Robbie Keane

[1MickCollins]

Lads, most of ye are missing the point. This is not a competition on who likes\dislikes Robbie Keane. I'm a massive Keane fan, but my patience is wearing thin. It is simply a case of constructive criticism. Credit where credit is due, and Robbie has gotton plenty of it in the past. But the simple fact is that he is playing badly at the moment. He is playing really poorly, and as he is our main striker, it is worrying.

Anyone has the right to criticise, as long as it is constructive, and nobody here can tell me that Robbie Keane played well on Tuesday night. He was rubbish, and apart from Paris, he has been quite poor for us for a long time now. I have no problem in saying this, as i'm not in love with Robbie Keane, nor do I think his $hit is ice-cream. I prefer to judge players performances objectively, rather than fanatically, which is how a lot of fans view players. Goals against third world nations don't paper over the cracks for me, nor does this Irish goals record. Great achievement, only 24, blah, blah, blah.......what about the ridiculously easy chances he keeps missing? What about his poor general play\link play? As someone mentioned earlier, I had no confidence in him scoring that 1-on-1 on Tues night, and that was the case for most people. Doesn't say much, does it?

IMO, Fanning was spot on in his article, like he is in the majority of his articles. Some fans just don't like to hear or read that kind of stuff, but they'll be the same fans who, should we fail to qualify, won't understand why we didn't qualify.

Keane has come out today and basically said he has been playing like crap this season so far. BTW what is your point? That you are stating the bleeding obvious? If you want to be constructive then provide suggestions as to what should be done - we all know he hasn't ben playing well but don't write off the next 10 years...

[tricky_colour]

Keane has come out today and basically said he has been playing like crap this season so far. BTW what is your point? That you are stating the bleeding obvious? If you want to be constructive then provide suggestions as to what should be done - we all know he hasn't ben playing well but don't write off the next 10 years...

What I would say about Keane is that it is great that he has become
Ireland top scorer at 24 (or whatever) but he can be so frustrating at
times.
I might be being a bit harsh on him because I have seen loads of top
strikers RVN and Henry miss 'easy' chances.

I think maybe he likes to go for the 'spectular' goal at times when something
less spectular is a better percentage, you don't get any extra points
for scoring great goals so keep it simple!

We should not really be knocking him though, he is the best we have, and
I doubt any of us would have taken the chances better!

Scoring goals against top class sides will never be easy and I guess that
is something we will have to learn to live with.

We have only conceeded 1 goal in 4 games (scored 6) in the qualifiers so
far, so do we really have that much to complain about?

[4tothefloor]

4tothefloor - constructive critisism is OK but its saying things like "The majority of his goals may have come against the weaker teams in world football" is silly. Why did he have to say that. Keane has scored 11 of his goals against top 15 teams [Yugoslavia, Turkey, Czech Republic (2), Holland (2), Russia, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Croatia]. Teams that weren't the worst that he scored against would be Iran, Albania (beat Greece recently) and Finland (doing well in the "group of death"). Plus, a goal in the world cup is never bad. Its not as if we play the stronger nations so much more than the weaker ones. If anything Robbie wasn't scoring enough against the weak nations before this campaign. The reason Fanning put that line in there is because he is biased (I'm not making that statement based on this article alone BTW).

I think what Fanning is saying is that all his recent international goals have come against the poorer nations, which is true. The record has been achieved by goals against Cyprus & The Faroes. He is saying that goals against these nations, & in friendlies have papered over some worrying cracks in his game. And I think he is right. But that's not the point of the article. Who he scores his goals against is irrevelent, it's the ones he is not scoring that are the problem. It's not just chances he is missing. It's numerous chances. Numerous easy chances, bread & butter chances, and that's what the article is really about. That's all it is saying. All Fanning is asking is "Is this as good as Robbie Keane gets?". "Is he always going to be a kamikazee finisher"? I think he is perfectly entitled to ask those questions, as am I........Keane is talanted, but will he ever lose his bad habits, or is it too late?

[4tothefloor]

BTW what is your point?

My point is that a lot of posters on here don't like to see or hear criticism, especially when it involves Robbie Keane. This forum is as much about criticism as it is about praise. It's called debate......just because Robbie Keane is our record scorer doesn't make him immune from criticism. But some people on here jump down your throat at any criticism of Keane and start to waffle on about his record, etc, etc, yawn, and how ridiculous you are to be criticising him etc. It's laughable.

BTW, Constructive criticism is by it's very meaning "telling it as it is", "stating facts", "stating truths" as opposed to being sensationalist. So I don't know what your point is when you say "BTW what is your point? That you are stating the bleeding obvious?"

And finally, I never said anything about writing off the next ten years. I talked about the present and near future, nothing about writing off careers. Now that is sensationalist...

[Kingdom]

IMO, Fanning was spot on in his article, like he is in the majority of his articles. Some fans just don't like to hear or read that kind of stuff, but they'll be the same fans who, should we fail to qualify, won't understand why we didn't qualify.

Yeah I'd have to agree with the above point. I think he usually hits the spot with his articles. He certainly doesn't dole out the drivel and stupid articles like Paul"1 eye lookin at ya the other eye lookin for ya" Hyland does. And as far as him turning on his own , it is no way near as bad as the English get it. In fact I don;'t see any comparison at all.

[Ozymandias]

fanings point about "is this as good as it gets for Keane" is valid in terms of his club carreer....Defoe is a better striker than him..probably not as good all round play as him but deffo better striker.. I think this point raises the question that if lkeane has to leave spurs where does he go..none of the top clubs will want him and he might end up a lower ranked premiership club( bit rich coming from a spurs fan I Know)...what robbie needs is to be playing in europe regularly to hone his game ...he ain't gonna get that and I fear for him at spurs(and I am a spurs fan) I was over at the arsenal game and keane was frustrating to watch ad seems to have developed a streak that if the ball isn't bang on he'll wave his arms around and also he is going to ground to easy..this was never his natural game and it is affecting his all round play....Fannings articles definitely raised valid question marks about Keane ...but I don't think his ability is in question...keane has the ability and potential....but that potential needs to be realised at some stage ..I hope it is really do

[Plastic Paddy]

I'd have him at Celtic like a shot. But, given the parlous state of our team at the moment, I'd also take John B. and even Mollie Keane.

PP

[Ozymandias]

to be honest plastic paddy.. thats where I see him ending up..

[Plastic Paddy]

There's precious little chance of that in the present climate. To say the Celtic board are parsimonious is a gross understatement. Yet he appears to need a challenge/boot up the arse alright, and a move away from Tottenham may prove his only option if he doesn't pick things up.

PP

[DolansWaistcoat]

There's precious little chance of that in the present climate. To say the Celtic board are parsimonious is a gross understatement. Yet he appears to need a challenge/boot up the arse alright, and a move away from Tottenham may prove his only option if he doesn't pick things up.

PP

Keane has moved around far too much for a player of his age and moving again won't help him improve at all,stay at spurs awhile and stick it out,if he becomes a sub on a permanent basis then he would have to move on.

Although banging in thirty goals a season at Celtic might make him feel like the best striker on earth when he comes back to play for us against proper,organised defences he would struggle.

[eirebhoy]

Although banging in thirty goals a season at Celtic might make him feel like the best striker on earth when he comes back to play for us against proper,organised defences he would struggle.

Larsson had a mediocre record at international level before he joined Celtic, since the World cup 2002 qualifiers he has been averaging almost a goal a game for Sweden. I'd love for Celtic to sign Keane but as PP says, there is absolutely no chance of that happening.

BTW, a few weeks on the bench is always good for any player in the world. By watching the silly things Robbie does on the pitch none of us on this forum would do the same because we know how frustrating it is to watch. The same would happen to Keane. He'd learn a lot things from watching the football from the sidelines. He's had his few injuries and always comes back a different player.

[DolansWaistcoat]

BTW, a few weeks on the bench is always good for any player in the world. By watching the silly things Robbie does on the pitch none of us on this forum would do the same because we know how frustrating it is to watch. The same would happen to Keane. He'd learn a lot things from watching the football from the sidelines. He's had his few injuries and always comes back a different player.[/QUOTE]

A few games on the bench maybe but any longer and he'd have to consider his future there,he needs first team football and we all know he's our number 1 striker so Ireland needs him to play regularly.

I don't think putting a player on the bench will make him play any better when he gets back in the starting line up.Yes,they'll probably try a lot harder when they get back but it's not gonna make him any better as a striker.It probably pi$$es thhem off at first and the longer they stay on the bench the lower their confidence will get.

[skbio_toronto]

This is going to seem like a bizarre comment on the face of it. I reckon (ideally) Robbie needs a 'fox in the box' proven goalscorer alongside him in the national team. This is Ireland's all time goalscorer we're talking about, but I would'nt classify Robbie Keane as a natural goalscorer ala Shearer, Vieri, Raul, van Nistelrooy etc.

Now thats not really much of a criticism, because the number of genuine bona fide goalscorers in the world game in European football is a relatively short list. Van Nistelrooy, Raul (albeit going through a crisis), Shevhenko, Ronaldo plus A.N. Others. Compare the current crop to the days when Marco Van Basten, Gianluca Vialli, Julio Salinas, Gary Lineker made the art of scoring goals varying from simpe to the straight forward to the sometimes extraordinary. (In Van Basten' cases mostly extraorinary - what a legend!)

Anyhow, I'm going off the point. Young Elliot looks a decent prospect as that 'fox in the box striker who also seems a good outlet for posseion coming from central midfield. For the moment, if Morrison can sustain his performace level in the qualifiers thus far - things ain't too bad! Just lets hope that Keane's profligacy in front of goal won't end up costing us our German pass in '06.

SKBIO-TOR

[eirebhoy]

This is going to seem like a bizarre comment on the face of it. I reckon (ideally) Robbie needs a 'fox in the box' proven goalscorer alongside him in the national team.

He never did well with Connolly. and before anyone says Connolly isn't a proven goal scorer. If you discount his games from the bench and games partnered with Keane he scored about 8 in 14 or 15.

[1MickCollins]

Just because Connolly plays for Leicester City doesn't mean he's a fox in the box

[Donal81]

I have to say lads I'm not interested in this argument in the slightest as we've done it to death on this site. Thought the Fanning piece was fair enough, Keane needs development, good player but could be better, still the best we've got. End of story, no? Interesting debate on what Keane should do to develop but the argument over whether or not he's sh*te is dull as anything.

[Lionel Ritchie]

This is going to seem like a bizarre comment on the face of it. I reckon (ideally) Robbie needs a 'fox in the box' proven goalscorer alongside him in the national team.

That's presuming Robbie would play his part and actually pass the ball to said fox in the box

As for him getting away from Spurs -if he were available I'd say David O'Leary'd snap him up for Villa in a shot -which incidently would be Robbies first upward move since he left Coventry City.

[Irish_Praha]

O'Leary was his manager at Leeds and for the majority of games he was introduced as a second half sub. I know Villa don't have the choice of strikers that Leeds had back then but I wouldn't be so sure about O'Leary jumping at the chance to buy him.

[TerryPhelan]

Just because Connolly plays for Leicester City doesn't mean he's a fox in the box

1MickCollins, I applaud you! The sheer fromage of it all!

[skbio_toronto]

That's presuming Robbie would play his part and actually pass the ball to said fox in the box

He's never really developed that part of his game and thats the kernel of this thread as I see it.

Is he going to develop more of an awareness in general play is very much open to question. For a 24 year old, he has had plenty of game experience.

Its a real pernickity point though. Robbie Keane, without question, is a first team player for Ireland. Its just alot of us would prefer to have seen him develop more as a player - like a certain Damian Duff for instance.

SKBIO-TOR