Robbie Keanes stats were posted on foot.ie here and make very interesting reading imo, espically given Keane is more of an all round player than Defoe.
Damien Duff played the full 90 for Chelsea in their 1-0 win over West Brom this evening. Only 90 more minutes of football for him to come through without injury.
Tuesday in the Championship: Brighton 2-4 Wigan Athletic Kavanagh played the full match for Wigan. Mahon is injured. Gillingham 2-1 Stoke Jon Douglas played well again for Gills. Clive Clarke played for Stoke. Millwall 1-1 Coventry Mark Quigley played 62 minutes for Millwall. Graham Stack was on the bench. Staunton and Barrett were unused subs. No sign of Mike Doyle. Rotherham 1-1 Reading Michael Keane started and played the full match for Rotherham Sheffield United 1-1 Preston North End Paddy Kenny and Alan Quinn started, Derek Geary was an unused sub. Watford 2-2 Leicester Maybury, McCarthy and Connolly all started Leicester. Connolly scored on 56 minutes. Wolves 2-0 Burnley Mark Kennedy played the full match for Wolves. Sunderland 5-1 Plymouth Argyle Gary Breen captained Sunderland, and Stephen Elliott started but didn't score. Sean Thornton came on at half time and scored a terrific goal near the end. Graham Coughlan started for Plymouth, Mickey Evans played the last 10 minutes and David Worrell was an unused sub.
Last night in the Premiership: Charlton 2-0 Tottenham Kiely and Holland played for Charlton. Reid and Keane started for Spurs. Reid was apparantly the best Spurs played by some margin. Keane missed chances. Stephen Kelly came on late. Liverpool 0-0 Blackburn Finnan played the full match in this dull affair. Stephen Reid started again for Blackburn, and I think did rather well. UEFA Cup: Newcastle 4-0 Olympiakos Carr, O'Brien and Given started. Carr came in the second half, but wasn't injured. Good to see O'Brien get a match. Scotland: Inverness 0-2 Celtic Man of the match for the second game in a row: Aiden McGeady!
Yep - it's much appreciated What happened Stack? I hadn't heard that he'd been dropped...how long's that been going on for? Is it due to form or the court case?
He was injured apparantly, tho the court case couldn't be good for his mental state. He was back in Millwall squad for last weekends game. BTW Paddy McCarthy has had good start to Leicester career. Straight into team last week and impressive against West Ham yest, as Leicester hung on afta Dabizas sent off. They could be creating the new backbone for our team there- Maybury, McCarthy and Connolly. Ha!!
Since this is an international matchweek, I'll do my report a little differently. I'll go through the members of our squad individually, instead of match by match. Goakeepers: Shay Given: Played the full match for Newcastle in their 1-1 draw with Portsmouth. Made some key saves, but required a painkilling injection after the match. Worrying. Paddy Kenny: Played the full match for Sheffield United in their 2-1 win over Burnley in the Coca Cola Championship. Joe Murphy: Was suspended for Walsall's League One clash with Port Vale. Doesn't matter, we almost certainly won't need him. Defenders: Stephen Carr: Played well for Newcastle in their match with Portsmouth. Steve Finnan: Played the full match for Liverpool and did very well in thier Merseyside derby win over Everton. Andy O'Brien: Like Carr, was solid for Newcastle. Got a much needed full match. Kenny Cunningham: Arguable man of the match in the second city derby - was solid at the back, captaining Birmingham. Made both soccernet.com's and opta's Premiership Team of the Week. Richard Dunne: Played for Manchester City in their 2-1 loss to Spurs. Did okay. Gary Breen: Played the full match for Sunderland in the Champsionship. John O'Shea: Was on the bench for Manchester United, came on with about 10 minutes remaining. Gary Doherty: Played only 2 minutes for Norwich. Won't play for us. Maybury: Played at leftback for Leicester on Friday night. Midfielders: Liam Miller: Did not feature for Manchester United. Roy Keane: Played the full '90 for Manchester United, and was captain as usual. Has been in good form of late. Graham Kavanagh: Started for Wigan in thier disappointing draw with Nottingham Forest. Kevin Kilbane: Was fairly poor on the left wing for Everton in the derby at Anfield. Still, He's favourite to partner Keane in the middle of the park. Matt Holland: Played the full match, but was fairly anonymous in Charlton's loss to West Brom. Andy Reid: Was again excellent for Spurs in their win over Man City. Could very well start on the right. Will certainly play some part in the match. Damien Duff: 75 minutse for Chelsea. not his best game, but that's encouraging because I don't think Duffer can play two quiet games in a row. Was given a rest towards the end, which is also good. Clinton Morrison: Only played the last 5 minutes for Birmingham. Disappointing. He'll still probably start, though. Robbie Keane: Was on the bench, as Jol's rotation system meant it was Defoe and Mido's turn to start up front. Robbie came on and scored a crucial goal. Stephen Elliott: Played the full match for Sunderland on Saturday. I doubt he'll play for us.
They seem to like their Irish bys there these days. Glenn Whelans sposed to be playing great. Its a long way for Barrett to go in 3 years. Talked of as Arsenals next big thing to League 1 football, but hopefully Wednesday will play him upfront again (where he wants to be) and a few starts can't do him any harm no matter where they are!
It gets worse for Barrett, as soon as he goes, Coventry sign 35 (i think) year old Shaun Goater on loan as they felt they needed extra options up front, and yet they insisted on playing Barrett- if at all- right wing! Thomas Butler joined Hartlepool by the way.
Barrett satarted up front and scores on Wednesday debut. Ha sorry PMannion, dont wanna be taking your job updating this tread, but Im sposed to be studying, so have nothing better to do!
This weekend in the Premiership: Charlton 2-2 Manchester City Kiely and Holland played for Charlton. Holland was fairly quiet, though hit the bar with a header late on. Richard Dunne was excellent for City, winning header after header. Jon Macken played the full match. Was brighter than usual, but missed two great chances (each saved well by Kiely). Arsenal 4-1 Nowich City No sign of Gary Doherty. Birmingham 1-1 Tottenham Kenny Cunningham apparantly played well for Birmingham. Morrison was on the bench, came on with 20 minutes left and missed a good chance late on. Stephen Kelly came on early and SCORED his first Premiership goal for Spurs. Andy Reid played well, but Robbie Keane was an unused sub and apparantly stormed down the tunnel after not being brought on for Jol's third change. Are his Spurs days numbered? Liverpool 1-0 Bolton Steve Finnan made soccernet.com's and skysport's Team of the Week for his performance - making two vital clearences to keep Liverpool in the game. Manchester United 0-0 Blackburn Rovers John O'Shea started at left back, but moved to midfield in the 2nd half. I thought he did quite well - lots of good passes and didn't waste the ball too much. Roy Keane was supposed to be given a rest, but was forced on to replace the injured Ryan Giggs after only 10 minutes or so. Keane was solid as ever - put in one great tackle on Reid that almost resulted in a goal for Wayne Rooney. Stephen Reid played for Blackburn, and I thought he was excellent. Got fouled about 5 times in the second half, drawing 2 yellow cards for Man U players. Newcastle 0-3 Aston Villa. All three Irish - Given, Carr and O'Brien - started. O'Brien was apparantly very shaky and was taken off after 50 minutes. Not looking good for him. Carr and Given were all relatively all right (at least they weren't sent off). Taylor was sent off, so unless Bramble comes back to fitness O'Brien is guarenteed another match or two regardless of his form. Southampton 1-3 Chelsea Delap played at right back for Southampton, and was all right. Damien Duff was quiet again for Chelsea - taken off in the second half. Still, just as long as he doesn't get injured I'm happy. West Brom 1-0 Everton Carsley and Kilbane played for Everton. Mustn't have done all that well. In the Championship: James O'Connor scored for Burnley in their 3-1 win over Watford. Steve Staunton scored the winner for Coventry over Brighton. Michael Doyle also played for City. Alan Maybury, Paddy McCarthy, and David Connolly (who scored from the spot) all started for Leicester in their 3-1 win over Millwall, for whom Mark Quigley came on (last 10 minutes). Mick McCarthy's Sunderland continued their march towards the Premiership with a 3-1 win vs QPR at Loftus Road. Breen and Elliot played full matched (no goals) and Sean Thornton came on. Martin Rowlands played for QPR. Paddy Kenny and Alan Quinn played full matches for Sheffield United, Derek Geary was an unused sub. Lower down, Tommy Butler scored his first goal fro Hartlepool United. Glenn Whelan and Graham Barrett started for Sheffield Wednesday, Jason McAteer for Tranmere. Stephen McPhail played for Barnsley, Damien Delaney for Hull City. In Scotland, Aiden McGeady was taken off early in Celtic's shock loss to Hearts. Noel Hunt scored for Dunfermline. In Spain, Ian Harte is back - played 83 minutes for Levante in their loss to Deportivo La Coruna.
Are we forgetting about poor Paul Butler? Although he possibly has had the worst debut I've ever seen in an Irish jersey, he is Leeds captain and has been ever present this season. Apparantly played well v Wolves on Sat, Mark Kennedy also played
Butler's a good player and has been missed by Wolves this season. Not surprised that he's ever present for Leeds. Kennedy has been playing reasonably ok for Wolves in a central midfield role(!!??!!). I think his days of terrorising fullbacks are gone.
Spurs right back Noe Pamarot is out for 9 months with ligament damage. Very sad for him, but it does mean Stephen Kelly will likely be first choice for that time.
This week in the Champions League: Liverpool 2-1 Juventus Steve Finnan played the full match at right back and I thought he was very very good. Won many headers, beat his man regularly, got forward well and didn't waste posession (except once or twice when he gave the ball away). Very encouraging performance, and he will be certain to start vs Israel in June. Potter was an unused sub. Chelsea 4-2 Bayern Munich Damien Duff played the full match. He was quite good; always a threat for Chelsea. Fantastic to see him playing at such a high level. In the Coca Cola Championship: Crewe 1-2 Derby County Jeff Kenna played for Derby - who look as though they will be in the playoffs. Ipswich 4-3 Rotherham Michael Keane played for Rotherham, who are demoted. Leeds 0-4 Sheffield United Gary Kelly and Paul Butler played for Leeds. Paddy Kenny and Alan Quinn started for United, Derek Geary came on at half time. All finished the match. Keeps Sheffield in the promotion hunt, while Leeds are doomed to another season outside the Premiership. Leicester City 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Alan Maybury got the goal for City. Paddy McCarthy and David Connolly also started. Mark Kennedy played for Wolves. Plymouth 1-0 Watford Graham Coughland and Micky Evans started for Plymouth. QPR 1-1 Gillingham Jon Douglas (on loan from Blackburn) played for Gills. No sign of Rowlands for QPR. Injured or suspended? Stoke 1-3 Cardiff No Clive Clarke for Stoke. He had an ankle injury. Alan Lee played the last 15 minutes for Cardiff. Wigan 0-1 Sunderland Alan Mahon and Graham Kavanagh started this crucial match. Mahon was semi-responisble for the goal: Liam Lawrence (another Irish hopeful) apparantly took the ball out of play down the right wing. Mahon stopped, but the whistle never came, so Lawrence whipped in a cross unopposed, which Marcus Stewart put into the net. Mahon was then taken off at half time. Apart from Lawrence, Gary Breen captained the side. Stephen Elliott will be disappointed only to be on the bench - but he came on the last 15 minutes and did well. Sean Thornton was an unused sub.
UEFA Cup tonight: Newcastle 1-0 Sporting Lisbon Given, O'Brien and Carr all played for Newcastle. Very worryingly, Given was taken off at half time with a recurrence of his hip injury. O'Brien and Carr did all right, though I fear it will be O'Brien's last game for a while as he was awful last weekend.
I'm in the midst of final exams, so this week's summary will be brief (I'll appreciate it if someone could fill in the gaps I leave): In the Premiership, Stephen Reid was superb (man of the match) for Blackburn in their 3-0 win. Made an own goal, and scored the third himself. Was also in soccernet's team of the week. Delap played for Southampton at right back. Duff was very poor, I thought, for Chelsea. Didn't beat his man at all. In need of a rest, I think. When Robben comes back, I'd say he'll get it. Cunningham was solid, and Morrison played 10 minutes for Birmingham Richard Dunne was man of the match for Man City in their win over Liverpool, for whom Finnan played the full match. Holland and Kiely played for Charlton. No Irish for Man Utd, so I feel no sympathy for them in their shock loss to Norwich. Kilbane was very good for Everton in their win over Crystal Palace. Made 2 goals. Kelly and Andy Reid were excellent for Spurs in their win over Newcastle. Carr and O'Brien started (surprised at O'Brien but he held his own) and Robbie came off the bench again. Down a division, David Connolly and Martin Rowlands had goals for their clubs, as did Alan Mahon.
Duff again looked tired in Chelsea's victory over Bayenr Munich to get to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Finnan played the full 90 at the Stadio Del Alpi where Liverpool drew 0-0 with Juventus, going through 2-1 on aggregate... I think Juve's left-winger was Nedved(!) though I may be wrong, but by all accounts Finnan put in a very good performance and should be starting over Carr for us. Chelsea play Liverpool in the semi-finals to the best of my knowledge, meaning there will be a guaranteed Irish player (who will almost certainly start) in the Champions League Final this year - great news!