Who are our most Crucial players?

[Morbo]

Just interested to see how people rank the players in terms of importance, not necessarily who is the best player but which players are the least replaceable.

For me it would be
1. Robbie Keane: By far our biggest goal threat.
2. Given
3. Dunne
4. Duff: there is definitely a lack of imagination in our creative side of the game when he doesn't play.
5. O' Shea
6. Whelan: Gets a bit of stick but I think he is a solid player and the alternatives like Gibson don't inspire me with confidence.
7. Doyle: probably our hardest working player but his goal scoring record could be better, still does an important job for us.
8. Ledger
9. Lawrence: would have ranked him higher but I think we have good cover for our wingers in Hunt & McGeady.
10. Andrews.
11. Kilbane: Was a great servant to his country but at the moment I don't think there is much difference between Kilbane and the alternatives.

[Duggie]

for me as long as robbie keane is playing we have a chance no matter who else is out. if he is out were fcukd IMO.

[ifk101]

Goals win football games and there two ways we score goals; (a) give the ball to Robbie (b) from set-plays. Duff is our most important player as (a) Duff is the creative force in midfiled that gets the ball to Robbie and (b) Duff is the one that gets the free kicks in the dangerous positions for set-plays.

[Sullivinho]

1. Robbie. 100 caps, 43 goals, Our biggest threat to the onion bag for the past 12 years. Just as well he's so commited to playing for his country because the guy is irreplaceable.
2. Given/Dunne. Couldn't seperate these two when it comes to what they offer defensively.
3. Duffer. One of very few players we have who can make something happen from midfield.
4. Doyle. With the exception of Robbie, there's a chasm in quality between Doyle and any other forward we have.

O'Shea and Whelan are also important players.

[Morbo]

Goals win football games and there two ways we score goals; (a) give the ball to Robbie (b) from set-plays. Duff is our most important player as (a) Duff is the creative force in midfiled that gets the ball to Robbie and (b) Duff is the one that gets the free kicks in the dangerous positions for set-plays.

Good point, for me it was a tough choice between Duff/Given/Dunne, against the bigger teams where we are an underdog I think Given/Dunne are more important as the good teams will take full advantage if our defensive had any weak links but against the smaller nations who are just playing for a 0-0 draw I'd prefer to have Duff since our defensive probably isn't going to under too much pressure and we will need a creative spark to break down the teams with 10 men behind the ball. For the 2 upcoming games I'd prefer to have Duff than Dunne or Given.