QuoteOne of the UK papers descibed him this morning as a "no trick pony"
At least Kilbane has one trick!
Duff was absolutely terrible against Sheffield United. He was playing up front for a while but even out on the wing there was no excitement when he got the ball.
One of the UK papers descibed him this morning as a "no trick pony"
At least Kilbane has one trick!
Am the same have been waiting a long time for Miller to turn things around and there just isnt a sign of it happening to be honest.Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Andy Reid seems to be hitting good form, saw him on MOTD sat night and he looked to be pulling the strings for charlton, played in a few very good crosses.
Andy Reid is showing signs he is back to his best and the way he was playing for Forest week in week out - I have great faith in him. If he stays clear of injury this season he could have a fantastic season for both club and country.
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
Very worried about Duffs form. I thought the Newcastle move would be good for him and indeed it should've been but he doesn't look confident at all. I've no doubt he'll hit the heights again, after all, the saying goes "Form is temporary - Class is permanent."
I just wish he'd hurry up about it.
Reid is looking excellent again and hopefully will be given a starting role next week in the middle or just off the front 2.
Top Breeders recommend drinkfeckarse....
Reid had another good game for Charlton on Saturday. Would definitely have in in the squad. With Douglas and Carlsley in the squad we have the room for good creative midfielder.
How is Douglas doing currently?
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
I wouldn't drop Duff. He's done enough in green to keep his place and if anything needs an international game to escape from the club situation. I wouldn't be afraid to whip him off after 60 minutes though either.
Was watching some of the game against palermo last week and when they spoke of some of the fringe playrs getting in I expected to see alan o'brien. Not even on the bench. Is he injured? Mick McCarthy was very keen to take him to wolves loan and they refused? Makes you wonder why.
I'd leave Keane as a forward partnering Doyle, with Doyle as the more disciplined of the two in terms of what's expected. I think to get the best from Keane you have to give him a level of freedom to drop deep or drift wide. Then we'll get to see things like Sunday over the course of a game rather than pinning him down to a position i.e left of a three man attack etc His best work is done outside or around the area as opposed to in the box where we hope Doyle can become the clinical one.
drop keane, simply to drop the message that everyone is dispensible, and everyone has to fight for their place..Since 1999 he has had his flippin place etched in stone, hardly and inspiring motivational tool!!!
I think that one of the problems with Keane is his ability to whinge and moan that doesn't endear him to people. If he kept his head down and his mouth shut he mightn't get so much stick. How many times have we seen him with his two hands in the air having a go at the linesman or referee when it may have been his own greediness that caused him to lose the ball in the first place. Strikers have to be greedy to succeed but keane needs to remember that the only option isn't always a spectacular attempt on goal. Work hard Robbie but don't blame others when things go wrong.................then we might not be so quick to have a go!
There'll be snow on that one.
After his performance from the last 2 weekends, playing behind the main target man, it may be time to move him from out and out striker, but there's still no reason to drop him until a more viable alternative emerges
Don't agree with dropping Robbie obviously but thought this was a good article from the Irish Times.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Record haul hides hard fact
Emmet Malone takes a look at Robbie Keane's scoring feats for the Republic of Ireland
Andy Reid's post-match assertion that Robbie Keane's hat-trick against San Marino on Wednesday represented "two fingers to the knockers" might well be viewed as an admirable display of loyalty by a team member to his captain, but the fact remains the Tottenham striker has a good deal more to do if he is to silence his critics.
Keane's goals brought his international tally to 29 in 70 games, an Irish record and a highly respectable ratio. However, the figures hide the fact the 26-year-old has consistently struggled to find the net in the Republic's biggest games since the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, where he scored three times in four appearances and appeared to promise a huge amount for the future.
Since then, the Dubliner has scored 16 times in 33 appearances for Ireland with nine coming in 19 competitive games. Just as the Irish team has failed to beat a team of note in a competitive game since September 2001, however, so Keane has failed to score against a team of real quality in a game where there was anything at stake since his spot-kick in Suwon against Spain.
In 788 minutes of football over nine games against Russia, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Czech Republic, the striker has failed to find the net once. His only goal, in fact, against a team that turned out to be a serious group rival of Ireland's came in the home game against Israel.
He limped out of that game after 25 minutes having started brightly. But he failed to make the hoped for impact when the two sides met in Tel Aviv and, even if the games against the Israelis are included in his post-2002 World Cup statistics, he has found the net just once in over 10 hours of competitive football against Ireland's stronger opponents.
In contrast, Keane thrives against good teams in friendly games and weak teams in competitive matches. When there have been no qualifying points at stake he has found the net against the likes of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
And at first glance his overall competitive record looks impressive too - it actually amounts, at 19 goals in 39 games, to a significantly better strike rate than he achieved in non-competitive games. This is rather easily explained on the basis the FAI don't look to play friendly games against the likes of Albania, San Marino or the Faroe Islands.
These are, as it happens, precisely the sort of nations against which the Irish skipper has racked up the competitive goals. In the Euro 2004 campaign he managed two goals in six appearances - one each against Albania and Georgia.
Next time around it was four (two of them penalties) in nine with one coming against Cyprus, two against the Faroes and that early effort against Israel accounting for the fourth.
This time around he has been contained by the Germans, Cypriots and Czechs before finding his scoring touch against the part-timers who came to town on Wednesday and bringing his tally for the current campaign to an ostensibly impressive three in four games.
That he bagged his first international hat-trick on home turf is no great surprise either for, excluding the World Cup finals which were, obviously enough, played in neutral countries, Keane has only ever scored two competitive goals away from home - one against Malta in September 1999 and one in the 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Amsterdam 12 months later.
Indeed, since those World Cup finals he has run up some 878 minutes of competitive football on foreign soil without scoring a single goal.
On Tuesday he heaped generous praise on young Reading striker Kevin Doyle who, as it would turn out, was to score his first international goal against the Sammarinese. Keane said at a press conference that while Doyle likes to play just off the central defenders he prefers to occupy a deeper role in the hope of "making things happen".
Against the better sides, however, it is far from clear how much he really does make happen even when he contributes in other ways. The reality is that unless Doyle matches even the most extravagant of expectations in the very near future, Steve Staunton must find a way of generating a better return from Keane's undoubted talents.
At Spurs, he looks at times to have the potential to be a top-class out-and-out striker but he rarely gets, or avails of, the opportunity to play that role for any sustained period of time. For Ireland he will, of course, continue to merit his inclusion in whatever way he is deployed because there are no real alternatives but the fact he has scored not far short of half the Republic's goals since the summer of 2002 shouldn't be allowed to obscure the simple fact that neither Keane nor his international team-mates find the net nearly often enough against quality opposition in matches that matter.
Unless that changes, Staunton's hopes of sparking a revival of the team's fortunes during the remaining three years of his contract will amount to little more than wishful thinking.
Good article but the bit about playing out and out striker for Spurs is rubbish. He plays just behind Berbatov and sometimes on the left wing and if spurs are chasing the game he plays as an attacking midfielder. The amount of times he plays as an out and out stirker for spurs is minimal.
In Trap we trust
Here's the goals scored by top scorer at the world cup:
http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/klose-intlg.html
and Keane's:
http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/robkeane-intlg.html
I can't say Klose has done too much better. Keane has yet to have an ideal partner since Quinn and he's probably more of an old fashioned no.10 than a centre forward.
To be fair he does say that.
The problem is that Ireland rely on him to be an out-and-out goalscorer and can't afford to have him playing the Spurs type role. At least there looks to be a settled partnership with Doyle now, but we'll have to wait and see how that develops.
SIGNATURESCOPE
so thats what they're called. informative
Robbie came on in the 80th minute tonight and scored in the 83rd to give Spurs a win. Could this kick start his season??
Good goal too. Spurs had a freekick about 25 yards out which was passed short to Keane when Boro weren't expecting it. He took one or 2 steps and blasted it into the bottom corner.
/Edit - here it is:
http://www.badongo.com/file/1826013
My description was quite a bit off.Much further out then I thought.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 06/12/2006 at 10:48 AM.
No, Spurs were at home and 'boro are rubbish!
Have Boot Disk, will travel
He went off injured just after it too. Getting a scan today on it. Hopefully not too serious as its a knee injury.
In Trap we trust
The defence were caught napping somewhat, several players strolling back with their backs to the ball when the kick was taken, good strike though.
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