Guardian: Keane blasts mediocre Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester United players
I wonder how much The Sun and the Guardian pay their writers to transform interviews into juicy bits of gossip and fabricated tosh presented as news? I love reading the Guardian, but there are times when they lose sight of reality and pander to advertising dollars.
Consider Roy Keane’s interview - where apparently he was asked about Ireland’s chances against Wales (Euro 2008 qualifier) and what he thought about Steve Staunton’s team selections. Granted, the questions are barbed - Keano has already blasted the FAI for not selecting Connolly or Miller - but the way Keano’s words have been twisted is fascinating.
Let’s look at the interview itself, shall we? Here’s what Roy Keane says:
“I’m sure Steve will say, ‘I’ll pick what I think is the best team’. If they qualify, then fair enough, you can say ‘I got it right’.
It’s your job as a manager. You’ve got to pick the right team, you’ve got to manage.
But if you keep picking the same players who aren’t performing all the time, that’s insanity. You’ll get the same results.”
Please note that he’s talking about STAUNTON, Ireland’s manager, not Eriksson or Steve McClaren 
Back to Keano though, and this is where it gets really interesting:
“We all know the players I’m talking about. There’s a fine line between loyalty and stupidity. A very fine line.
It will be like that against Wales. The four or five senior players have to step up to the plate. But they’ve been asked before. Look at some of our players at the bigger clubs. Robbie Keane is doing OK at Tottenham, John O’Shea is in and out at Manchester United, Duffer’s at Newcastle with Shay. But none of these players at this moment in time are setting the world alight. Also Steve Finnan at Liverpool.”
Here, Keano is likely to be attacked by violent Newcastle fans for dishonouring Shay Given (who really needs to move to a better-performing club - Arsenal?) and from enraged Liverpool fans pointing to Finnan’s excellent form this season.
But Keano is right - O’Shea is 25+ and hasn’t been able to hold down a regular first-team place at Manchester United. Robbie Keane is vice-captain at Tottenham but isn’t doing justice to his talents this season. Duff has been a hit and miss, popular at the start but not so much right now. He’s a quality player, but hasn’t had the same impact at Newcastle United as they might have expected.
Steve Finnan is having an excellent season for Liverpool, but when we’re talking about top right-backs in Europe, who do you name? Dani Alves? Zambrotta? Neville?
What will it take for Finnan to be in that list (apart from a throng of Liverpool supporters?)?
Keano is a bit unfair on Given (who has been splendid for Newcastle) and probably Finnan as well, but he’s spot on about the rest.
I wonder if Keano was referring to their performances for Ireland instead of their own clubs, but he’s right when he says that:
1) At their respective clubs, these players are not playing to the best of their ability (Finnan is hampered a bit by Rafa’s defensive tactics, while Given has no defence to play with, but both players can, and should, improve).
2) They haven’t done the job for Ireland, and repeating the experiment without changing the tactics, players or environment is truly insane (or a really painful way of doing things - Arsenal’s affinity for beautiful football, for example).
And that’s the bottom line - if the players aren’t doing the job, you find other players who can do it. And if you’ve got replacements waiting in the wings and you pigheadedly refuse to use them in the name of player loyalty…well, that’s stupid.
Keano wasn’t done though - some more choice comments:
“If you’re celebrating beating San Marino, then that worries me.”
That’s ok, there are teams celebrating 1-0 defeats (Liverpool) or celebrating wins against Andorra (England).
“Wales aren’t that great.”
So Ireland should win, hmmm?
I wonder how ‘different’ this rant would be if Keano was talking about England? Not much, I reckon. He’d bash Rooney, he’d bash the Lampard / Gerrard combo, he’d tear McClaren a new one…
Too bad he’s not English, eh? What a fantastic England manager he’d make though.
Hahaha, Arsenal? Beautiful Footballl? You got to be joking!
He needs to stop running his mouth. If he wants the Ireland job that badly then he should ask for it.
Steve Finnan does a great job at Liverpool but he is not world class and he seldom gets games for Ireland as Steve Carr is a better player (and he’s not world class either).
Chimbonda is best right back in the world, no-one can even argue that. Neville and Zambrotta have had there days, Alves is class going forward but not great at defending.
Zambrotta is the best and I very much hope Colin is not serious about Carr being better than Finnan who is performing to the best of his ability. And I’m a United fan
Who is the top rated right back in the EPL right now?
Finnan… ha ha ha oh yes he is! Check it out.
Keano doesn’t get it all right all the time. Although Finnan has been injured when time to play for Ireland, that should not be held against him.
To Yiddo
I’d like to argue against your comment about Chimbonda. He’s no where near the best right full back in the world. I could state a few arguments, but I’ll just let this one stand:
He plays for Tottenham!!
To Colin…..are you mad? Steve Finnan is FAR better then Carr! Carr was brilliant for Spurs prior to his injury, but has never been close to that level since his return. Carr is poor now, for both ireland and newsactle, i wouldn’t pick him over Finnan any day. (and i am a United supporter so there is certainly no Liverpool bias)
the ireland team should be: Given, Finnan, O’Shea, Dunne, McShane, Duff, McGeady, Carsley, Miller, Keane, Doyle.
tomas you are an arse, chimbo was voted number one by the premier league players last year and im sure will be again this year and thats on top of starting to play for a new club, oh and the only chance the republic has is if they have a team of Robbie Keanes and im afraid that if cloning was that advanced the top boffins would start and end with Berbatov! COYS
lol Chimbonda! He has been a shadow of the player he was at Wigan. Neville is the best int the prem, no ifs or buts about it! And finnan is better then Carr but dont let his baby face fool you, he is older the Heinze! i think Robbie Keane has had a decent season tho after displacing Defoe.
I see that Roy Keane has really set Sunderland on fire this season. Perhaps they will be promoted in a couple of Light years.
World-class to me means putting in a series of consistently impressive performances at the highest level, say the CL and/or International Level (in major tournaments).
How many Tottenham players fit in to this bracket?
For instance Rooney should be in on the strength of his 2004 Euro finals performances, Gerrard more for Champions League (esp 2005)….
Thanks AL for your fantastic reasoning behind what makes someone world class, how about Berbatov? played in champs league final and been the top striker in germany for two or three years (not to mention being Bulgaria’s top goalscorer) and how many champions league sides wouldnt want Lennon or King or Robinson, not many im betting so thanks but no thanks World Class means being able to play for some of the worlds top sides and id say we have atleast five that fit in to that bracket
Since when has RK’s opinions in football been important any way. Granted he was a decent footballer, albeit a disgraced one on international level. But as a manager he is a complete nobody.
Ahmed Bilal or whoever you are. Why compare Finnan to Neville, Alves or Zambrotta? They’re not Irish are they?. From the players who are available he clearly is one of the performing ones. Drop him once Alves decides to be Irish!
Rui Coster, asking how many champions league sides wouldn’t want Lennon or King or Robinson is like asking how many of us would like sh*t on our shoes!
The players you name are like most of Tottenham’s players have been over the centuries, second raters and wasters!
Robinson is the worst English goalkeeper I have ever known. He is overweight and slow. He is going to be replaced as soon as Ben Foster can grow a beard. He wouldn’t even get a contract at OT as we have three keepers that would be ahead of him.
King is another who thinks he has made it without achieving a thing. I say this because he flatters to deceive. He had loads of potential as a young player but has dropped off considerably since getting an England cap.
King would struggle to get ahead of any of the United defenders and has never shown the luck/aptitude to move to a midfield role like O’shea.
Lennon is fast heading down the same road, along with other wasters such as Defoe and Keane. Ronaldo is miles ahead of this guy and Jol has admitted that himself - after making his initial gaff in trying to compare the two.
The fact is that if Roy were asked to do a piece about Tottenham, he’d have an absolute field day - after he’d stopped laughing of course!
Mico, that is absolutely bullshit.
Why do people have to give dumber responses to dumb comments?
Ahmed, actually Mico is near enough right.
As a United fan I will talk about our team. Robinson will be at best 3rd choice (behind Van de Sar and Foster), King wouldn’t make our first team and IMO is no better then Brown whilst youngsters like Jonny Evans and Pique would mean there is no desire to have him in our team.
Disagree with Lennon though as I believe he has brilliant future, but is by no means World Class yet. I mean judging by Rui Costa’s comments Man Utd,Arsenal,Chelsea,Liverpool,Barca etc… have only World Class players which of course is not true.
The only player Tottenham can suggest is World Class is Berbatov, even though for me that would be based on only this seasons performances.
Even then I think the word is branded about far too often and in the Premiership, I would suggest only 20 players deserve the tag.
You know Ahmed, Peter is right, I am near enough right and that is why it is easy to do a slightly tongue in cheek response to nonsense such as Rui Coster perpetrated. I think Peter caught on to what I mean. It is exactly the point that too many people are too keen to place their idols on a ‘World Class’ pedestal. There are very few World Class players in the Universe and if you come across any of my comments on various forums you will catch on to this theme. Maybe then you can think again about who is dumb -or not.
Peter, you got the gist of things. I do feel Lennon is in danger of missing out though and I tend to think of our own Richardson when I contemplate him. He has had a couple of great games for club and country - and then nothing much really. A true world class player like Ronaldo, who Jol did compare Lennon to until he saw them on the same pitch, just keeps getting better and better. He takes over games, he takes over stadiums. That is class, true class and Lennon is suddenly not getting near that. Same as Defoe who was tipped for greatness and Man United, same as Robbie Keane who was the next world-beater when he was at Wolves don’t forget.
shay given at arsenal just because hes getting older doesnt mean that he is completely thick why would he want to go somwhere full of young misshaps that cant acheive anything tell me that
As opposed to staying with a club that achieves even less?
Mico,
RC’s statement that Tottenham have 4-5 world class players was a bit off, but only because he was probably using ‘world class’ in a different context than you are with your definition (and the fact that it was hopelessly biased).
Your reply, tongue-in-cheek or not, was worse because it took up an even worse logical basis (and the next comment has done nothing to change my view of it).
Robinson - would probably make United’s bench, if only on experience.
Lennon - I’m sure you’ve watched him closely this season. I know I have, and I can easily say that he’s come along nicely since the World Cup. He’s more responsible, has more self-confidence and his crossing is getting better. He can shoot, he has good ball skills and excellent pace.
I’d choose Lennon over Park and Richardson on the wings, so that makes Lennon a virtual first-teamer.
Robbie Keane - he’s in and out of the Tottenham team because of Jol’s propensity to switch his strike force. There’s a limit to how long you can play non-performing players but RK hasn’t gotten the same sort of confident support that Rooney has for Jol.
Is RK talented? Extremely. Would he make United’s squad? Probably, but he’d make it to the bench, and this season would have been rotated with Saha (who is not as good as people think he is).
Defoe - same as RK.
Berbatov - on this season’s performance, I’d put him in United’s first team.
King - I’d put him ahead of Brown (who is behind King in the international stakes, remember?) at United.
Not world class, no, none of them.
But fitting into top four sides? Yes, definitely.
Ahmed the only reason why King is ahead of brown is because we have 2 world class CB so doesn’t get 1st team football. If brown was at another club I am sure that wouldn’t be the case. I mean what makes you think King is better then Brown?