The invisible Robbie Keane

[Shaggy]

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.

[Rich]

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.

[red g]

its a worry, but i am sure he will come good. Class is permanent , form is temporary. there was one point yesterday where the pitch seemed to open up and he seemed to have so much time, got the ball under his feet and ****ed it.

I am Sure he will come good.

[ronniedrew]

its not having wingers that is the problem , it is unbelieavable that benny or kuyt NEVER go down the line, cut inside every time .in every attack we have 5 people drifting into the centre

keane , torres, benny, kuyt and gerrard all getting cramped

no space for any of them to operate in

it all makes us far too predictable and we resort to pumping balls up, keane is not going to win you too many of those, the only time we got a decent run down the wing and a cross in last night, we scored

[Elvoz]

its not having wingers that is the problem , it is unbelieavable that benny or kuyt NEVER go down the line, cut inside every time .in every attack we have 5 people drifting into the centre

keane , torres, benny, kuyt and gerrard all getting cramped

no space for any of them to operate in

it all makes us far too predictable and we resort to pumping balls up, keane is not going to win you too many of those, the only time we got a decent run down the wing and a cross in last night, we scored

is right

[Rich]

If we're judging players on last nights performance just how garbage was Torres first (and second) touch?

We are playing hopeless AND have maximum points and through to the Champions League. It can only get better and once Keane breaks his duck he'll settle down.

[Slim]

The whole team just hasn't got going this season at all, the passing seems off, the pace of attack is slow and we just look sluggish. I'm sure Keane will come good, but he seemed to struggle to even fit in last night and didn't seem to know where he was playing. I'm sure it will come with time and games, plus once we get Mascher back in the middle to break play up more and use his all action style to force the oppostion into lying deeper and making mistakes. Hopefully this will allow Keane to play more of his natural game.

Oh and Keane's first touch is awful at times, but then it was at Spurs too.

[Scratch]

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.

Possibly because we don't have mascher back in his role, and Alonso can't perform that role, so if we switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation, Alonso won't be able to provide the defensive cover to the two CB's whilst the FB's are bombing forwards?

If Mascher comes back into the team and we continue to play 4-4-2, then i'll start to worry more, but at the moment i think it's just temporary until our defensive monster is back.

[Tee]

As much as I do like Keane, I am shocked that we have spent 20m in this part of the team. Especially given how well Torres and Gerrard linked up last season and more so given our so obvious deficiencies down the flanks where this kind of money could have given us the quality player we so desperately need.

All that aside, Keane is far too good a player and will come good, of that I have no doubt.

[Helios Creed]

last night both Benayoun and Kuyt seemed to be playing in front of Robbie, who seemed to be playing alongside Xabi, ahead of Gerrard in midfield.

[dww]

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.

I think the problem is two fold - one Gerrard wants the same starting positions as Keane which pushes him further forward than he would want and secondly when there he looks to run into to similar positions to Torres. Neither of this factors are helped by the fact that Kuyt and Benayoun also come too narrow congesting the central area in behind Torres and limiting everyones options.

Briefly I thought we improved it at the start of this game by having Gerarrd behind Alonso and surging forward from deep. I suspect that both Gerarrd's natural style and his injury put pay to this as the game went on. I'm not a big fan of the Gerrard - Alonso central axis in general though.

I also dislike starting with Kuyt and Benayoun in a 4-4-2. When we get going they move into positions that are more akin to a 4-2-3-1 but in general both drop too deep and don't have the pace to break from their and both naturally come inside. To get the most from each other when one is in possession the other has to help spread the opposition the other side whereas both seem to drift across too far to the middle. I'd aim to start one or the other at most if we continue in this formation. Babel helps with the pace aspect but if anything is worse for cutting inside which is a problem though.

I'm hoping the the reintroduction of Mascher will allow us to free up some room in midfield by letting other players go further up pitch. As it is we play with a lack of depth as well as a lack of width. the fact we struggle to dominate when playing so compactly is no surprise at all.

I think if we open up more room for him to operate Keane will thrive and his ability with his back to goal will help knit the team together. However as it stands he has exacerbated existing weaknesses in the team/squad. Sometimes though you have to get worse to get better in the long run (and at least we are winning while doing the getting worse part).

[Imy]

Keane has been VERY poor in ALL the games he's been played in.

At times he can't pass to the nearest team mate never mind dribble or even SCORE!

He seems to be playing like Kuyt too, dropping deep and doing the donkey work and thus blunting his game, who's to blame? Rafa who sets up the team and gives each individual instructions or the players who are all want to play centrally and thus cause congestion, the same players who are all HOOFING the bloody ball as opposed to passing and MOVING!!

I also agree with others in the point of he has disrupted the teams shape, i would a 'natural' playmaker as opposed to a converted striker.

[Rashid]

If we wanted a player to play between the lines why didn't we go for Diego or Keane? Or keep Gerrard there and bought a world class winger? Baffling. I love Keane and I think he will do well, but like Barry - it wasn't a critical improvement area.

[el matador]

its not having wingers that is the problem , it is unbelieavable that benny or kuyt NEVER go down the line, cut inside every time .in every attack we have 5 people drifting into the centre

keane , torres, benny, kuyt and gerrard all getting cramped

no space for any of them to operate in

it all makes us far too predictable and we resort to pumping balls up, keane is not going to win you too many of those, the only time we got a decent run down the wing and a cross in last night, we scored

spot on. the space where he normally plays is takem up by our inside right and left. not his fault.

[Parm]

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