Robbie Keane the Andy Cole of Irish football?

harsh but true,if he spent less time giving out to officals and pointing where he wants the ball he would do better,not a likeable character imo

not really that clever of a thread is it

You genuinely think Gary Breen was worried about Robbie not hugging him after scoring a crucial goal on the biggest stage of both their careers?!
You're main arguement against the people who use his goals record as a defence is that we play easier teams than years gone by. No doubt Robbie has scored plenty v San Marino, Faroes etc. however his record v the big teams is excellent. Robbie has scored v Yugoslavia, Turkey, Czech Rep.(2), Holland(2), Iran(wc qualifier), Russia(2), Denmark(3), Germany, Spain, Croatia, Sweden, Italy, Nigeria, France.
How many soft games did Lineker have to get to 48?? Shearer hasn't got as many as Robbie!

No they weren't! Don't just spout crap with no facts. Course a few of his goals were penos-but just off the top of my head the goals v Holland, Italy, France, Germany were all from play.
How many penos did Aldridge score?!

^^ spot on

A load of boll*cks. He is gettin older and not as good as he once was for sure. It probably is'nt reasonable to compare his goalscoring record to previous generations as there is certainly more cannon fodder out there these days. It is however fair to compare his goalscoring record to other strikers from other countries in the current generation. Havent looked in detail but id say its safe to say his record is A1.

Cut the guy a bit of slack. He's the best goalscorer we've ever had and he simply needs to get a new club in January and start playing again

Been a great player for us, he has been unlucky in his club career off late. He has to leave Spurs during the Jan transfer window though.

Lets take a few of these points and deal with facts.

To Robbie's credit he currently stands at number 11 in the Premiership all time top goalscorers list. This of course omits the days of what was called the First Division, so the great league scorers such as Jimmy Greaves, Dixie Dean aren't counted. But in the modern Premiership only 10 players have scored more goals than Keane. I take my hat off to that. He has achieved this largely without playing for one of the big four (brief period at Liverpool excepted).

Galwayman, when I said that a dearth of attacking options has meant Keane is one of the first names on the team sheet I was stating fact. There has been no one that we could replace him with. His position was never under threat. Ireland has produced very few top class strikers ever. I'm not saying he hasn't scored consistently, that he has. It's not a wind up.

I stand by the opinion that Keane needs more chances to score than the average top of the range striker. I never at all suggested the Ireland team was overflowing with creativity - you pulled that from the sky. As for McGeady's assist record, I am baffled as to why you've raised it. I've little team for McGeady as a footballer.


I think a fair assessment of a striker's finishing ability is his shots to goals ratio.

Lets look at Keane's and compare it against some of his contemporaries:

Data is taken from premierleague.com


Robbie Keane  Shots/Goals Ratio    0.24
Teddy Sheringham         0.49
Alan Shearer             0.62
Andy Cole             0.48
Nicolas Anelka             0.19
Emile Heskey            0.21
Michael Owen            0.35
Dion Dublin             0.61

Clearly Keane does not have the same finishing ability as many of the top strikers. It was the first poster's original point and if anything it was Andy Cole that should be insulted rather than Robbie Keane.

He is one of the best strikers Ireland has ever had, though to an extent that's like winning a tallest dwarf contest as historically the competition isn't up to much.

Yes we are fkd when he retires as we were largely fkd before he came along.

Irishro, dig out the clip of the celebration. I don't 'genuinely think Gary Breen' was worried, but its clear he thought Keane was being a pr!ck. His football persona and his football abilites are two different discussions however.

I'd also make the point that at the 2002 WC the Saudi Arabian keeper was an absolute joker and Ireland should have put 8 past him.

Sirwinalot-ive had a look at Robbie's goal again and Breens celebration with him looks one of pure emotion to me without any negativity towards Robbie himself.
Anyway if that's not enough to convince you have a look at Gary Breen's celebration of his goal in the same game.....
The bit around 23 seconds I especially like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iEj6aQoL1A

You'd say would ya?! Alot on here seem to be saying but not doing their research! It really is true when they call us a nation of begrudgers.

Ya I am a fan of Robbie Keane and the Irish team. I am also a realist and have seen plenty to criticise over the years however there seems to be a constant witch-hunt(on this forum especially) against all things Irish football and I am sick of it. For years we took the p*** out of the English cos their tabloid media expected to win every world cup then knock them down when they fail. We are following a similar path.
We are a small nation and I for one believe over the last 25 years we have punched above our weight. We've been blessed to have such talents as McGrath, Keane(both of them), Duff,  Whelan, Brady etc. and compete at the levels we have. Only 2 years ago Russia were putting away Holland at the european championship yet they come to Dublin and we expect to win. Yes we played below our ability but the team didn't give up to their credit and followed up with a much better performance on Tues night.
Bigger nations than us have failed to qualify for tournaments over the last 20 years like England, Holland, France and Russia.
Outside the genuine fans who go to matches and follow the team an air of negativity follows the Irish team around every time they play. It doesn't seem to be the same with the rugby team.
In relation to just the Irish players themselves they are a credit to the country imo. Compared to most other nations you rarely see an Irish player miss a friendly appearance. Robbie Keane, Duff, Given, Dunne always show up.
Yet a huge chunk of this country seems to enjoy slagging them off.

keane is a good player but its is on field carry on thats so annoying , no respect for referees , constantly moaning, waving hands,simulation ,  shows of contempt for team mates when they dont pass to him.
The fact that only 17 of his competive goals were against teams better than bottom seeds in groups shows that he is just a good player no better no worse. Has anyone worked out how many of his 17 were penalties?

Only 17?? How many international players do you think have much more than 17 goals against such teams? Shearer scored a total of 12 v such opposition in a pretty good England team.
Do you really think he would be made captain of Spurs and Ireland if he constantly showed contempt towards his team mates as you suggest?

El Gato: i think a fair assessment of a strikers finishing ability is the number of goals he scores never mind bullsh1t ratios!!


not true. Would Pele have scored so many international goals were he Andorran?

some nice arguments for and against. What Robbie has done in the past means ZERO going into a game against Slovakia in October 2010. Robbie HAS been an excellent striker for Ireland over the years. My point refers to the steady decline in his finishing in the last year give or take a few months. He had 3 chances any TOP international striker lives for the other night. The Shane Long cross into him, the chance near the end of the game (he almost hit the roof with), and the penalty. The first two he couldnt even get on target. The penalty, to me, showed no conviction at all. I'd love Robbie to bang in three in his next game, but I'm VERY annoyed with the chances being squandered by Robbie latley, and I'm not alone because Trappatoni stated in the Daily Telegraph the other day, Robbie is in danger of losing his place in the first 11. So all the people who ridiculed my assessment of Robbie's recent form, can go ridicule Trappatoni as well.

irishro , agree fully re gibson , he took a free and sent the ball back to our full back , with all our lads in their box waiting for him to cross .

for me the signs were there before the Slovakia match, seemed to struggle to hit the target with bread and butter chances in the internationals leading up to the Slovakia match. But after I started to question his finishing recently, I always said to myself, it's Robbie, don't worry he'll bang a few in in the next match. The Slovakia performance from Robbie turned me over the edge, and it seems like he's on Trappatonis last nerve as well. Robbies is due a GREAT game sooner rather than later, and if he doesnt impress Trappatoni, it will be later.

excellent shots to goals ratio stats sirwinalot, looks like I wasnt far off on my original assessment that he scores 1 in 5......

The main problem is Keane isn't playing regularly for his club and so isn't as sharp as he should be.But there is no one to take his place, Doyle works hard but isn't in Keanes class.The other problem is that the Premier league clubs don't have as many Irish players as back in the 70's and 80's( or Scottish)they now have European and South Americans when once they would have been Irish or Scottish.I would be interested to know how many of the Big 6 premier league teams have scouts in Ireland or are they all in  Europe.

Thanks Workrider,just that one time every top club had Irish and Scottish players now there's only a few. As you said very few making the grade these days.