February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Even the sublime skill of Thierry Henry (14 goals) and Harry Kewell (9 goals) do not finish the way Keane does. There is something almost innocent in the way the Irish forward tries to score his goals. It almost like watching an upstart on the street or in a playground who has to beat two or three players and slot the ball home with all the cheek in the world, or even better, goes around the keeper. Keane does this.
Sure enough there is your typical striker like Alan Shearer (14 goals) and new Southampton sensation James Beattie (15 goals) who are your old-fashioned finishers. Even Ruud van Nistelrooy could fit in definition of the typical forward who is a clinical striker, scores goals and is in the right place at the right time.
Nicolas Anelka is in the top 10 among strikers with 10 goals, but as clinical as he is, there is just something about his concentration and inconsistency that takes a lot away from his goal-scoring game. However, his steady game at Manchester City under Kevin Keegan could give him the platform to express himself better than he has in the past.
Tomasz Radzinski (9 goals), who scored a nice half-volley for Everton against Spurs, has very good potential to be a top-notch striker and he is a bit sneaky like Keane.
Making up the top list of strikers in the league is Michael Owen, who, like Keane, is quick in the box. Owen does rely on his pace a lot, and his explosiveness is second to none when it comes to raiding the box and scoring. Like Keane, Owen can skip into tight spaces to use a center of gravity to create goals and cause penalty kicks.
Keane is now on nine goals and this hat trick has put him right up their with the leading pack. So just where does the Irish talent fit in when compared to the rest? The most sublime of them all has got to be Henry, while the most consistent finisher is Shearer. All these strikers have scored hat tricks, but, as we know, that doesn’t happen too often. However, when it does, it is rare that we see three superb finishes, but Keane did exactly that.
The fact that both teams went for broke to win three very-much-needed points helped his hat trick as play was wide open, something defenses cannot afford against a player like Robbie Keane. It may also have helped that Teddy Sheringham was not in the Spur lineup, which in turn meant that Keane was the forward Tottenham depended upon.
Keane’s first and third goals were solo efforts, the kind of goals we expect Keane to score. In the 50th minute, he latched onto a through ball to beat the offside trap as he rounded the keeper to slot home into the far post for his opening goal. With seven minutes remaining, he read a ball that bounced over the Everton defense and on it he got heading toward the Everton goal. As a defender came across to cut him off, it was then we saw that cheeky — not sublime — effort surface from the Irish footballer. He shoved the ball right across and in front of the racing opponent, then sidestepped in behind him and coolly passed the ball by the keeper and into the net.
The solo efforts were reminiscent of how George Best used to score goals for fun. But it was Keane’s second goal that may have finally marked the arrival of the complete striker within him. It was a strike that we have not seen too often. Midway through the second half Keane, let the ball travel to his feet as Everton’s Joseph Yobo dived in, missing the ball completely. Keane turned, faced the goal, and struck a superb shot from 20 yards into the left-hand corner of the net.
“That has been waiting to happen,” said Spurs legend and manager Glen Hoddle. “Robbie’s had his chances before, but today he was clinical and scored a magnificent hat trick of pure quality and might have had a couple more. It was a great exhibition of clinical finishing, which we want him to improve on, and he’s showing now that he’s capable of that. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a player who creates chances for others as well as finishing the chances we create for him. If we can get his ratio up, which I think will happen with time and hard work, there’s no reason why he can’t become a clinical finisher.”
It is not that difficult to imagine Robbie Keane becoming a clinical finisher, and it is how he struck that shot from 20 yards that indicates Hoddle is working on his arsenal around the edge of the box. If Keane adds long-range efforts to his goal prowess, Spurs and Ireland may have a super star in the making.
Indeed, Irish supporters are desperate to see their favorite forward come of age. Keane has been on the road for a long time and for that Irish wish to come true he has to settle down at White Hart Lane. It looks like he has indeed found his London home with a four-year contract secured.
Keane started his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he attracted much interest from Premier teams. After three years at Molineux, he was sold to Coventry City. By the end of 2000, it seemed on the cards that Keane would join a bigger premier club when Italian giants, Inter Milan, paid for his services. Major concern surrounded his future at Serie A when he found himself way down the pecking order at Inter strike force.
But Premier clubs were once again on his trail, and after West Ham, Chelsea and Liverpool showed much interest, Keane opted for Leeds Untied and David O’Leary. However, once again Keane found himself left out when Leeds signed Robbie Fowler. Not even a hat trick in the Worthington Cup convinced Leeds to give him a running chance to prove himself.
Later, his World Cup performance and goals were disappointingly rewarded with a bid from struggling Sunderland, which Keane wisely turned down. After scoring 19 goals for Leeds in only 38 starts, in August 2002 Robbie Keane was off to Spurs and Hoddle. As he establishes himself on the first team, his goals last weekend may be the start to establishing himself as a clinical finisher. But if there is one thing that separates Keane from the rest, it his natural instinct to try anything, anywhere, anytime.