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Any Way back for Robbie?

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,346
129,922
No I don't actually? What is your point?

My point is someone has to put the ball in the net and they can only attempt to do that with the opposition they are put up against. So far this season Robbie has a very impressive goal scoring ratio, including 2 at Anfield (how many teams get 2 goals there, nevermind players). To hint that he is getting most of his goals in lesser games is, in my opinion, insulting to a professional footballer whose team is fighting on 4 fronts and whose fans are shelling out money for every game in every competition.
 

Gin+Tonic14

Member
Jul 27, 2005
287
0
No.

But you say 2 of the surprise packages, well when you look at it. Man City have been awful this season away from home and were missing one of their best players in Elano and Portsmouth have struggled to score goals this season at home and it is their away form that has put them up the table.

Looking closely at rather than a surface look at the teams we played show that the results ain't that surprising.

We've been rubbish home AND away all season , so two wins on the bounce against sides in the top 6 is a great achievement!!
 

nicdic

Official SC Padre
Admin
May 8, 2005
41,857
25,919
Why oh why oh why do so many supporters spend so much time on our strikers and who is better than who, we've one of the best strikeforces in the league and they score us goals.

Far more concerns in other areas of the side, thankfully I'm sure Ramos is acutely aware of that and I'd go as far as this to say I don't think our strikeforce will have him up all night in a cold sweat!!!!

Maybe people concentrate on strikers and goals as it's probably the easiest area to analyse.

My point is that maybe the strikeforce affects how the midfield and defence play.
 

Bingy

Active Member
May 26, 2004
1,991
22
There is NO earthly chance that we are in any way better without Robbie. He 'enlivens' the whole attack and JD canm do his 'stuff' later in the game....or whatever is needed. As has been pointed out already....our major frailty, this season, has been defensive and that is illustrated in our goals against figures. The Ramos touch may or may not be a factor in the last few weeks but it is certainly 'promising' so far. A clean sheet in the Scum Arena would be a welcome addition, however unlikely it may be, but.....nothing ventured, nothing lost. Put it this way, Mes Braves, we need to be taking 3 point after 3 point tallies, both HOME and AWAY, IF we are to 'crawl' back up the Table and recoup some kind of self belief. I, for one, am WISHING rather than BELIEVING. A good performance at the Arshell Stadium is a possibility but we are not yet able to DREAM about a brighter future....Maybe Sunday morning during the MOTD rerun will be change in our notrmal routine! COYS!
 

Bill_Oddie

Everything in Moderation
Staff
Feb 1, 2005
19,120
6,003
Technically, I could ban everyone to have posted in this thread. And there isn't a judge in the land who would fault me for doing so. Lucky for you, I'm bone idle.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,346
129,922
Technically, I could ban everyone to have posted in this thread. And there isn't a judge in the land who would fault me for doing so. Lucky for you, I'm bone idle.

Just ban nicdic then. Not forever, just til Keano retires :up:
 

fozzi44

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
1,435
37
i despair. Is this thread for real, jeezuz are people really this stupid. :eek:mg:

Yeah sure we are better off without our top goal scorer, clearly he is the reason why we were playing so badly. :roll:
 

stevenqoz

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
2,776
553
JD will be given a game against Citeh instead of Bent. I think Huddlestone will come in for Boateng if only because the latter will struggle to play 2 games in 3 days. Keane will be beack against Arsenal unless JD gets a hattrick at Citeh:-|
 

N10toN17

New Member
Jan 22, 2007
1,288
1
My point is that maybe the strikeforce affects how the midfield and defence play.

Yep Nic that is a good point, but in a team sport they all affect one another and it's just as easy to state that the defence affects how the strikers and midfield play?

My point is simply that of the three main areas of a football team, the strikeforce we currently have is IMO a top four or top four challenging group, can the same be honestly said of our defenders and midfielders?

So why so much more debate on our strongest area and relatively less debate on our weaker areas?

For me our strikers are very good, they all offer something different and depending how Ramos wants to play any of them can do a job, I just don't understand why more spurs supporters can't accept we have a great quartet, it's like people need to have someone to dislike for the sake of it.
 

DC_Boy

New Member
May 20, 2005
17,608
5
good points N10 - the strikers are not the problem - I make it 47 goals in 25 games so far - tremendous stuff

last year we topped 100 - we can do likewise this year too

all the strikers are chipping in with goals and in Berbs case particularly a lot of assists too

As long as Berbs starts tomorrow I don't mind which of JD/DB partners him
 

N10toN17

New Member
Jan 22, 2007
1,288
1
good points N10 - the strikers are not the problem - I make it 47 goals in 25 games so far - tremendous stuff

last year we topped 100 - we can do likewise this year too

all the strikers are chipping in with goals and in Berbs case particularly a lot of assists too

As long as Berbs starts tomorrow I don't mind which of JD/DB partners him

Hi DC, nearly two goals per game average, that's top notch in any currency.
 

Flatters

Racist Troll
May 4, 2005
27,001
50
If we had two goalkeepers in our squad who were by far our two best players, we wouldn't play them both. Think about that.
 

WhiteHart4Ever

Well-Known Member
Feb 18, 2004
1,429
321
Most people on here seem to believe that you cant criticize someone who scores goals. You can. Keano is a very good player who has had a very good season and deserves to be the first player in the starting eleven together with Malbranque.

However, when we have played badly Keano AND Berba have deen dropping deep, spending too much time with the ball, had too little movement. Now, that is very difficult for our midfield to deal with.

Berba is a more talented footballer than Keano, and he has on occasions seemed to be better off with Defoe and Bent who knows where their place is - looking for space beyond the back four. The most important thing to get from this is that IF berba and Keano should play together, BOTH cannot drop deep. And, even though they are the two best attackers, it might not be the best choice for the team to play them together.

Personally, I belive they are the best pairing, but I understand very well why the questions are raised..
 

TommyW

Well-Known Member
Jan 22, 2005
564
947
I think we've looked pretty short on ideas going forward since Robbie's suspension. The sooner hes back in the team, the better.

Also, do you honestly think Berbatov and Keane would drop deep continually on their own accord? If they were doing it against instruction game after game, they'd have been dropped long ago! If Keane is told to play up top, he plays up top (see Liverpool, Fulham etc)
 

Chuba

SC founder member gone bad, i love u all
Sep 21, 2003
5,916
2
I blame these recent good results on Zokora... and a goat of course
 

The Apprentice

Charles Big Potatoes
Mar 10, 2005
11,143
15,618
This is all a bit one sided.

I think Keane is the most over rated player to have lived. Still better than barn door Bent mind you.
 

talkshowhost86

Mod-Moose
Staff
Oct 2, 2004
48,105
47,061
Who would have thunk it?!

Two weeks ago we were all in shock as Robbie received a very harsh red card, and then saw his appeal turned down. Many of us thought this was awful news, our top scorer to miss 3 games, games which we must win. A few members voiced an opinion that maybe the team would be more balanced without Keane, and suffered an onslaught from the pro-Keane gang.

Two games into Robbie's absence, and we have 6 points. Our first away win in the league, and he first time we have won consecutive league games since early May, and against two of the surprise packages of the season so far.

So I pose the question, are we infact more balanced without Keane in the side?

No. Our victories have been much more down to the midfield sorting themselves out defensively and the back 5 looking a bit more solid.

As I'm sure has been said already in this thread we've actually looked less dangerous going forwards in the last two games but have done well to take our chances when they've come.

The problems before were never in our attack, and I don't think you can say that Keane being in the team has any influence on our defence, so I don't really understand how you can say we've won because he wasn't in the team.

He'll be back for Saturday and I fancy him to get a goal.
 

themanwhofellasleep

z-list internet celebrity
Dec 14, 2006
690
0
To reiterate: our problem this season has been very simple - we have let in far too many goals. Looking at the games in which we've let in loads of goals, can anyone find a single instance in which Keane is in anyway to blame? Has he ever lost possession that has resulted in the opposition scoring? Has he dropped so deep that Jenas and Zokora are confused as to what to do with the ball and end up giving it away?

If you look at the last game we lost (Birmingham) you'd see Dimitar Berbatov losing the ball just outside our area, at which point Sebastian Larsson walloped it past Robbo and we lost. It was clumsy by Berbatov, but I don't see anyone claiming that we lost the game solely because of him.

We score loads of goals. We also let in loads of goals. We need to sort out our defence and midfield, rather than worrying whether our top goalscorer is causing us to lose games.
 
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