My friend went on a drunken rant about Kilbane last night, and put his feelings bluntly;
'I used to hate him, for the simple reason that he was rubbish, and so frustrating to watch. But now I won't hear a bad word against him, he's so dedicated.'
I'd say that sums up how I feel too. I cringed whenever I saw him in central midfield, but it wasn't his fault he was put there. He's always tried his best, and he epitomises the best traditional attributes of Irish football - honesty, integrity, courage and making the best out of negligible ability.
Its hard to knock him at this stage. He will give you blood and sweat in buckets. Still not sure about him in midfield mind you
But he would be my first choice left back at this stage
Getting back to the masks, Duff should have been wearing one when he got us that penalty against Spain in '02
I think that's a bit unfair. I think he played 16 games in the centre under Kerr and we lost 1. He's not in there to create. He was really excellent for us up until the last few games. He was playing with Kav mainly at the start until Keane came out of retirement. Once he has an intelligent player like that beside him with a decent range of passing he'll play the Gattuso role superbly.
I wouldn't say 'superbly', to be honest! Despite his stormer against France (where he was playing against Dacourt and Mavuba, rather than Vieira and Makelele in Lansdowne), Kilbane was never totally comfortable in centre-mid, very hit-and-miss, and was only there for legs and aggression, something Steven Reid could have provided, and more. The win/loss stats don't tell the full story. Israel, for instance.
In theory at least, a good team should have two intelligent players with a good range of passing in centre-mid. I'll always bemoan the fact that Steven Reid wasn't used in centre-mid alongside Keane during the Kerr era.
He was player of the year playing central midfield and rightly so. Superb against Czechs and Brazil. Basically any game against a really talented team he usually played very well.
In fairness, he was given Player of the year in 2004, during which we only played four competitive matches. In that time, we beat Holland, Portugal, Croatia and the Czechs in friendlies, and drew with Brazil. However, that Irish team under Kerr flattered to deceive, and that's how I feel about Kilbane's contribution in centre-mid too, as hard and honestly as he tried. I really, really don't believe in playing players out of position, and it was this tendency that eventually cost Kerr his job.
Yep, he did, see here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tetsujin...51795106545682
Is it his 50th competetive game on wednesday or 49th? there is confliting reports about it.
After missing out the Macedonia game in 99 (Mark Kennedy played instead), Kilbane played the two playoffs against Turkey in 99, 12 matches for 2002 (Holland, Portugal, Estonia, Cyprus, Andorra and Iran home and away) plus four finals games (Cameroon, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Spain), 8 for 2004 (Russia, Switzerland, Georgia and Albania home and away), 10 for 2006 (Cyprus, Switzerland, France, Israel and the Faeroes home and away), 12 for 2008 (Germany, Cyprus, Czechs, San Marino, Wales and Slovakia home and away) and 2 for 2010 (Georgia and now Montenegro)...Is it his 50th competetive game on wednesday or 49th? there is confliting reports about it.
Yeah it's 50. God, fair play to Kilbane. Lots of memories.
Last edited by Supreme feet; 09/09/2008 at 4:04 PM.
Did really well last night but for the two lapses in defence (if that's not a contradiction in terms). Not sure he misplaced more than 1 or 2 passes.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Kilbane; more Irish than Ireland itself (Stephen, not sure if he's a woman/man).
Last edited by noddy102; 12/09/2008 at 1:08 PM.
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