Robbie Keane to the Galaxy (Confirmed)

I can remember Becks glaring, that look of consternation on his face, motioning, just shaking his head plenty of times when he first got here. No different than Robbie is doing right now.

Plus, I think it's good that Robbie is expecting excellence from his teammates. They should all expect excellence from each other; never be satisfied just doing "alright" or trying really hard or hustling everywhere. Everyone needs to work on being excellent and being a winner. To me, it shows he thinks everyone can improve, that he doesn't think his teammates are a lost cause, they can learn how to think quicker and read the game better and each other better.

I, for one, think that's why Landon rides Mikey Stephens so much. He knows the kid has great potential, he just needs to focus better, get himself under control and make better decisions.

Well said, gentlemen. Rep to both.

I'm not a big fan of his treatment and attitude towards his teammates, but then again Landon does it too. Oh well.

I'm also not too thrilled that he doesn't do the post win celebration/salute with his team to the ACB. Just like Beckham never did until this year. Robbie only did it in his debut game.

And he was experiencing the joy of playing with the 2007/2008 version of the Galaxy. With Yallop & Gullitt and the back-line that couldn't collectively spell the word 'defend'. Good times. Keane should count his blessings.

Also, I think DB still does all of that.

To be fair, the main reason DB couldn't get to ACB was Jackie Pickering sticking her microphone in his face at the end of every game

Boy, I'm really tempted to go south with this comment but I wont.

going south with jackie Pickering....

But Angel has three goals!!!!! Can we trade Keane to Chivas for Angel? Ok one of them was an own goal …

I couldn’t care less about any of this ancillary stuff. He points, he yells, he gestures, he’s offside a lot, he doesn’t acknowledge the fans after the game. He scores goals, he makes the Galaxy a better team. As long as he keeps doing that he can gesture to whatever teammates he wants and ignore whomever he likes.

I guess that's true. And it seems like he really enjoys his teammates by the looks of the training video clips.

That's my feeling as well. The guy is a true competitor and this comes with that type of player. They only want to play their best, they only want their teammates to play their best; they want to score, they want to win, all the time. These guys don't accept mediocre and that's why they reach the highest levels.

What we want is for these guys to bring the best out of the rest, that the other guys will learn what it takes to be such a player and this will be a rising tide for the club.

And in time, he'll also learn the best ways to deliver the message and interact with his teammates.

He hasn't been here that long, really, given his arrival date and his time with Ireland. I say give him some time to develop a good understanding with the rest of the team.

To echo what JuniorLA said - the team needs to adapt to Keane as much as vice-versa.

When I watch the EPL I see not only a higher overall skill level but also a higher work rate and (on average) a greater drive to win every tackle, header, 50-50 ball, etc. I remember when Becks first came to us often he was tackling harder and working harder than the rest of the team even though he was often the oldest player on the field. He still does that from time to time. MLS players have tended to be a bit lower key about game probably b/c there isn't the pressure from the public, the competition from the bench, and b/c there is less at stake for teams when they win or lose a game.

So I think one of the biggest positives of bringing Becks to the team is that the other players have observed his drive and passion and fed off it to step up their own expectations and their own professionalism on the field. Hopefully Keane exhorting his teammates to play better, harder, and smarter will just accelerate this increasing level of professionalism we are seeing from the LA Galaxy.

I don't have a problem with Keane at all. He was brought in to score and make the Galaxy a better team.

He has done that and more so far in his brief tenure. As long as Keane keeps producing, I don't care how he acts towards his teammates and fans.

He was also being rather over-zealously tackled himself on a few occasions in 2007/2008. (Thinking of Jesse Marsh, Attiba Harris & Serioux right off the top of my head.)

Considering he also made it through this most recent game without a yellow card, I agree that he is trying to play smarter. It may be a result of playing through injury, but he seems to be 'rationing his energy' during games. He doesn't make that many tackles anymore. He used to run half the length of the pitch to celebrate with the goal-scorer. Not anymore. Kind of miss seeing that.

Beckham has always been prone to rash tackles, he’s not Joey Barton/Dema Kovalenko bad, but in terms of tackling his brain has always been a lot faster than his feet.

100% in agreement.

What I'm concerned with is how Robbie goes about exhorting his teammates.

I used Adam Cristman as an example because, to date, he has been Arena's selection as Keane's primary strike partner. Trust, selflessness and an almost telepathic knowledge/understanding of movement and preference in receiving the ball makes for great attacking duos.

How many of you are truly inspired when the "golden child" of your work environment reminds you that you haven't accomplished anything close that what they have and probably never will?

Regardless of how big a donkey Keane (and certain BS posters) see Adam as being, he is our donkey and, if he can be coaxed into believing he is the second coming of Secretariat, our team will be better for it.

If you repeatedly tell someone they are a dunderhead (what a cool word ), they will eventually believe it and have no expectations because, after all, what can a dunderhead accomplish in this life.

Being a DP in MLS means you should be 5-10 times the player as the vast majority of your teammates because you're earning 5-10 times the salary. Glad Robbie's a talent but he better be considering the wage differential. I want him to be a leader, as well.

My expectations for Galaxy DPs are more than just being superior talents.

Maybe Robbie is the wind beneath the wings of his less talented, low-paid MLS teammates at practice but during the game, he comes off as a bit of a selfish arse.

While there are some good points (by golly I love that donkey) I do feel that Keano is on the pitch with grown adults. I think they can handle some fire-under-their-ass treatment from the weathered veteran.

And, as has been said before, the rest of the club need to adjust to Keane; he is the target-man and the goal scorer (and apparently sometimes creator.)

Come on these guys are professional athletes not a gaggle of aspiring fashion designers. Robbie was the same way at Spurs, most strikers are bitching and moaning when they don’t get the pass they want. Keane would yell at Crouch and Defoe and all the rest who earn $40K a week, wouldn’t it be more insulting to treat Cristman with kid gloves because he only makes $40K a year?

The only difference between Robbie on the Galaxy and Robbie when he played at Spurs is the quality of player and the length of time they had played together meant fewer instances of miscommunication.

Until I see evidence of Robbie’s barking affecting the overall or individual play of the Galaxy I see no cause for alarm.

Agree here. In general strikers are selfish people (not their personalities, their footy demeanor). They should be - they should demand the ball to score. We don't want someone shying away from the ball (anyone watch Torres' body language of late?).

So I'm going to wait to ensure he folds in. Based on training videos, he looks good so far. And he and Becks already have some camraderie going, and he and Landon are picking up lately as well (see: CCL assist).

As long as those three are clicking, the rest of the team falls in line.

I agree with the general sentiment - he could be scoring tons of goals, but he cannot be a cancerous sore on the team (see: Terrell Owens). But I don't think he is anywhere near that. So far everyone's saying the right things.

Frankly, I don't expect Barrett and Cristman (the most impacted) to be our lead options paired with Keane next year - I expect we will make a move in the offseason anyway.

as long as he keeps producing and pushing our guys to be at their best; he's free to rip someone a new asshole on the field from time to time.

how is he different from timmy howard having a fit any time the other team even gets a shot off??

i like the passion.

cup or bust.

Really don't want to take this down the wrong road because, in terms of the skills he brings to the team, I love the fact that Robbie plays for the Galaxy but is it possible the reason he's not still with Spurs the very demeanor described above?

Yep, that's possible. Their loss.

I can’t comment on the behind the scenes at Spurs so it’s entirely possible, but he played a similar role to Defoe (a source of conflict on the team) and was 5th choice behind Jermaine, Pav, Crouch (now Ade) and Van der Vaart, but was commanding a pretty large salary I think he was at the top tier along with King and Modric at £65K a week.

Defoe and VDV, especially VDV are always yelling at their teammates just like Keane.

it's funny that I come on this thread just to address this very thing. I see it as a potential problem. When you come on a new team, you adjust to the team not the other way around, atleast you would try. In these games so far, I see alot of barking from Keane aimed towards pretty much everyone. I know these are professionals & I do expect them to deal with it, but it said much about a personallity of a person who comes into a new team & yell when ever he does not get his way. I notice that this happens the first game, which is very troubling. Keep in mind that we noticed this when we are winning, what happen when we starting drawing or losing? I'm better than them, I'm more valuable, I can play on a better team. If BA cannot control this, I think it will be a problem.

This is just my guess but I think if you asked Cristman and Barrett whether Keane's pointing and other gestures bothered them they would just laugh. This whole discussion is a tempest in a teapot methinks.