QuoteThey also have a £1.5m bid in for right winger Routledge.Originally Posted by Eirambler
Looks like Spurs are signing Mido (young egyptian striker).
BBC report
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
They also have a £1.5m bid in for right winger Routledge.
Since I became a member of this website I have read more about Robbie Keane than any other player. For some time now I have been meaning to post a serious thread on the man. It would appear that Robbie takes a lot of stick from Ireland fans on this forum. While I agree with some of the criticisms, I believe we are too harsh on the younger Keano.
I have been lucky enough to follow Robbie Keane's career since his first game with Wolves in August 1997. The 17 year old came off the bench to make his first team debut and score. Since then, Robbie has gone on to write himself into the history books. He became a hero during his time in the Black Country. After a £6 million move to Coventry City, Robbie blossomed under the watchful eye of Gordon Strachan. That season, he set Highfield Road alight with goals against the ilkes of Arsenal and Chelsea. After a promising start at Inter Milan, a change of manager made it difficult for Robbie to establish himself in Serie A. Bear in mind that Robbie was at a club that already had Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Ivan Zamarona, and the young Uruguayan, Recoba. However, his time on the sidelines did not dent his confidence as Robbie returned to the Premiership with a bang. In his first month with Leeds, he won the Premiership Player of the Month award. There is no doubt that Robbie had enough ability to succeed at Leeds. However, it was at this point that one of Robbie's weaknesses became apparent. Dave O'Leary dropped him as he felt that Alan Smith and Mark Viduka were a better partnership. For all Robbie's talent, one of his major failings is that he has struggled to perform as part of a successful partnership. The exceptions being his partnership with Niall Quinn at international level and Cederic Roussell at Coventry.
Some people on this site have the perception that Robbie Keane is always on the move. This is not quite true. He is about to complete his third season with Tottenham Hotspur. For the previous two seasons he was voted the club's player of the year. This season, he has started 24 games and been introduced as a sub 10 times. He has managed to score 8 Premiership goals, 3 FA Cup goals, and 3 Carling Cup goals.
Indeed, it appears to me that Robbie has achieved a level of consistency throughout his career that he is rarely given credit for. This is his eight season of first team football. He has scored 104 career goals at club level. In other words, if Robbie Keane doesn't score again this season his average will be 13 goals a season. That's not bad for a 24 year old who has had plenty of clubs and spent most of the 2001-02 season on the bench at Leeds. In addition, he has scored 24 international goals in 58 caps for Ireland. That's five more goals than John Aldridge managed and four more than Frank Stapleton. Robbie even went through a goal drought for Ireland. However, since November 2001 he has hit the net 17 times for his country. That's one of the most impressive strike rates in international football.
I think that we in Ireland have an inferiority complex. I think we look towards English strikers and almost covet them. Alan Smith is about the same age as Robbie Keane. He may play for Manchester United. However, Smith has scored approximately half the career goals that Robbie has. Also, Smith has achieved very little at international level. Another player who is often considered better than our Robbie is Craig Bellamy. I wouldn't dream of putting the Welshman in the same bracket as Keano. Bellamy's career could be compared to Robbie's as it has been somewhat nomadic. However, the man on loan to Celtic has scored less than eight goals on average per season in his professional career to date.
Yet despite all he has achieved, people still persist to give him a hard time. I believe the man is worth his weight in gold to the international team. Before we had Robbie, all we had was David Connolly, Keith O'Neill, Jon Goodman, etc. People seem to think that our small nation should produce strikers like Ruud Van Nistlerooy. Nonetheless, Robbie may go on to set records that may never be broken by another Irish international. He looks set to win more than a hundred caps and it is difficult to predict just how many goals he will score for us. We should be grateful for the gift we have been given. Similar to Paul McGrath, Roy Keane and Damien Duff, Robbie Keane is a gift from God. We should appreciate his talents and pray that he will remain injury-free.
Robbie clearly has some faults, but these can be rectified with good coaching. For that reason, I hope he stays at Spurs and where he will benefit from the tutelage of Martin Jol. Spurs is a good club for Robbie. He has Chris Hughton and a number of emerging Irish players alongside him. Robbie needs consistency and he needs to lose some of the rawness that exists in his game. This will allow him to become a better stike partner. Freddie Kanoute would appear to be ahead of him in the pecking order, yet Kanoute has only scored 7 times this season (half Robbie's total). Robbie is still only 24. He has shown glimpses of what he might achieve (eg. Amsterdam 2004). I believe he is a very good player and in time I hope that he can be a great player. I don't buy the argument that Robbie is in the comfort zone. He has too much enthusiasm for his club and his international team to be like that.
Perhaps he has set such high standards at such a young age that we expect so much from him.
Last edited by TheJamaicanP.M.; 07/03/2005 at 8:38 PM.
"Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe." Dillo
Couldn't agree more. I think maybe some of the criticisms of him are justified (but not many), but the thing for me is, If Robbie Keane didn't play for Ireland, where would we be now?
For all the really good players we have at the moment Robbie is the one we can do without the least because he is the only one who will score regularly enough for us to be a force.
Just think of the striker pairings we'd have to have fielded since 98 if we didn't have Robbie. Scary!
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
He's been debated a ridiculous amount on this site already, gets some ridiculous reactionary criticism, most likely from those who are quickest to shower the bloke in praise when he scores. He's our best striker that needs some work and let's hope he gets it, end of story.
Excellent, well thought out post.
Just to add, it is only this season that I've noticed Keane coming in for a lot of critisism. At the same time Jermain Defoe has broke into the first team with England and been linked to a big money move to Chelsea. Now consider that and look at these stats:
Robbie Keane
Minutes played: 1701
Goals Scored: 8
Assists: 5
Minutes/Goal: 212
90mins/Goal: 2.35
Jermain Defoe
Minutes Played: 1975
Goals Scored: 11
Assists: 2
Minutes/Goal: 179
90mins/Goal: 2.0
Remember that Keane was played out of position about 3-5 times and those stats are pretty equal.
BTW - If you were to add cup matches Keane's game/goal average would be a lot better. He scored 6 goals in the equivalent of under 6 games.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 07/03/2005 at 9:59 PM.
Very good article there,Robbie Keane is a superb player and we should be thankful for a striker as good as him.He does miss a few chances but he never lets it get him down.I know a lot of England fans who would love him for them and have said they would swap Owen for him if they could.
All forwards miss chances and nobody minds that. His one weakness is that he gets wound up too easily and he would be a much better player if he stopped the constant whinging, particularly at match officials, when things don't go his way. There have been far too many times when, instead of closing down defenders, he is too busy arguing with and whinging at the officials. A few years ago, you could put that down to frustration and inexperience, but not any more. Still, he is up their with our best ever forwards.
Honest! I am not a secret Tim nor a closet Sham - I really am a Seagull.
All those who slate him would do well to remember what he did in the last minute v Germany and the penalty vs Spain. In the really big games, when the pressure is on Robbie has hardly ever let us down.
I think he is by far and away the best striker we've got and its hard to think of as good a natural finisher who has played for us in the last 10-15 years (maybe Aldo in his prime).
He is a fair bit better than Morrison (who isnt a bad player), and a lot better than Connolly (who just doesnt seem to cut it), Alan Lee (who isnt world class but does give us the aerial option) or the Doc (not a natural striker, but people forget he got 6 for us in the qualifiers for Euro 2004, so again is a useful option as a target man to throw on if the circumstances are right). And I think playing midfielders like Duffer and Reid upfront for us is a waste of their talents.
Robbie is our best striker and if he gets the service he'll score the goals, its that simple.
I hope he stays at Spurs as I feel Jol will help him as a player and he could get a good understanding with Andy Reid. Even if he's on the bench for the odd game, Robbie is naturally a lively lad and I dont see it affecting his confidence too much in the way it might affect say Clinton. If he is on the bench every once in a while it could be good for us as it would keep him fresh and hopefully would reduce the likelyhood of burnout injuries.
Great stuff...its good to here so many people agree with your post too....Hopefully he will get less stick on here because of it...The amount of negative publicity Robbie gets in Ireland is ridiculous especially from Gilsey..if I read another article or listen to that man tell me how Robbie needs to learn his trade or grow up one more time I swear I'ill go mad...He's one or two things too say and repeats em over an over again. I reckon he's actually an elephant cos he don't seem to remember what he's just said.
Robbie got loads of stick on here after the Faroe Islands game where he scored twice and became Ireland's all leading goal scorer...When we as Irish fans should have been celebrating and congratulating robbie we chose to put the boot in..Great to have a piece written in praise of him.
Cracking post Jamaican PM. I think we all get frustrated by him at times (most of us feel that was about a lot of strikers), but it's important to look at what he actually contibutes (as opposed to what he can't or doesn't) and also to think about where we'd be without him.
Good point Kevin77.
I've been critical of Robbie, but always in an objective way. A lot of us get frustrated by his sniping at refs, his constantly getting caught offside, his erratic finishing, his over-elaboration. There's room for constructive criticism but bashing the guy is not warranted.
But there was near hysteria when he got injured at Ibrox and it looked like he'd miss Cyprus and Switzerland. I think that shows just how highly we value him.
Brillient post Jamaican PM...
Robbie is one of my Fav players of all times, and yes I do critise him from time to time, but strikers and forwards always get more slack than other players..
IMO Robbie has bad days when he just can't get together and he does get frustrated which tends to make him worse...
He also can be lazy at times kinda just waiting for the ball to land at his feet..
But with all his Faults he still is one of the top players Ireland has ever produced and we would not be where we are without him...
Off topic: Hes a bit of a hottie too
Definitely our best striker at the moment, and one of our best ever. Definitely has done it for us in the big moments and kept his head when taking very important penalties.
But I just wish he would stop throwing his hands up in the air and moaning about ten times in every game!
UCD sha-la-la
I think some of the stick being thrown at Robbie is along the lines of "Robbie is a very good player, but he has the potential to be one of the greatest", i.e Ronaldo or Raúl players in the game.
Robbie has been brilliant for Ireland and we are blessed to have him. He is one in a million. Just look around him to see the alternatives, not pretty. Not a whole pile coming through either (Elliott perhaps). So Robbie has to be cut some slack.
I have to agree, Robbie needs loads of coaching and should stick at spurs as long as possible. Another move is the last thing he needs. Competition for places wont do Robbie any harm and it will improve his game. Like Duffer. Its just his finishing and maybe communication with the other striker that needs work, he is always in the right place, has vision, passes well and works very hard at times.
I nearly had a heart attack there one day when I see Robbie actually going around the keeper. Its the first time I seen him do it, so he must have been getting coaching
And the same goes for Clinton, he has been getting a lot of stick, even when he looks like he was MoM against the French in Paris before the injury. He is working well for us and Im sickened with all the ill informed negative posts about him
One thing he has to stop is putting his hands in front of him to signal he wants the ball. He does this every single time he's near the ball, he doesn't gain anything from it and it just makes him look like the leader of a playground match tbh.
I still hear people say Keane wants to score the perfect goal and spends too long on the ball, thats bullshít. He gave that up long ago. He was the 5th highest passer of the ball at Spurs the last time I checked (central defenders and central midfielders being the only players with higher amounts). He also dribbled with the ball less than Defoe and had a higher dribbling success rate than Defoe. Thierry Henry has over double the amount of dribbles that Keane has and Keane has the higher success rate of the two.
While Keane has a very good goal/shot ratio, he does tend to kick thin air a lot though.
Great post Jamaican pm. I admit that I was one of the people that criticise Robbie but after reading your post I changed my mind. Some very intresting stats there. Robbie is clearly a true legend.
Ronan, you are The jamaican PM's personal worshipper aren't thou?
Ronan, you are The jamaican PM's personal worshipper aren't thou?
the fella's only got 8 posts and as far as i can c der all lickin up to the pm.
i have questioned the pm personally about this ronan85 but he claims to have no knowledge of him. i don't no wheather or not to believe the pm?
i no on previous ocasions the pm has been accused of having multiple identities. is ronan85 another one? will we ever find out? r is this a state secret?
"If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better." Johan Cruyff
Just read ronans posts.... A bit sus alright either that or you have a seriously scary stalker PM
Back to the topic of the post can't wait to see does Reid and Keane take full advantage of all the training opertunities they now have to gether.. Hopefully they will click well and produce plenty of goals for us of course
Last edited by Eire06; 08/03/2005 at 11:42 AM.
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