Roy Keane injured

[tiktok]

Holland joins Keane on the injured list....
But the good news is that Duff and Robbie Keane both featured yesterday, although the former was only a late sub, and the latter only last 45 minutes.

If Robbie is fit I think that sorts out the Duff upfront debate, and with Holland out, CM is up in the air. Anyway, here is the midfield that I think Brian Kerr will play... as opposed to the one I might pick myself

Reid Kavanagh Kilbane Duff

by the way, Carsely and Delap both played quite well yesterday

[carnstien]

You say you're not biased towards O'Shea. Well I am, I'm a United fan. He's not played very well for United in a long time and he was a stopgap in Fergie's plans, as I've said before, Fergie may see him in CM down the line, but I want him to gain the neccessary experiance at club level (as Kilbane did)

Kilbane has not played many more games in CM than O'Shea, the fact that he has played there on a couple of occasions for Ireland doesn't make a blind bit of difference in my opinion.

Kilbane was used in CM for Everton for part of last season because of injuries, he is back on the left this season.

The reason O'Shea should play there rather than Kilbane is that he is a far more complete player, esecially when it comes to passing which without Roy in there is the most important attribute for any player who will replace him.

[eirebhoy]

Kilbane has not played many more games in CM than O'Shea

The difference is, you are suggesting we play O'Shea as the holder when he has never played there in his life and Ferguson didn't have enough confidence to play him in that position against Chelsea. The holding midfielder is probably the most important player after the centre half and we saw what happened the last time O'Shea played at centre half for Ireland. If you were to partner O'Shea with a holding midfielder there isn't as much risk but playing him as the anchorman without any experience is suicide.

Kavanagh isn't a holder but he has done a job there when needed and has the experience which is vital for that position.

[Stuttgart88]

here is the midfield that I think Brian Kerr will play... as opposed to the one I might pick myself

Reid Kavanagh Kilbane Duff

That's actually the midfield I hope he picks too.

[NeilMcD]

its really annoying me all this nonsense about keane being injured or is he injured. The times have an article on it today, and the herald has had a few. Talk about nothing better to write and justifying their existence. Some journalists would not even have a career if it was not for keane, that fool at the Herald springs to mind.

[stickyjoe]

couldn`t agree more Neil. i don`t think any journalist has wasted as much printspace as paul hyland from the herald talking about saipan. what a ******** he is.

[macdermesser]

its really annoying me all this nonsense about keane being injured or is he injured. The times have an article on it today, and the herald has had a few. Talk about nothing better to write and justifying their existence. Some journalists would not even have a career if it was not for keane, that fool at the Herald springs to mind.

Don't mean to annoy anyone further .. and getting back to the title of the thread .. but is it 100% certain that he won't be playing in the Swiss game? .. Kerr hasn't named a replacement (is there one?) so perhaps he is holding out for Keane to be fit ...

A Roy Keane with cracked ribs, would still be a better proposition than some of the suggestions being made

[NeilMcD]

Whats your point Davros, the point I am making is that when there is nothing to write about, certain journalists write about Keane and invent stuff etc. Its as clear as day that Keane is injured he has not played for Man Utd, so I dont see why there has to be a big conspiracy. No such articles about Matt Holland. Its just lazy journalism, using a big name to sell papers.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah but that has nothing to do with what we are talking about, that is you just bringing up a point that u have spouted time and time again. Now I would say the same if you were pro Keane, and it was the same point again and again. Do u not get sick of spouting it time and again. Most of us have moved on and dont feel the need to bring up the same argument again and again.

[Greenbod]

Yeah but that has nothing to do with what we are talking about, that is you just bringing up a point that u have spouted time and time again. Now I would say the same if you were pro Keane, and it was the same point again and again. Do u not get sick of spouting it time and again. Most of us have moved on and dont feel the need to bring up the same argument again and again.

Yeah but then again, you used the word "again" six times in that short post again. Don't you get sick of saying again, again and again.........eh I mean repeatedly. Don't do it again, again.

[NeilMcD]

I did that on purpose to re-inforce a point, that repeating something can be pretty annoying

[PaulB]

its really annoying me all this nonsense about keane being injured or is he injured. The times have an article on it today, and the herald has had a few. Talk about nothing better to write and justifying their existence. Some journalists would not even have a career if it was not for keane, that fool at the Herald springs to mind.

Agree, Paul Hyland is a muppet. To be fair to Emmet Malone, he's not saying he's not injured, he was writing about the way it was communicated, on mUTV..

[Stuttgart88]

To be fair to Emmet Malone, he's not saying he's not injured, he was writing about the way it was communicated, on mUTV..

I'd like to see what Emmet Malone wrote if anyone can paste the article.

[NeilMcD]

Is he not allowed be injured , the point i am making is, that the media are blowing this up out of all proportion. When Keane came back tehre was always the possibility that he would miss games due to injury like any player just like Matt Holland is missing this game. The point I am making is, that there should not be such a big deal made about it, and that it is lazy journalism and basically a way of filling column inches on a slow news day.

[NeilMcD]

Just a few weeks after Brian Kerr said he spends little time considering what might be his best line-up for a game until he sees which players arrive to play in it, the wisdom of the approach has been underlined by the early withdrawals from his squad for the first two games of Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign.

Had they been fit for the games against Cyprus on Saturday and Switzerland on Wednesday week it is almost certain Matt Holland would have partnered Roy Keane in the centre of the Republic of Ireland team's midfield. Now Kerr is four days from having to reveal his Plan B and, though there is no great shortage of options for him, none stand out as particularly obvious at this time.

The loss of Keane is, of course, a huge blow to the Ireland manager, although what remains most baffling about the news of the midfielder's withdrawal is the manner in which it was revealed last Wednesday. If Manchester United and the FAI are to be believed, the Corkman played - over the space of six days - all 90 minutes of the Premiership game against Norwich as well as a rather low-key international, against Bulgaria, with cracked ribs.

During this time almost nothing was made of the injury in public by anyone and Alex Ferguson raised no significant objection to the 33-year-old travelling to Dublin for the meeting with Bulgaria. During the build-up to that game, Keane trained with the rest of the squad and Kerr made no mention of the problem to the media.

Then, last Tuesday, he named the United skipper in his squad again. The timing of the squad's announcement was, according to the FAI, dictated by the need to inform clubs by that day their players were to be called up.

But Kerr was unavailable to discuss his selection with journalists until the next day due to other commitments. By then, there should have been time for United, or even the player, to get back to the Irish manager with the bad news. Instead, Kerr made no mention of anticipating any hitch in connection with his availability.

On the face of it, there's little to suggest Kerr did not hear the news in much the same way as everybody else, when the contents of a Ferguson interview with MUTV became public early that evening, and a statement was put out at 9 p.m. to the effect the FAI's medical people would be in touch with their opposite numbers at Old Trafford.

That Keane is genuinely injured seems beyond question given he has not featured in United's last three games. Having defied Ferguson's wishes to make an international comeback in the first place, it would also be ludicrous if he played in friendly games against Romania and Bulgaria only to buckle underpressure from his club manager ahead of World Cup qualifiers - the second of which is one of the most important ties of the campaign.

If Kerr really didn't know the player was so badly injured, however, it suggests he has little better of a relationship with the midfielder than his predecessor enjoyed. There could not, one presumes, be the personal enmity, but there would hardly be much evidence of respect either.

If, on the other hand, Kerr was aware Keane was about to be pulled from his squad then his failure to mention this at Wednesday's press conference is slightly baffling. All he succeeded in doing was to give rise to the suspicion he didn't know what was going on. While it has long been clear he cares little for what the media think these days, one would have thought anything which might fuel the perception on the part of other players that he is being messed about by the former Ireland skipper would be best avoided.

After all, Mick McCarthy enjoyed the almost unanimous support of the players two years ago because he was obliged to deal with Keane and had made a great many concessions in his attempt to do so. Kerr, on the other hand, has gone out of his way to bring the player back, but with assurances to other squad members he is to be treated no differently to anybody else.

Whatever the real circumstances of Keane's withdrawal, there is no questioning the seriousness of his loss with the game in Basel just the sort of contest in which his return was supposed to prove so beneficial. The suggestion is the midfielder will be back in a couple of weeks, and should, therefore, be fit for the trip to Paris, although it's questionable whether his presence will be quite so important there.

The opening games of the last World Cup campaign may have provided evidence you should never write off visits to the continent's major footballing powers as a lost cause, but the consensus is that even after the loss of so many established stars, the French should emerge as winners of this group.

A result at the Stade de France would be a huge bonus to the Irish team's prospects whereas a result in Basel against a Swiss side that has lost its leading striker, first-choice goalkeeper and most industrious midfielder (Stephane Chapuisat, Jorg Stiel and Fabio Celestini respectively), since Euro 2004 is likely to have a more profound impact on Ireland's chances of making it to Germany in two years' time.

[Stuttgart88]

Thanks for the article Neil

[tricky_colour]

I did that on purpose to re-inforce a point, that repeating something can be pretty annoying

Agreed, repeating something can be pretty annoying.

[thejollyrodger]

Who really knows whats up with RMK. Personally I think things came to a head when he went to Japan and realised he is an old man of football and couldnt play anymore, so he had to make an excuse & came home.. Things went pair shaped after that so he decided to start playing internationals again.

Now he has realised that he isnt up to it anymore and him and Fergie are both screwed.

To be honest, Man Utd are on the way down, the players on the pitch cant produce the goods. Keane is passed it and cant really play 100% for Ireland. We might get another few matches out of him but I reckon he should call it a day.

[NeilMcD]

It said on the radio last night that he did the damage against Bulgaria. I dont believe in any conspiracy, THe guy is injured full stop. Just like holland is injured and so is Stephen Reid. Players get injured and when he was coming back there was always the possibility that he could get injured.

[colster]

There's a simple explanation for this. This article from the Indo today.

EVER since the Bulgaria match Brian Kerr has gone out of his way to tell journalists that he wouldn't be thinking of the side he will field in Saturday's opening World Cup qualifier until the players were safely checked into their Portmarnock hotel.

Experience of international football over the past seven years has taught him not to count his chickens and in the lead-up to this weekend's game against Cyprus it has proved to be a sound policy.

He has lost the inspirational Roy Keane, the usually dependable Matt Holland and the enigmatic David Connolly, while two more midfielders, Rory Delap and Liam Miller, have both stayed behind at their clubs for treatment. Miller had a scan on a calf injury yesterday.

At the moment the Irish midfield engine room looks like it has been hit by a torpedo and the loss of Keane and Holland is a particularly tough knock.

"It's a major blow but that's they way it is and we have to get on with it," said a defiant Kerr last night.

"We have had a lot of games where we have been missing players but we have played without them and put up good performances." While Holland twisted his ankle on the opening day of the Premiership season playing for Charlton and has been doubtful for some weeks, the news that Keane was out of the Cyprus and Switzerland games was a unexpected bombshell.

Kerr first became aware of Keane's injury last Wednesday afternoon after he had attended the launch of the FAI logo.

He got a message to call Keane and finally made contact with the player around 6.30pm around the same time Alex Ferguson was delivering the news to MUTV.

"Roy had just been told he had cracked ribs and it was only when Alan Byrne spoke to the United doctor, Dr Stone, and Ciarán Murray talked to the physio that we found out what the problem was.

"It is a hairline fracture to his fifth and sixth rib and it occurred in the match against Dinamo Bucharest three weeks ago. That was when the damage was done," explained Kerr.

"He was sore after the match when he played against Bulgaria but he played on the Saturday against Norwich although he had a painkiller because he was very sore in the warm-up.

"He then got an X-ray on the Monday which showed all was clear but an MRI scan identified that there was a hairline fracture.

"He was told by the medical staff that he needed to be immobilised for a period of time to allow the ribs to heal."

Keane is not expected to return to action until September 20 when United play Liverpool and Kerr has written him out his plans for this month. But he still carries a somewhat forlorn hope that Holland will make a miraculous recovery in time to make the plane for Basel next Monday. "If Matt called on Thursday or Friday and said he was able to run and was feeling much better and wanted to come in and give it a go, we'll take him. We've eight days from now till the second game so if that happened I would be glad to see him but as it stands at the moment I don't see him making it."

Kerr is now facing a massive midfield headache as Miller and Delap are also carrying injuries after the weekend.

Miller injured a calf on Saturday playing for Manchester United against Blackburn Rovers and did not play against Everton on Monday.

The Corkman also paid a visit to the dentist yesterday to sort out an ongoing dental problem and had been due to link up with the squad at their Portmarnock base last night.

Delap has problems with his calf and his knee after sustaining the injuries against Chelsea on Saturday.

Kerr's midfield woes could open the door for Cardiff City's Graham Kavanagh to make his competitive debut on Saturday alongside Kevin Kilbane in the centre.

Striker Connolly, who played 11 months ago in Basel, was forced to withdraw from the squad after he suffered a calf injury playing for Leicester City against Brighton on Monday night.

Fourteen players reported in yesterday and eight went for a ball work session at Malahide while the six who played on Monday night went swimming. Three players - Gary Breen, Paddy Kenny and Alan Quinn - were playing for their clubs last night.

Gerry McDermott