She's northern Irish?
Was at most games that season and a blind man could see he wasn't at the races. A lot if not the majority of the games you wouldn't have thought he was on the pitch. A pity because i was so excited when he signed. Wasn't to be. These things happen.Originally Posted by Kingdom
Lets talk about six baby
Robbie's doing his badges: http://extratime.ie/newsdesk/article...icence-course/
N'Gog a far better option alright.
I preferred Gerrard myself but i suppose that’s the beauty of forums and the differing opnions.
Lets talk about six baby
As a back up I meant.
Last edited by DeLorean; 13/01/2014 at 12:28 PM.
I didn't want to take the Shane Long thread back off topic so I'll post this here.
Robbie Keane's importance to the Irish team doesn't compare to Klose's importance to Germany? His 62 goals for us doesn't compare to Klose's 68 goals for a footballing powerhouse who routinely blow away second and third seeds and invariably cruise through qualifying?
Maybe you should have checked out the list of Klose's international goals as well as Robbie's. The last 'top class' sides Klose scored against competitively were in 2010, one being Argentina and feel free if you want to include England and Belgium, but it might be stretching it. Other decent/top sides he scored against previously would include Portugal and Turkey. Other than that I think you'll struggle to back up your argument and it's certainly no better, if it's even as good, as Keane's goals against Yugoslavia, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.
Plus your facts are extremely questionable, to put it nicely. Klose has been playing for a distinctly average Lazio side in one of the worst Serie A leagues that I can remember. Playing for one of the biggest teams in the world, he is not.
He was playing for one of the biggest teams in the world before that though, Bayern Munich, when (wiki informs me) he scored 24 goals in 98 games. Again, the Bundesliga wasn't exactly in it's pomp during this time. Keane's record at Spurs is very very "comparable" to anything Klose has done at club level, when in one of his final seasons he scored against the 'Big 4' of Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool. Of course, he would have still been deemed incapable of scoring against middle to higher ranked international teams.
Ah here come on.
Klose scored 4 goals against Sweden, Austria and us in 2014 qualifying and 4 goals against Belgium, Turkey and Austria in 2012 qualifying. That's more than twice as many goals against top International teams in competitive matches as Keane has in 12 years.
Klose has 12 goals in International competition.
He is regularly one of Germany's best players in International competition.
He isn't just some big lump of sh*te who gets on the end of things. He actually looks like he belongs on the pitch with players like Schneider, Ballack, Ozil and Podolski.
Lazio are at the same level now that Spurs were at when Keane was at his pomp and Klose is 35 years old. Keane moved to LA Galaxy when he was 30! Robbie Keane's teammates include Robbie Rogers. Klose's teammates include technically gifted players like Ederson, Ledesma, Hernanes and Biglia. Keane has flopped at Inter & Liverpool. Klose has regularly competed in the Champions League and won League titles with Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.
I have not belittled Keane's club or International accomplishments at all. He has had a very respectable career in club football and has an International goalscoring record that will never be matched or bettered by an Irish footballer.
But let's call a spade a spade. His career does not match up to Klose. He has scored the vast majority of his competitive International goals against poor sides. His competitive goalscoring record against big International teams is very poor and frankly, his performances against them have been embarrassing lately.
I'm not stupid. His ability to nick goals against teams like Kazakhstan and Faroe Islands is important (I'm not being cheeky when I say that by the way). I just don't see how a 34 year old LA Galaxy player with his record against big teams can possibly justify having his place in the side being guaranteed. Because let's face it, as soon as he is rotated, he will retire (as he has implied himself).
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 18/01/2014 at 3:01 PM.
Robbie has spent the vast majority of his international career playing for a mediocre side. Klose has spent the vast majority of his career playing for a team that strolls through qualification and is usually good for at least a semifinal. The fact that they have comparable records is extraordinary.
I think Klose went through some long barren spells at club football and was probably a better player for Germany than at any of his clubs. Good player, but not up there with the best despite his international stats.
Keane hasn't said as soon as he is rotated he'll retire. He said that when he is no longer picked he'll walk away (i.e., when he isn't in squads anymore he'll accept it without a fuss).That's different. Only a real cynic would say that by "walk away" he means he'll quit on his own terms just to make a point, especially if only being "rotated".
Well said Stutts.
Robbie says he'll play until he's not selected any longer AND someone replaces him - was turned into .. ( for cynics and fools)... Robbie vows to to quit unless he's selected.
Really, geysir?
Yes, Robbie was quoted as saying something like "It is all about now and I've said before if I didn't play for Ireland and someone else came in, I have always said I would walk away."
Which was taken out of context as meaning he would just walk away if dropped.
He later clarified that statement though,
“Listen, I want to play as long as I can.
“But I’m not daft. I’m 33 years of age, so next time the Euros come around...
“Ultimately it’s the manager’s choice. All I can do is keep playing well and keep scoring goals and if he sees that I can continue doing that, then there’s no problem.
“But I don’t have any problems with people making decisions. If anybody feels that I can help them now until the Euros and there’s a situation coming around to the Euros where for some reason my legs are gone, then I’ll pack it in.”
Again it's open to interpretation, but I remember watching the interview and it was pretty clear that he meant he had no problem being a squad player if the manager still thought he could do a job whether it be for 10 minutes or 90.
Hmm..... why did you select the fool option?
You could have selected the cynic option
Cynics read the most negative interpretation of a recorded quote and a fool just doesn't bother too much but just accepts the headline.
I don't take you for a fool.
Two Champions League goals for Liverpool. He's on a par with Borini and Carroll alright.
So in short he is a good international, but not even close to Klose?
On the other hand it's gonna be a little easier scoring for Germany than Ireland.
It's a little easier scoring goals against Faroe Islands, Andorra and Macedonia than scoring goals against Argentina, Portugal, Engand, Turkey.....
If Robbie Keane's goalscoring record against top seeds was up to snuff, then maybe we would have qualified for more tournaments between 2002 and 2012. There was a period in time where Clinton Morrison would be more likely to score against a direct rival.
Trapattoni made a lot of questionable decisions during his reign but I'll give him this; he got the best of Keane.
Frequently as a lone target man? I don't think so.
Keane's comments, in their entirety, are perfectly reasonable. Ireland should be looking to better use younger options, just like the management should have been doing for a variety of positions over the last few years.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Despite him having scored against, Russia, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Holland, Croatia, Italy, France in that ten year window you picked out ?
To compare Klose to Keane you would have to adjust for the the strength of the team in which they play and the opposition of course.
Not an easy thing to do really, how many international goals would Keane have if he were German?? (now don't say none!!).
Or perhaps how many international goals could Klose have if he were Irish? (None cos he would not make the team!!
If you compare robbie top league scoring record with Klose's they are very similar, about 0.5 goals a game,
it not that easy to compare, I excluded Robbies Galaxy games, but then you have the relative strength of the
leagues and teams issues.
http://uk.soccerway.com/players/robbie-keane/2949/
http://uk.soccerway.com/players/miroslav-klose/40/
But both top class goalscorers.
He's scored competitive goals from open play against Italy, France and Sweden since the 2002 World Cup. Klose scored goals against top/second seed standard teams 8 times over the last two qualifying campaigns.
Every goal counts but I wouldn't be starting Keane against direct rivals on the basis of how he performs against them which has been by and large, pretty poorly. We have to get with the times and make the switch to a 5 man midfield for those matches and Keane can not perform with that function.
We have even seen over the last few games how a switch in formation made Whelan look like a better player. This is someone - for all the talk about how Hoolahan and Reid could not play in a 4 man midfield - was responsible for helping us concede several important goals in qualification games by giving away the ball in stupid positions or failing to track players; fundamental stuff. It's not like he possesses any creative streak, goalscoring threat or even passes the half-way line, so the basics of tracking players runs and providing a half-decent screen for the defence is the least he can do! Mini rant about Whelan over
I would still start Keane against the bottom seed teams and spring him off the bench against the big teams when we are chasing a goal though.
We don't know how Keane would react in such circumstances though? Team player or retirement?
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