I reckon this was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an Irish player. The guy was abysmal. He is not international standard, to think he is our player of the year! All he did was give the ball away and foul the opposition.
In fairness, Roy didn't have one of his best games and did not inject enough urgency, but I can't believe that Kerr left Kilbane on the pitch and Andy Reid on the bench. I have honestly never seen anything like it in my life.
Originally Posted by carnstien
one bad game and he's muck? Kilbane is at his best on a big pitch when he has space to pass the ball and run. It was a small pitch and the movement from the other irish players was very poor. keane was so negative it was beyond belief
as for not international standard based on that game- see Carr, Steven. Worst player on the park by a mile
Pass the ball! Are you having a laugh, the guy can't send a straight pass 5 yards! His awareness is terrible and he has the touch of a rapist!
Granted Carr was dreadful as well, time to give Stephen Kelly a look at right back and play Andy Reid in the centre beside Keane.
shows what you know I guess
Quality players are good in small spaces where accurate passing is paramount. I guess the small pitch showed up Kilbane for what he is - anything but a quality player.
There was a moment in the first half when he passed the ball directly to an Israeli player for no apparent reason, but then recovered by charging the player down and putting in an excellent tackle. The man sitting next to me said, "Good man Kev!" To me this illustrates the whole divide between the anti-Kilbane camp and the pro-Kilbane camp. The pro-Kilbanes admired how he charged the ball down, whereas I'd prefer if he just didn't give it away in the first place.
OK, I'm sorry, Kilbane is a quality passer of the ball, his first touch is excellent, in fact I would say that Kilbane is the most technically gifted player in the Premiershipshows what you know I guess
that's football innit. another moment was o'brien or kenny dribbling two players out of the back and i was applauding - if he'd lost it there though i woulda been spitting the vitriol like everyone else. it's all about taking chances and taking your chances.
i.e. not enough forward risk in our passing last night. no clever one-touch ball (benayoun was the only player pulling that off i thought), midfield/keane et al were okay but the geometric two-touch sideways ball looked mid-table prem quality and that can be a problem against any foreign teams that have a few decent players and are at home..
Where did I say that? I don't even support the FAireland team, but Kilbane gets a lot more stick than he deserves- he's a handy scapegoat for people who want someone to blame.OK, I'm sorry, Kilbane is a quality passer of the ball, his first touch is excellent, in fact I would say that Kilbane is the most technically gifted player in the Premiership
everyone is going to hard on Kilbane. That pitch was way to small. He had a brilliant game against france and the french rate him, even reckon he is a very good technical player.
There were a lot of **** ups last night. Carr was all over the shop but its an away game and the irish team doesnt travel well. It takes a long time to travel away from home and win. Look at england. it took them AGES. They even nearly slipped up this WCQ.
I expect Ireland to win all of its remaining games. The team is starting to come together now and we have most of the hard work done. We can beat ANYONE at landsdowne road. As long as the players are pyched up for it.
Quality players are good in small spaces where accurate passing is paramount. I guess the small pitch showed up Kilbane for what he is - anything but a quality player.
Have to aggree there.
He had a brilliant game against france and the french rate him, even reckon he is a very good technical player.
The guy is too inconsistant .He should be able to play as he did against France in every game not just the odd one.He is a very very average player that has a good game every so often nothing more.
Kilbane was no worse than a load of others, he is not a great technical player but gives his all, whats the other option play either Holland, Kavanagh or O'Shea in midfield.
I would like to see McGeady get in hes looks technically very good
exactly , i would rather see kilbane on the pitch than mr invisible . Kilnae wouldnt be playing in a top 3 EPL club if he was crap.
Hence why he isn't
Kilbane is a great worker and trys his heart out but the sooner we realise he isn't an international class central mid field player the better.
maybe the guy's not world class, but what world class central midfielders DOES Brian kerr have to pick from? The only player who might be better than Kilbane is Kavanagh, none of the others are anywhere near good enough. Its all well and good slagging the guy off, but there are no better alternatives .Hence why he isn't
Kilbane is a great worker and trys his heart out but the sooner we realise he isn't an international class central mid field player the better.
Well you've named the one I'd play. I know he's not world class, but he'd be better there than Kilbane imo.
Yeah I'd have played Kav instead of Kilbane. The past few games I've seen Kilbane in hes looked very tired for Everton, I think he's had to carry their midfield in that gap where Gravesen was sold and Cahill was out. He looks like he could do with a break.
The other thing that strikes me is Kav always looks up for a match when he plays for us. He has the hunger, he has the desire, he has the guts to drag our team through. We needed that last night, we had far too many drifters, too many of our lads switched off.
I think I just read that somebody ( indeed, I think two people!!) suggested that Graham Kavanagh would be a better option/player than Kevin Kilbane.
Do I need to change my medication?? Does anyone know a relatively cheap ( but good) psychotherapist or optician as I clearly need assistance.
Someone even suggested that Kav would be more up for playing for Ireland than Kilbane.
Nurse, Help!!!!
If Kav was 10 years younger we would all be raving about him, and he would be the answer to our prayers in terms of next generation holding player. As it is his age means he will only be of use for at most the next two tournaments, its a real shame his career stalled a bit over the past few years. I would say he's by far and away our most motivated player, he's an industrious player. You just have to look at his body language, and you know that he's up for every match. He's a battler, a fighter and last night we needed a player like that badly. Dont bother seeing a doctor, just watch the Swiss ('04) game again (the one in Basle) you can see that Kav came on when we were going thru a risky time in the game, but he shut their midfield down and had the beating of Yakin (who had caused us problems all night). Kav has a great desire to win, and huge hunger, we were missing that last night and I'm of the opinion that paucity was the biggest factor in our failure to hold out for all 3 points.
Kilbane is skillfull, but he does have a tendancy to drift a bit in the latter stages of some games. When hes good (primary example being Paris game) Kilbane is great but last night, like a lot of our team, he was treading water, drifting. Kav might not have the same level of skill, but he would never drift. He would have grabbed the game by the neck and dragged us thru, he wouldnt have let us be sloppy, and he'd have had a pop at shutting down the Israeli midfield as the game went on. IMO he is by far and away the most underrated and under used player in our squad. To this day I am still sure had he played more post WC 2002 we would have at least made the play offs for Euro 2004... oh and he might have tested their dodgy keeper from range had he played.
I've said it on other threads: I'd have started with Kilbane too and you know what? I'd probably pick him for the game on June 4th too.
BUT, once it was obvious he wasn't playing well & was having no impact we should have made a change. I'd have brought on Kavanagh. He can put his foot on the ball and take & give good passes. He'd have been more effective in a crappy tight pitch like that one.
Likewise Carr was poor, but I'd have picked him too. Again, though, I'd have subbed him. Brought Reid on & dropped Finnan back. That's why we have subs.
One things for sure, if Holland is Keane's replacement for the Israel match in a few months we'll have a tough time. Kavanagh just sends confidence through every player in green and fear through the opposition. Just like Keane. Fantastic composure too. I think if he partners Holland tomorrow agianst China we'll get to see the box to box Kavanagh that we haven't seen for Ireland under Kerr and I'll have him on for first scorer.
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