Who'd have thought it... TOWK writing for the Indo.Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
You better be, 'cause we all know passionate Ireland supporters aren't welcome round these parts...
Give over with the victim-playing. You know that's not what rubs people up the wrong way.
Don't think he will over take him, he won't even come Klose.
Last edited by tricky_colour; 15/10/2014 at 3:34 AM.
He is at his best against crap teams when we have possession, however when we were playing 6 at the back it's
rather immaterial who is up front but Long or Walter would have a better chance of holding the ball up, or at
least getting to it.
Yeah. None of us like to be proven wrong...You better be, 'cause we all know passionate Ireland supporters aren't welcome round these parts...
Give over with the victim-playing. You know that's not what rubs people up the wrong way.
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/opinio...25067-Oct2014/
Another interesting, well written piece by The Score.
Keane was ineffectual, but that had lots to do with the tactics. How can he do anything when he has no supply? Even that piece alludes to that:
Who was proved wrong?Though it wasn’t entirely his fault — the rest of Irish attackers were hardly influential for much of the game — Keane barely touched the ball at all last night and Ireland’s gradual improvement coincided with the veteran striker’s substitution for Darron Gibson on 63 minutes.
A lone striker in a role like that needs more pace and longevity. Long is far from perfect, but he would have had that. Keane just doesn't anymore. There was a moment, just before he was subbed off, when he reacted late to Boatang getting the ball in the German half from a clearance and was left scampering after him, just when the lone striker should have been making the defender work after reacting to where the long ball was dropping. Walters, for all his faults, helped out on the right back position plenty last night, an example of how a striker can be pro-active in a defensive gameplan.
I don't want to get into a Keane slating act, he has a part to play. But I struggle to see how that includes where and how he was played last night.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
lads we could have played messi or ronaldo last night and it would'nt really have mattered cause we couldn't keep the ball for almost 80 minutes anyway. Long is only been used at Southampton as a late sub at the minute and he isn't a great finisher. You can run all day and close people down but if you can't score goals it makes no difference. What we need to do is help Robbie out more. We all know hes not fast he never really was but in Celtic Park when we get some chances i know hes the man i want at the end of them, not Long. Goalscorers are craved througout the world and we have one of the best of them in international football..so i don't care if he stands on the penalty spot with his hands on his hips panting for breath for 89 minutes as long as he puts away the chances he gets. Keano!!!
You can talk about Long's unhealthy finishing ability, but there is nothing Keane accomplished last night that Long could not have. When Ireland needed to press on, they did it, and they did it without Keane on the field - which was a necessity, given how wrecked he looked before he came off.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Danny, I have always said that Robbie shouldn't be in the team on occasions such as these because he is unsuited to the formation we are playing, our strategy and the pros and cons of the opposition. Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't think anybody would disagree that Gibraltar was his only good performance in his last 6 games. Any other player would be rotated on that kind of form apart from him.
I appreciate that I may have been too blunt when I was criticising his goalscoring record but even this has been increasingly put under the microscope in a contemporary context.
Imo the overanalysis of Shane Long's goalscoring record is just as unfair as anything I have said about Keane; hardly any competitive starts, no consecutive competitive starts, loads of substitute appearances, disregarding his overall input to the team (Kaz away), decent goalscoring to minutes ratio......
I do feel that he would surprise a few people if he was given the confidence to start games but I don't feel like it's going to happen. Keane and Walters are entrenched in the team (though Walters had one of his better games yesterday).
But Duggie's point is that there's probably nothing Long would have accomplished last night that Keane didn't.
I think he would have accomplished more. It wouldn't have been hard.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
That's needlessly dismissive of Keane's performance. He was playing in an ill-suited role but his link-up play when he did get the ball was good, certainly better than the untouchable Hoolahan's when he came on. I'd have preferred to see Long (or Doyle or Walters) as the lone front man, and I suspect O'Neill might see it that way in the future, but he did as well as you could expect. Robbie was on the pitch because in a game where we knew we would be playing on scraps, he's the guy who has proven he can nick a goal, and surprise surprise the one real break we got while he was on the pitch required an excellent interception from Neuer to deny him a certain opening goal.
I don't think Keane should start any game that Hoolahan doesn't start in. If a so-called lone striker is to be isolated Long has better scrapping attributes than Keane.
On the other hand, if an intelligent playmaking type player can gain useful possession of the ball in advanced positions it's Keane all day long to take advantage of it over anyone else. Keane scores goals for LA because LA are usually at least as good as the teams they play, often quite a bit better. He doesn't have to run around chasing shadows in the forlorn hope of getting his toe to the ball to disrupt an attack being built from the back. That's what he had been doing for Ireland in Hoolahan's absence.
Notwithstanding all that though, that interception by Neuer was a classy piece of keeping and a certain goal otherwise.
This.
The same way I always think that a scrum and outhalf pairing should be one selection I felt that not playing Wes negated the point in playing Robbie. We would have been better off employing Long and then making the subs to bring Robbie and Wes on as a pairing.
All moot now, but something to chew on.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Looks like MON might agree for the home games. But will he consider Keane and Hoolahan against Scotland? Would be a bold move, so I'm betting no. I'm thinking it'll probably be the same team as against Germany, fitness permitting and the returning Mssrs Coleman and McCarthy.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
I think O'Neill said that he has yet to sit down and think about his approach to as Scotland as it'll be a different set of circumstances. I think he also suggested that he is open to making changes.
If I were O'Neill I would look to win the game as there is no guarantee of a win in Dublin. They will both be tight Derby matches, almost like Old Firm games. I don't think he ever went to Ibrox to play for a draw like he might have done, say, in Turin.
If I were O'Neill I'd take note that only one of their defenders is in the EPL, and that's Hutton who is on the EPL / Championship cusp. Marshall is a class act I think. I dont know who they pick in CM - is it Brown and McArthur? Decent yes, but nothing like as hard as we can expect to face. Could Hoolahan, McGeady and McClean cause them bother? Damned right they could. Ironically, I think their Championship CBs would be comfortable in a physical battle with Long, but less comfortable dealing with Keane - assuming Keane is being fed by the above mentioned attacking trio.
Would picking these guys compromise our ability to cope with their better attackers? I don't think so.
Still, I expect he'll stick with Walters and use Wes from the bench.
Spot on. From the Poland-Scotland highlights, the blue team were very shaky at the back. The two goals came through errors by Alan Hutton. The battle between him and McClean would be extremely tasty.
Poland should have won the match from what I saw, but their defence let them down too. If we can defend with the discipline we showed on Tuesday, but add some attacking intent we'd have a great chance.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Keane not even on the bench tonight for LA Galaxy due to a "nagging inury": https://twitter.com/LAGalaxyInsider/...71412943880192
Robbie Keane and Obafemi Martins: Outstanding? No doubt, but which player is more valuable to his team?
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...ayer-more-valu
Good article.
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