His reputation with fans.
Keep seeing his name being associated with how we should have given him more time, that Rafa was misusing him, etc. He was just rubbish.
There was a number of reasons. Him being rubbish was 1 part, as were Rafa misusing him, but ultimately it was more to do with the fact that he wasnt Rafa’s signing, but a board signing and Rafa was told it was Robbie or noone.
If memory serves me correct, Rafa had actually lined up David Villa, but Rick Parry pulled the plug on the deal at the last minute, then decided to sign Robbie instead but told Rafa that it was Villa who had pulled the plug which left Rafa with a player he had no plan or interest in using.
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Didn’t Parry have a major falling out with Rafa?
@Maria I believe he did due to Parry siding with Staddler and Waldorf during the power struggle that season.
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He was just starting to perform better and get a few goals before that January. Don’t let us remind the players and combinations we had to play when Torres wasn’t available for some minutes or games. Rafa’s theory was that it’s better to take a certain loss in January than an even bigger loss the following summer. I felt back then and still do now that it was probably better to keep him, we were in a title race.
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Oh yes, i remember now.
I also found out, some players couldn’t connect with Rafa, he was abit of cold manager in the dressing room, but most of the fans loved him, he bonded well with the fans.
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Rafa wanted Gareth Barry and Rick Parry wanted Keane.Rafa agreed to his signing but when he didn’t get Barry, Rafa went cold on the idea of Keane and didn’t use him well.He had a similar record as Crouch who had just left but Crouch was Rafas buy and was given plenty of time to settle,taking months to score his first goal.Had it been a different manager,Keane may well have been a success with us.
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Crouch offered far more than goals though. Had Keane been able to match Crouch’s value in the build up play his weak goal scoring might have been accommodated, but he played in a way that was borderline manic and actually caused us trouble.
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Yeah, Crouch was more useful than Keane. Crouch was not only about goals, even if he did my head in sometimes (especially off the bench in Athens) with his stupid offensive fouls, climbing with his hands on opponents. Keane on paper was an okay move, but like he said, we just didn’t see him enough playing second striker alongside or slightly behind Torres. Alonso remained, we had Mascherano, Stevie was the main man. But still, Keane would’ve been very useful in the type of game we lost at Middlesbrough, just days after beating Real away. We had a weird team like Skrtel at RB (getting torn apart by Downing), people like El Zhar starting, etc.
Just keep him for 6 more months if we don’t have enough strength in depth and the guy is actually catching a bit form. It’s not like our season was over when Keane left. That’s when clubs can already make certain moves in January as half-preparation for the following summer/season. But we were still in 3 of the most important competitions and with one of the best chances to win the league in a long time.
Hi Everyone,
Sadio here. My mate Craig has kindly allowed me to use his account to post this.
Wtaf?!
You’re all discussing a couple of blokes I’ve never heard of in my ex-players thread. After all I did for LFC! Have some fookin respect or I’ll be around to give someone a spanking (see uk politics thread).
Ok, I’m off to build another hospital, but consider yourselves warned. I may be a charitable philanthropist and football genius, but don’t take the piss!
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How did Rafa misuse a player who was just incapable of understanding his instructions?
His goals were pretty much spread out throughout his entire time here.
He scored 5 goals, but in only 3 of his 19 league games.
This here is exactly what I mean. There’s this obsession with a player who simply wasn’t that good.
He’d still be absolutely useless to us in a title race. As it turns out in any case, he was irrelevant.
Just to recap. He left us in February. In the 14 league games we played after he left, we dropped 7 points, two of which came in the manic 4-4 against Arsenal.
What contribution exactly was he supposed to have made that would have improved us? The damage was done long before that, precisely when he was supposed to have made the difference.
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Keane was at his best playing as a 2nd striker but Rafa would play him as a lone striker or out wide more often than playing him in a role he was more effective in
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We saw loads of that. He was just pathetic at it. He played essentially almost all the time, including with Torres except when the latter was injured.
With that team, why on earth would Keane have made a difference? I can imagine that being the case if we drew 0-0, but we lost 2-0. That doesn’t speak to me like the difference a striker would make.
He was never good with us, but he was most effective in the games where he was playing instead of Torres. I dont know how many games the 3 of them had together, but my recollection was Keane just couldnt figure out where to be and constantly trying to play in the spaces Gerrard was most effective in for that side. But there were at least a couple of occasions early on in that season where he played up top when Torres was rested/not available and at least scored the goals that got us wins. That Boro game in Feb is the obvious case for where that option was missed and potentially cost us (a front line of Kuyt, Babel and El Zhar).
My recollection was that Rafa was looking for someone who could score goals from the wide attacking roles, mostly on the left. I think Keane had been earmarked as being able to do that while also being an alternative to the fragile Torres, but he just couldnt get the role done.
No obsession at all, just that he was starting to perform better just before he left. And his quality and experience could’ve been useful for us, in a season when we were often on the edge with strength in depth (Torres already had certain issues), while still alive in 3 competitions. As for him maybe being a misfit for us, that is also down to us, not only the player. I’ve seen worse individuals get multiple years here. I’m not overrating Keane if I feel it was a wrong decision to let him go (and not get anyone else in) in January. If he was that bad, he wouldn’t have even played the amount he did. Rafa made the calculation argument that it’s better to accept a minimal loss straight away, than sell him for a bigger loss the following summer. It’s fair, I didn’t agree and nobody knows what would’ve happened.
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I must be hallucinating then.
Looking at the forwards for the games he did play, according to Transfermarkt:
Sunderland away: Benayoun - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
Middlesbrough home: Benayoun - Keane - Torres - Kuyt (he scored in this one)
Villa away: (4-5-1) Keane - Torres - Kuyt
United at home: Riera - Keane - Kuyt - Benayoun
Stoke at home: Riera - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
Everton away: Riera - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
City away: came on as a substitute, Riera - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
Wigan at home: Riera - Keane - Kuyt - Pennant
Chelsea away: Keane lone striker (Torres injured)
Portsmouth home: came on as a substitute, Riera, Keane, Kuyt, Benayoun
Spurs away: Keane lone striker (Torres injured)
West Brom home: Riera - Keane - Kuyt - Benayoun
Bolton away: Keane lone striker (Torres came on later for him)
Fulham home: Riera - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
West Ham home: Riera - Keane - Kuyt - Benayoun
Arsenal away: Keane lone striker (Torres injured)
Bolton home: Riera - Keane - Kuyt - Benayoun
Everton home: Riera - Keane - Torres - Kuyt
Wigan away: came on as a substitute, not sure what shape we were in by then
I count once he played wide, and 4 times he played as a lone striker, 2 of his 5 goals coming then.
Maybe the lesson is he should have been played as a lone striker?
Yet none of those issues ever came to pass. We did not miss him at all.
That too was my recollection, but I’m struggling to see how he would have made the difference on a day we lost 2-0, in a Rafa team that conceded just 27 league goals that season.
Wasn’t that Babel?
Yes, but Rafa was never really sold on him, hence buying Riera that summer as well, someone who was quite good for the structure, but a pretty blunt object in terms of providing goals.
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