Not going to go into the liverpool/rafa stuff in here but for ireland he is a legend. 51 goals for ireland is unreal, his commitment in turning up for squads is great he is proud to represent his country and always tries his best, unfortunately his face will never fit with some and he will always be derided for throwing his arms or missing a sitter, but for me he is probably our greatest ever player and we are blessed to have him. Who will ever score the amount of goals for ireland he has???? He is now 13th in the all time list of highest european scorers. The likes of stokes could learn a thing or two from robbies attitude. Robbie fair play to you son
He might not be our greatest ever but he is certainly up there.Where would we be without him? 51 goals at international level is some achievement.That's almost a goal every other game.
Is he our greatest ever player? Idunno... He's been our greatest striker, so that alone puts him in the top few who have donned the Irish shirt. One things for certain, we'd be fooked wthout him. Has ben an absolute legend for Ireland, and a top pro for any budding young striker to model themselves on. Love his enthusiasm for the game, and always, always gives 100%. His time at LFC should not taint what has been a great career for Keane. Well done lad - your now part of an elite group of Euro-National-Strikers.
Wouldnt necessarily agree that he was our greatest ever player. Best forward for sure but there have been many who could stake a claim to that crown including McGrath, Roy Keane (if you can forgive Saipan), Brady, Giles. Would be on my all time Irish 11 though.
All outstanding players mate, loved them all, mcgrath was one of my idols growing up and i always loved roy keane for ireland but nobody has come close to having the impact for ireland that robbie has Mcgrath was outstanding for us, keane was outstanding for us but in his own words "didnt do friendlies" If we were playing burkini faso in the artic circle robbie would be there playing for ireland, he is still the kid in the playground dreaming of playing for ireland imo
A bit of sense at last. Jesus, he wouldnt even make irelands top 4 if you ask me. Liam Brady was an infinitely better player. Shay Given is better and he's in the same team ffs.
Look everyone is going to have different opinions on Robbie, but no matter what, the man has a great attitude, loves to play, and has scored a staggering 51 goals SO FAR in his career. He is a true Irish footballing living legend.
Your words, not mine mate. I said Given has been a better player. And he has. If you want to measure "impact" then its not something i can prove via a post, if we're comparing a goal-keeper versus a forward. People will always remember the goals a forward scores. What a keeper does seldom gets the same credit. I bet you can recall your favourite 5 goals Robbie scored for ireland. But you'd struggle to instantly recall the most important 5 saves Given made. That doesnt mean Given hasnt been a better player. its just the nature of his position. If you compare this to music. Louis Walsh has had more impact on irish music than U2 ever did. But impact isnt talent. I wish aldridge had been around when we were playing Andorra, Georgia, etc when he was in his prime. But he wasnt. Robbies record for the irish is beyond question. But that doesnt mean he's our best player. Can you really stand there and say Robbie is a better player than Aldridge, Roy Keane, Liam Brady, Mark Lawrenson etc? Its insane. But each to their own.
Given has been outstanding mate, his double save against iran prob got us to the world cup in 02 as much as robbies 2nd goal!! In international football roy keane will always be tainted by saipan and also not playing friendlies, mcgrath was outstanding as was brady who didnt get to play at a world cup coz of retiring over a stupid feud with charton and not played at euro 88 coz of indiscipline, Lawrenson was good but not on the same planet as the others you mentioned Robbie like given like duffer turns up no matter what game no matter where and does his best. How many international managers would love a striker like him right now???
Much better player than Aldo, no question. Back when Aldo played for us, the minnows were minnows in every sense of the word - you cannot say the same for teams today who are "supposed" minnows. Aldo scored 19 goals in 69 appearances for Ireland, and didn't get his first until his 14th cap v Tunisia. I'd also consider The Irish team of Aldo's era infinitely better than the teams Robbie Keane has played in for the most part. There's no denying the likes of Brady, Giles, McGrath have been marvelous players for us, I don't think anyone would argue the point. But greatness is measured in much more areas than skill, or goals... As I sad earlier, Keane has been/is the greatest Irish Striker of all time.... And for the Irish he has been a great finisher.
And thats a very good post. Wouldnt argue with a word of it. But what exactly is your point? Not being funny. But I'd agree with every word, so why are we debating Robbie keane being irelands best ever player?
Point is mate I reckon that for various reasons i.e. commitment, ability, record etc robbie can stand head above the rest of them when it comes to ireland performances. IMO he seems to get stick for turning up and performing in the pointless freindlies that others wouldnt turn up for and its a stick to beat him with .i.e. ah sure its only finland
Damien, i read the rest of your post mate. But this bit floored me. Robbie keane better than Aldridge? Jaysus man. Thats a stunning comment. If you go back to Captain Morgans post earlier, he mentioned "impact". If you measure the "impact" of both players purely based on their irish record, then Robbie obviously ticks the boxes. But to actually say Robbie Keane was a better player than John Aldridge. Man I'm fookin amazed anyone could think that. That just couldnt be any more inaccurate if you tried. No offence, but i'd say the likes of King kenny would be laughing at a claim like that.
Just looking at a few stats... Keane is now the 12th highest National team goalscorer of all time. He is 36th on the list of goals to games ratio, of all time. Someone quantify "greatest" please... as in greatest player to play for the Republic... Just for the record, I don't think Robbie has been Irelands greatest of all time, but he's would be in most peoples top 10 or above, easily.
I made that comment purely in the context of playing in the green m8. I was hoping you didn't read that the way you did!