Robbie Keane

Originally Posted by osarusan

So what you're saying is, if you take out the goals in friendlies and against minnows in qualifiers - he has actually still scored more 'serious' goals than any other player has scored in total international goals?

And on this basis, you exclude him from any list of irish greats?

I reckon if the likes of Stapleton, Givens Aldridge etc. had the games and calibre of teams that Robbie Keane faced in his international career, they would have scored more.
Also Keane has faced top teams competitively 18 times. Do you know who has a better record than him? David Healy and he wasn’t tucking away penalties either.


Hell, give me Paddy Madden, put him on penos and give him every minute of every game including the pointless friendlies that Robbie played in, and I'll guarantee you 30 goals.

Given and Duff are by far and away the best players of the last generation of Irish players. Keane has only played in weak teams as his club career highlights, that's why he will never be rated as highly as the greats of Brady and Giles.. A good player, but not up there with the great names of Irish football and rightly so.

So playing up front for Ireland gets goals. How come Doyle has only 12 in 53, Long 8 in 33, Walters 2 in 15, and Cox 3 in 22 then? Surely if it was that easy to score international goals, they'd all have 10 and Doyler 20 by now?

His record speaks for itself. Nobody can take that away from him.

Would I prefer him to Irwin?? Up front I would! Silly comparison.

Look at how Robbie played in World Cup 2002, he did it at the highest level. It's not his fault there's more friendlies and matches in general these days. All he can do is play what is in front of him.

PS I definitely cringed when he tried to claim Walters' goal against the Faroes. He's not the brightest spark but he sure can score goals

I will remember Keane as a good striker and a very good striker when looking at him solely from an Irish context.

He wouldn't make my top ten list of Irish players of all time.

Originally Posted by kennedmc

I will remember Keane as a good striker and a very good striker when looking at him solely from an Irish context.

He wouldn't make my top ten list of Irish players of all time.

Would you have any strikers in your top ten?

I think the reason people don't like Keane is that he has a typical striker's arrogance which, mixed with the fact that he probably hasn't fulfilled his full potential, sometimes looks like an unearned sense of entitlement. That jars with the general Irish preference for humble underdogs, meaning people will always revere a mediocre striker like Kevin Doyle or Niall Quinn who will run all day for the benefit of the team, rather than somebody who puts his money where his mouth is and try and put the ball in the net even if that means failing. Risk-takers have always been viewed with suspicion and antipathy in this country.

Originally Posted by AlaskaFox

So playing up front for Ireland gets goals. How come Doyle has only 12 in 53, Long 8 in 33, Walters 2 in 15, and Cox 3 in 22 then? Surely if it was that easy to score international goals, they'd all have 10 and Doyler 20 by now?

The reason they don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work. What is Kevin Doyle, 5.10? and yet he has been forced to play a Niall Quinn role.


Also, if Robbie was preffered to Jermaine Defoe, why is he still there and Robbie is paying lip service to being a footballer in LA LA Land.

Originally Posted by MeathDrog

The reason they don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work. What is Kevin Doyle, 5.10? and yet he has been forced to play a Niall Quinn role.

How come almost all of Doyle's goals have come with Keane in the team then? You'd think he'd be banging them in in Keane's absence, but in fact the only competitive goal he's scored without Keane was against Slovakia. The others were in friendlies against Ecuador and Oman. Of course, Doyle doesn't only score against poor teams, that's Robbie's job...

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

How come almost all of Doyle's goals have come with Keane in the team then? You'd think he'd be banging them in in Keane's absence, but in fact the only competitive goal he's scored without Keane was against Slovakia. The others were in friendlies against Ecuador and Oman. Of course, Doyle doesn't only score against poor teams, that's Robbie's job...

Could it be that doyle has played the majority of his games with Keane in the team? Why would robbie not being there lead to him banging them in? He isn't suddenly given licence not to track back and wave his arms about while another player knocks the ball down to him.

Also the argument isn't is keane better than Doyle, he is, it's ''Is Keane a great'', and if you compare him to any great, you will see ''no, no he isn't.''

A quick look at wiki and, assuming it is accurate, I'd like MeathDrog, and anyone else who shares his opinion, to try and demonstrate that this list of achievements is anything other than great.

Keane has scored 54 goals for the Republic of Ireland from 25 March 1998 to 7 September 2012, making him the all-time record Irish goalscorer, having become the first male Irish player to score 50 international goals in June 2011. He is the 26th highest international scorer in the history of International football, and the third highest International scorer among active players. Keane was Ireland's top scorer at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, with three goals plus a converted penalty in the shoot-out with Spain. With 121 full caps, he is Ireland's second most capped player of all time and is a member of the FIFA Century Club. He is the eleventh highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League with 125 goals (as of 21 January 2012), (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is tenth with 127) and is the tenth highest goalscorer in Tottenham Hotspur history.

I'm just posting this too for what it's worth.

Tottenham Hotspur
Football League Cup (1): 2007–08

Los Angeles Galaxy
MLS Cup (2): 2011, 2012
MLS Supporters' Shield (1): 2011
Western Conference Championship Playoffs (2): 2011, 2012
Western Conference Championship Regular Season (1): 2011

International
Republic of Ireland
Nations Cup (1): 2011
UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship (1): 1998

Individual
FAI Young International Player of the Year (2): 1998, 1999
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Club Player of the Year (3): 2003, 2005–06, 2007–08
Premier League Player of the Month (3): August 1999, January 2001, April 2007*
Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year (1): 1997–98
SPL Player of the Month (1): March 2010
Celtic Player of The Year (1): 2009–10
FAI International Goal of the Year (1): 2009 vs. France
FAI Senior International Player of the Year (1): 2010
MLS Best XI (1): 2012
MLS Cup Playoffs Top Scorer (1): 2012
Nations Cup Top Scorer (1): 2011
Republic of Ireland All-Time Top Scorer
Scored a total of more than 100 goals in the Premier League – 126 goals
Shortlisted for RTÉ Sports Person of the Year (2011)[115]
(* Jointly shared with Dimitar Berbatov)

Originally Posted by MeathDrog

Could it be that doyle has played the majority of his games with Keane in the team?

Well, obviously, because Keane is our best player and plays in most of the big games, but the fact is that when Keane hasn't been there his scoring record is no better than it is when he's in the side.

Why would robbie not being there lead to him banging them in?

Because he's not doing Robbie's donkey work and can presumably concentrate on scoring goals.

He isn't suddenly given licence not to track back and wave his arms about while another player knocks the ball down to him.

Popular misconception about Robbie. He tracks back regularly, usually a lot more than his strike partner who is invariablya target man further up the pitch.

Also the argument isn't is keane better than Doyle, he is, it's ''Is Keane a great'', and if you compare him to any great, you will see ''no, no he isn't.''

Well your argument is:

The reason they [Doyle, Long, Cox, etc] don't have as many goals is because they're forced to do Robbie's donkey work.

There is absolutely no evidence for this. If it was true, those players would be banging them in which Robbie's not around, but unfortunately it's not the case.

Originally Posted by SkStu

A quick look at wiki and, assuming it is accurate, I'd like MeathDrog, and anyone else who shares his opinion, to try and demonstrate that this list of achievements is anything other than great.

While you're on wiki, have a quick look at the players ahead of Robbie in the goalscoring charts in international football. Some real household names such as Stern John and Ali Daei.

And I'm not knocking the fact that Robbie at least was a decent player. He's just not in the same calibre as the greats of Irish football. Putting up Robbie's roll of honour won't change that (I'm not counting that joke of an MLS league either). I could put up a roll of honour for Steve Heighway, Ronnie Whelan, Roy Keane, Denis Irwin, Johnny Giles, Paul McGrath, Liam Brady.

All of the above won countless trophies and individual honours between them, and were key members of teams that strived to win trophies on a regular basis. Robbie has effectively a League Cup to his name with an average Spurs team who couldn't wait to offload him once they progressed as a club and entered Champions League football.

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.

Originally Posted by SkStu

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.

But he waves his arms, Stu. We can't have someone like him in the Hall of Fame, waving his arms like a mad thing. What if he knocked something over?

Originally Posted by SkStu

So effectively you're ignoring everything he achieved as an Irish player. That's stupid.

A decent striker for Ireland who was a credit to his was never any better than second rate and hasn't been particularly good since about 2008. He has been a good player for Ireland but is in the tier below the great names of Irish football, and I think deep down most fans know this.

What about the Euros, where he turned up out of shape and was one of our worst players. A player with honour like Duff would have retired by now in his position. Robbie is too selfish for that. There's still penos to be got so he can pad his stats and continue to play League 1 standard football in the sunshine.

Cool bro. I've wasted enough energy on this one.

Originally Posted by MeathDrog

A decent striker for Ireland who was a credit to his was never any better than second rate and hasn't been particularly good since about 2008..

Ignoring most of the rest of that rubbish, but...
2009 - 11 apps, 6 goals
2010 - 8 apps, 4 goals
2011 - 10 apps, 8 goals - his best year in a green jersey
2012 - 8 apps, 1 goal

So 2012 was the only year you could say wasn't "particularly good"

Originally Posted by AlaskaFox

Ignoring most of the rest of that rubbish, but...
2009 - 11 apps, 6 goals
2010 - 8 apps, 4 goals
2011 - 10 apps, 8 goals - his best year in a green jersey
2012 - 8 apps, 1 goal

So 2012 was the only year you could say wasn't "particularly good"

We played some amount of scour in 2011. Robbie's game by then is based purely on pouncing on mistakes of mediocre to poor defenses, and to be fair he always has been good at that. It was a no brainer that it would fail at the Euros because we were facing top calibre teams who don't make cheap mistakes at the back.

But Robbie has scored against plenty of top calibre teams and in crucial games. To pick out just a few; Yugoslavia (Euro 2000 qualification), Turkey (Euro 2000 play-off), Holland (World Cup 2002 qualification), Iran (World Cup 2002 play-off), Germany (World Cup 2002), Spain (World Cup 2002), Italy (World Cup 2010 qualification), France (World Cup 2010 play-off), Russia (Euro 2012 qualification) and Estonia (Euro 2012 play-off).