February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
As for the other Keano, the one who left the Irish in the 2004 World Cup, he’s back and Manchester United fans are also singing that same tune more than ever before.
Hopefully, the Irish fans will be chanting “Keano . . . there’s more than one Keano” in Germany in 2006.
During the holidays, United faced off against Aston Villa without Roy Keane on the starting sheet. The Corkman was benched for rest. But United looked disorganized without their midfield general. The Red Devils were sloppy and were not as convincing as in previous matches, when he was on the starting XI. The skipper eventually did come on and United took the three points in a less than convincing manner. Next game up, on New Year’s Day, United played Middlesbrough and Keane was penciled back in the starting lineup. Hardly surprisingly, it turned out to be a more complete performance by the team. United sailed home with a professional performance that left Boro manager Steve McClaren admitting that his team was outclassed.
It’s expected that Roy Keane will get rested here and there. That was the case last year; however, Keane did not look like a happy footballer when on the line. In fact, in 2004 he did not have the typical season expected of him and some people even thought it was the beginning of the end for the Irish midfielder at Old Trafford, injured or not. However, the veteran is suggesting that he wants to play out his career at Manchester. His confidence is sky high and there seems to be no stopping him these days. The way he’s strolling through games, one might even say the sideline rests are unnecessary. But the real test will come when United start back on their Champions League trail. Alex Ferguson will probably rest his main man before the gigantic fixture against AC Milan. It looks like United won’t have time to catch their breath. Indeed, their punishing 2005 schedule truly started yesterday against an in-form Spurs.
So the Corkman is back playing some textbook sit-in football in the middle, which suits him at his age. It’s an effective part of United’s game plan. Now and then he bursts into action in the defensive midfield position and the odd time he pops up to make a goal or has a go himself. A successful Keane strike is on the cards; he’s due.
As for the Irish side of things, Keane has been cherry-picking what games he plays for the national team. But the upcoming qualifying fixtures will not give him that luxury. Manager Brian Kerr will have to work Keane to get him to all the games and all the training sessions from here on in. There’s no way Keane can miss a beat. His true test of staying the course will arrive in these qualifying games. Let’s pray that Keane, Kerr and Ferguson are on the same page.
A few weeks ago, there was some concern for Robbie Keane at Tottenham Hotspur and he’s not out of the water yet. Jermain Defoe gets the call ahead of Keane and that has been made clear on a few occasions. Freddie Kanoute is also a forward in good form for Spurs. It looks like Kanoute and Defoe are preferred up front, with Keane kicking in for depth. It also seems that Keane and Defoe don’t combine well. Perhaps Spurs need to bring in another bigger and stronger forward like Kanoute rather than seeing Keane as the odd man out?
Robbie Keane cannot afford to be on the bench for any length of time. If, however, he is rotated on a consistent basis with his fellow forwards at Spurs, it could work well for him. But we’ve seen him drop the head when called off, and look dejected on the bench. If anybody knows the importance of getting regular game time, it’s the younger Keane. He has been on a rocky road to making it with a top club. Perhaps he’ll never get to the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea. However, at White Hart Lane he has given Martin Jol a selection headache, particularly after scoring a few goals over the holiday season.
Everton manager David Moyes admitted his defense couldn’t handle the Spurs’ forwards. Keane and Kanoute were menacing on the ball and unbalanced the Everton team much too often. That’s the kind of players they are. If only Jol could get Defoe in there and play all three forwards. But he’s tried that and it’s unlikely he’ll go back to it regularly after the emergence of young players in the side in recent games.
Keane latched on to a ball with his head and made the first goal, sending the ball in behind Everton’s defensive line. He grew in confidence, coming close to scoring on a few occasions, and eventually he did find the back of the net.
It could be argued that Keane scored when Everton were down and out at 1-3. It’s also been suggested that Keane doesn’t score against the big guns like United, the Gunners and Chelsea. At times, he can be frustrating to watch, especially when he’s not scoring goals. Although, he comes up short, we know exactly what he is trying to do. But Keane is doing as well as, if not better than, anyone else. The fact is, we’re frustrated because we love to see him succeed. He entertains and plays with a passion second to none. He makes it clear with his teammates at Spurs that they are good enough to take on anybody. When Tottenham score, Keane is usually in the middle of the celebration talking to his players. It’s a sight we’d like to see more often.