The invisible Robbie Keane

[bobbyfallon]

he will come good and get 20+ goals for us this season...

think he is probably in awe at the min and you can see he is trying to hard..

leige should be commended for the fight and determination they showed last night, they gave us no time on the ball and there was **** all space for keane or torres.

like anyone trying to settle down the first one becomes important - he will get it on sunday

[ntto]

I was worried about the signing from the start.

A good friend of mine who is a spurs fan laughed when we bought him for that amount of money. Said Berbatov made him and without Berbatov dropping deep and allowing Keane to lead the line then he was useless in the spurs team.

The most worrying thing he said though, was remember three seasons ago before Berbatov came to spurs, Keane was third choice for spurs behind Mido and Defoe. Worrying.

[Fubar]

i agree with everything that has been said on here but a bit of perspective wouldnt go amiss with some. i honestly dont think we could play any worse than we have for the first 3 games and we have won all 3. the team dont seem to ever have met one another but that will change. the potentail to go back to 4-2-3-1 may still work but that would mean that keane is playing in a position that he isnt used to which is a bit silly for a £20million player. we know he has the ability to link well with class players so keeping him up the pitch will benefit everyone

we have soe tremendous players now and i dont see the problem in gong for

-----------------------------torres----------------------

-------------gerrard----------------------keane---------

?????-----------------------------------------------babel

-------------------alonso----------mascher-------------

-------skittles-----------carra-----------agger---------

-----------------------------pepe----------------------

this would allow gerrad and keane to both be up supporting torres whilst alonso could join the attack with mascher covering. everyone goes on about alonso having 2 poor seasons in comparison to when he arrived. am i the only one who sees the difference in the position he is playing and the effect it has on him. when he arrived, gerrard was still playing the box to box midfielder but with an emphasis on defending. this always allowed alonso to push forward and he was able to dictate the play from further up the field and pick the passes that we all became used to. since gerrard has emeged as one of worlds best attacking miidfielders, the responsibility fell to alonso to become the defensive midfielder. this is something that he adapted to but obviously it was going to take time. i might be wrong but last season i think alonso had the most tackles and the most passes in the team.

by switching to alonso and mascher in the middle, we have the tenacity that is needed from both players and also the passing ability. it would also allow all of the front players to switch positions which, assuming that they have game intelligence would mean that players cutting inside could be compenstaed by others filling their positions.

anyhow. just an idea rafa incase you are reading this

[billy_mac]

Early days I know, but why aren't we seeing Keane involved in the play? He's trying too hard - I think that much is obvious - but his form is a slight concern. He's barely contributing at all.

I think he's had one shot in three games (a scuffed effort at Sunderland?).

IMO the change back to 4-4-2 is hindering us badly. Can Keane fit into a 4-2-3-1? Personally I think he lacks that little bit of ingenuity required to play in the hole. He's never been a Sheringham/Beardsley sort.

He's a notoriously slow starter in terms of goals, yes, but I've seldom seen him so invisible in general play.

You mustn't have been watching him play for Ireland over the last few years. Ever since he's got the arm band and the weight of expectation he's been struggling. Its all to do with dropping deep coming looking for the ball. He puts pressure on himself to perform as he feels he has to be the focal point for everything and he gets lost. The exact same is happening with us. Kyut ( or as the Stephen Alkin on RTE said last night in commentry, CUNT!!) plays with a lot of heart but also with a certain amount of freedom, in that he doesn't mind losing the ball 80 times a match. Robbie is trying to make everything perfect and a stray pass is killing him inside, so rather than make a mistake he goes missing. He ran 70 yards to cover Aurellio at left back last night showing great heart. Then when in position he didn't make the tackle in case he missed it and stood his ground for Aurellio to make the tackle. He is playing with his idols, he just needs time to settle in to realise he is as good as what is around him. The same thing happened when he went to Inter. Robbie is a very modest fella, he doesn't realise he is as good as he is.

A lot of what is wrong with Robbie at the moment is pyscological, but Rafa isn't helping with the way the team is playing. Robbie's best work is done up front playing off the shoulder off the defenders and linking with a big striker, as was the case when he scored goals for fun with Niall Quinn, Viduka and in later times Berbatov. The potential is there with Torres, some great link play in the Boro game. The key to unlocking Robbies potential as many have said is width. If the ball is going down the wings, Robbie won't drop deep looking to pick it up off the CB or holding midfielders and becoming invisable.

You think he's lost now, wait until you seem him out wide when Rafa decides its time for 4-2-3-1.

[Angry Dan]

I think the Villa game is Keanes chance to show what he can do.

With SG out and JM back I hope we see the return of the 4-2-3-1 formation with Keane taking SGs position from last year. The pressure should be off now as well we are playing away he has played in all games so far and having watched the Villa defence in their first 2 league games their defence looks shaky.

[Paul12]

Keane has been very poor. What gets me is not that he hasn't done anything when he gets the ball; it is how rarely he actually gets it. That must mean he is not making the runs or getting into good positions. It seems to me that we are in effect playing with 10 men.

I think another issue is that Liverpool strikers often have to play against a team set up solely to avoid letting in goals. That is different from the defences that most strikers (including Keane) play against for most of his career. Some can hack it, and some cannot.

I agree it is early days. If I was Rafa, I would be trying to find a way of easing him in more gently - which means playing him less or maybe not playing him from the beginning - without damaging his confidence.

[Vermilion]

I do agree with you, but i think quite a lot of the boys are invisible at the moment. Still its early days, we're winning by playing crap we can only get better

Is the biggest issue.

[Darkon]

I think a lot of over-analyzing is being done here...

Keane has been no better than the rest of the team. You can't expect him to perform when the rest of the team is under-performing (GK and CD not included) - simple as in my book.

When the team finds itself again, and starts to perform, so will Keane. He will come good for us, and score around 20 goals.

[Exiled_red]

The whole balance of the team is wrong and worrying at the moment plus, as you say, he's trying too hard.

It's curious why we haven't continued with the 4231 formation when generally it worked so damn well last year.

Torres
Babel - Gerrard - Keane

Looks to be the way forward for me.

I think if we play the 4-2-3-1 system Keane would have to play in the middle with Gerrard on the right, as I don't think Keane can play the wide role

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Its strange really that it seems all of us on here can see it but Rafa either can't or doesn't want to admit it. Hope he gets it right before it's too late this year.

[RPAS]

If we are going to play 4-4-2 then we need wingers; not Kuyt; not Benny; not Babel. Sqaure pegs in round holes. When are we going to just go out and buy a decent touchline hugging player(s) that will spread out the defence and make space for the front 2 and Gerrard. Its no secret why we keep on drawing at Anfield. We are so easy to defend against; we are so narrow its untrue. All play is condensed and away teams just block this area. We would see more of the real Xabi if he's given people to hit in space; not this "eye of a needle" job. The play is so tight that any miscontrol by a player and the move is gone (not to the extent of Kuyts rubbish last night obviously). I fear for us this season. Not as a result of last night but because of the unbalance in the team and the squad in general. We are going to struggle against any team that wants to defend first and attack second i.e. most teams that come to Anfield. If we had the play spread players like Gerrard, Alonso, Keane & Torres would have the space to play & be creative at the moment its like we're playing on a pitch 30 yards wide.

[Fubar]

If we are going to play 4-4-2 then we need wingers; not Kuyt; not Benny; not Babel. Sqaure pegs in round holes. When are we going to just go out and buy a decent touchline hugging player(s) that will spread out the defence and make space for the front 2 and Gerrard. Its no secret why we keep on drawing at Anfield. We are so easy to defend against; we are so narrow its untrue. All play is condensed and away teams just block this area. We would see more of the real Xabi if he's given people to hit in space; not this "eye of a needle" job. The play is so tight that any miscontrol by a player and the move is gone (not to the extent of Kuyts rubbish last night obviously). I fear for us this season. Not as a result of last night but because of the unbalance in the team and the squad in general. We are going to struggle against any team that wants to defend first and attack second i.e. most teams that come to Anfield. If we had the play spread players like Gerrard, Alonso, Keane & Torres would have the space to play & be creative at the moment its like we're playing on a pitch 30 yards wide.

well said. Who?

[Sarb]

I said this thing about not having the players to play 4-4-2 a few weeks ago and was shot down about it. WE've got away with it so far, we won't do for long. We've got massive problems in the wide areas and it will cost us the title without a doubt. Kuyt and Yossi aren't wingers and never will be

[Guest]

We've got our full array of whingers here. Could we substitute it with wingers ? Rafa would be allowed to work with them and improve the team.

[barnes10]

i think this whole wingers lark is nonsense. if rafa wanted us to hit the byline and swing in crosses then he'd have had kuyt, benni, babel, el zhar all training for that like nut jobs. if he wanted us to pin them back out wide he'd do the same and position wide men for that. but he doesnt want that.

he wants the fullbacks to overlap, we need a steady left midfielder to allow for dossena to overlap and we need a flying right back to give balance. degen was earmarked for this but it looks as tho its not going to happen for a while at least. until then, our balance and attacking width is in no-mans land. we either tell kuyt and babel to hit the byline, and they will and can do it - kuyt did it last night on 2 occasions and babel has the pace (but not the left peg) to do it all day long.

we're waiting for flying fullbacks im afraid before we're gonna click.