his mercurial talent should be embraced rather than denounced as being a hindrance to the effectiveness of the team, its hard to know if he used to be tactically instructed to stay up top or was just told to go out and play. if left to his own devices management should be aware keane is likely to roam, this isnt the players fault unless we know management specifically say not to.
he will actively look for knock downs from long balls but in more general play does tend to drop deep, a style not really conducive to wide play(plus he's a sh!te headerer!). in the san marino thread i propose a triumvirate of keane, doyle and stokes, a system that could work into the future. the teams in our group do not play exansively so i dont think we'd be too narrow, kerr toyed with the system with duff as the man playing deeper but i think keane would be far more suited to the role. in the sweden match(stans first) we played three attacking players in elliot, doyle and keane(as well as duff) who alternated around the place, granted the opposition were poor but i thought the system worked very well..i know it may border on sacrilege but on balance i wouldnt mind if duff doesnt start the next few games and in the process unlock robbie's, IMO, great talent. the relevance is that we can accomodate our captain, form striker and the subject of this thread all in one glorious fell swoop....
thats fair enuff
but i cant undertsand the dying need to go straight to the hotel to see the players straight after the game, for what? a joke, get an autograph, have the craic with the lads
there was a mass exodus of fans going to the hotel, im sorry but i found that bizarre
I went back to my room and got depressed. My mate, an equally committed fan for decades, went out and had a great night, met the team and put the suffering to one side. Doesn't mean he's from the "ole ole brigade" or was hurting any less than me. People just handle the disappointment in different ways.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Connolly is the Dave Kelly of this era!!
Sounds like a speil of shiiite that would come out of Brian Kerrs mouth...
Keane hasnt done anything for years for Ireland,,,I respect his achievemnt but How many of his goals did he get in competitive matches. He scored a hatrick against San Marino(big deal), and still had a very unconvincing game...he has become to complacent in the Irish setup, having your place guaranteed for 7 years isnt healthy for any player
All well and good saying he hasn't done anything in years, but who was there to replace him? Are you really trying to convince us that a front 2 from Connolly, The Doc, Morrison, Lee would have been better than Robbie + any one of those??
no not saying that...im just saying now that he has some competition, e.g. Stokes etc, he should be dropped. It might give him the kick up the arsse he deserves...For me Doyle is now first choice Irish striker.
Why what has Doyle done for Ireland that Keane has not.
In Trap we trust
EH, 5 Caps?! But much to expect from someone who's played 2 competitive matches... Best Irish Player against Germany and Scored against San Marino. He's doing well so far if you want to put it that way...
You remind me of the English fans who were clamouring for Jon Stead's introduction when he went on a scoring spree right when he first came on the scene. Silly then and silly now.
The fact is, Keane is still one of our best strikers and only a knee-jerk reactionary half-wit would drop him for an untested 18 year old playing in the championship.
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
I was about to say England have better strikers than we do, but I'm not sure that's true.
I still think now is the time to give Stokes his debut not in a year's time when he is scoring 10 a season for Sunderland in the Premiership.
Hardly the same, its not like we have a clamour of decent strikers is it? Competition is healthy for any team sport...lack of it breeds complacency and thats exactly what keane has become for Ireland..Stokes is the most prolific striker that has come through the ranks for years, to include him in the squad at least might even freshen it up.
Why shouldnt he be dropped, he hasnt been in form for Ireland since 2002...nobody is indispensible, especially not Robbie Keane, he is hardly world class.
Imo it would send a message to the rest of the squad, who are contemplating easy-street.
I still think all this hype surrounding Stokes is way over the top. He hasn't scored a goal in a decent league yet IMO and until he's been given at least a full season to do so I wouldn't be too excited.
All I'd say is that even if he turns out to be sh*t I'd expect at least one out of Clarke, Long, Rooney or Keogh to make the grade considering the initial promise they've showed.
Presumably then you wouldnt have had Henrik Larsson in our team then all those years when he was at Celtic then .
Yet you regard Elliott as our 3rd choice striker? I'm a fan of Elliott too but Stokes has shown a lot more than him already and is the player in form. Also, prolific SPL goalscorers are almost all proven players so chances are Stokes will prove himself too. I'm very excited about Stokes. A fantastic finisher with a great positional sense and it doesn't seem like confidence will affect him much which is important.
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