Stephen Ireland was frustratingly brilliant for Man City again in the UEFA Cup last night. Richard Dunne also played quite well.
Interesting question. As a goal scorer, there can be no doubting that he has not been a success to date at Liverpool. But there are other metrics that can and should be used in determining his success. Benitez believes in formations with one up top and there is no way Keane or pretty much anyone else is displacing a fit Fernando Torres. The role, I think, Benitez sees for Keane is that of the second forward who flicks on, provides, forages and scores sometimes. Not unlike Kuyt perhaps, but Benitez has Kuyt playing wider, deeper and more defensively than Keane. Keane's role is that of provider in the box. And in that role he has been remarkably effective. Liverpool would not have beaten Manchester United or Everton away earlier in the season without Keane. His intelligence has come on in leaps and bounds and I think he has become a more complete player. Now if he starts banging them in over the Christmas and in the new year, Benitez is going to look like a genius. My view is that Keane has not been a failure as a signing, leaves much work to be done on the goal scoring front, and has been very effective as a team player. The goals will come I suspect.
I think Robbie's reaction to being substituted for the 15th time this season in the game v West Ham illustrated how disillusioned he has become with his own game. Robbie has always been a very much off the cuff player and has not fitted in well with the regimented mode of play of Liverpool.
Left on the bench this weekend too. Does anyone have any idea as to when Steve Finnan will be coming back from injury?
Don't see it I'm afraid. I thought it was the wrong move for both Liverpool & Robbie at the time and nothing I have seen has changed that view. I certainly wouldn't agree that he has been 'remarkably effective' as a provider either & even were it true (which it ain't), strikers are ultimately judged on the number of goals they score. It didn't matter how hard John Aldridge worked in the early days under Charlton, all that fans & the media cared out was his lack of goals. Liverpool fans will be looking for Michael Owen to be brought back during the transfer window and some tough days are ahead for Ireland's super-subbed skipper.
I feel sorry for Robbie Keane not because he is a bad player which he is not. He has been sulking every time he has been substituted since his days at Coventry, Leeds and Inter Milan. He even sulked at Spurs. His problem is that he is not as good as he thinks he is. He is the best Ireland has now which is not difficult but he should have stayed at Spurs. He has become a small fish in a big pond and psychologically his game will suffer from here on. It is pretty sad.
Its very hard to put the finger on what exactly is going wrong at the moment. I was very excited about the move and was initially very optimistic, but it does seem to have gone horribly wrong. He isn't playing well, and the way is being used is further undermining his confidence to the extent where I think that even he himself is not expecting to play well. The first thing that must be said is that he has mostly been played in a position that isn't natural to him: as a lone centre forward due to the absence of Torres through injury for much of the season. Robbie just doesn't have the characteristics to do well in this situation. He will no doubt get the odd goal against a weak defence (see his goals vs West Brom), but generally he will be easy to stifle. He's not strong, good in the air, or particularly pacey, so if he is being told to play on the last defender, he will struggle badly. Robbie needs to be playing behind or alongside a natural centre forward like Torres (or Berbatov) to be most effective, and he also needs a degree of freedom to drift around the pitch and drag defenders around. In doing this he creates huge holes in opposition defences as was demonstrated many times at Spurs in the last few seasons. He just doesn't have this freedom at Liverpool, and if Liverpool do not want to grant him that freedom, it makes me seriously question the thinking behind why they signed him in the first place. What makes me even more concerned is that Benitez seems to have an almost callous disregard for the confidence of a player who is a 'confidence' player by all accounts. Subbing him off with 20mins to go in every single game he plays is a really good way to drag his confidence down as low as it can go. Sure, one can argue that a player of Robbie's experience shouldn't be so confidence dependant, but that's the way he is and I dont think it will change as long as he still plays football. As such I think that he is being badly mismanaged at the moment. Sure he hasn't been playing well, but the way he is being used, subbed, or not used is certainly not helping in making him feel like he's 'the man' around Anfield, which is how he needs to to feel if they want the best out of him. At the moment, I can only see things getting worse, and another non-appearance today at Anfield makes me fear for his immediate future. At this point it seems that either Benitez has lost faith in his ability, or alternatively Benitez is making a point that he's the boss, regarding Robbie's slightly petulant (but understandable) subsitution reactions. In either situation I think that nothing good is going to come from it. If I was Robbie I would get out as soon as possible Im afraid to say. *Edit. I also think Liverpool are not functioning well as an attacking unit. In their last 4 games, all against weak opposition, they have looked decidedly mediocre going forward and seriously struggle to create chances with or without Robbie Keane. Two goalless draws against West Ham and Fulham, 70 mins of total toothlessness againt Blackburn until they got a huge slice of luck, and a few breaks (both goals were controversial with obvious fouls in the build up) today against Hull does not make one think they can sustain a title challenge by any stretch. They seem overly cautious when playing at home or away against weaker opposition and they will seriously struggle to break down teams who arrive looking for a nil-nil draw on current evidence. My personal thinking is that the only reason Liverpool are currently top is that the other contenders are playing well below the standards they have set in previous years rather than any increase in Liverpool's own standard of play.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.2475586.0.McGeady_cannot_win_this_fight_What_happens_next.php The Herald discusses the future of Aidan McGeady after his bust-up with Celtic manager Gordon Strachan: I think there's some real exciting possibilities here. Bayern said earlier that they weren't going to spend this winter, but if Celtic wants to hurry up and get McGeady out of there, they would probably let him go on the cheap. La Liga is obviously cool to think about too, depending on the suitor.
Looks like Steve Finnan will be coming back to England with a loan move to Spurs. But will he be first choice?
Darren O'Dea played the full 90mins at Falkirk and after a shaky first 10mins he had a great game. always reads the game well and is confident enough to bring the ball out from the back. no word on McManus and his fitness regarding the Glasgow derby so Darren could start at Mordor.
Why play him when he's not needed? Get him a rest and we'll have a fresh Torres and Keano for Jan-May!
Darron Gibson just scored his first ever senior goal for Manchester United - in the FA Cup vs Southampton.
Finnan finally did start for Espanyol tonight vs Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. Taken off after 50 minutes, though.
Nice to see Robbie Keane starting to hit some goalscoring form. John O'Shea got injured this weekend, any update on his progress?
John O'Shea passed fit for tomorrow's game. Great to see him playing so well at right full , the confidence must be flowing being part of such a **********rdly defence.