Robbie Keane Needs to Loosen Up

Robbie Keane struck quite the forlorn figure as he sauntered off the pitch with 20 minutes to go in Sofia last Saturday evening. As soon as his number went up the speculation was rife that he was unhappy that Trap would dare to take him off and that there was some kind of rift developing between the two. The decision was also heralded as a sign of Trap's strength and power over the squad that he could afford to substitute Keane without having a full blown mutiny on his hands as Brian Kerr did the last time Robbie was substituted at this level.

That decision arguably cost Kerr is job although he probably would have been fired anyway. That day we needed a goal against the Swiss at home to qualify for the World Cup and Kerr made the fatal error of deciding that Gary Doherty represented a better prospect of getting us a goal than our record goal scorer. Although it should be added in mitigation that Keane was in and out of the Spurs team at the time and he didn't look at all fit.

Against Bulgaria, I can only imagine that Trap read the situation the same as anyone else who was watching. Keane just wasn't doing enough to justify keeping him on the pitch. Ireland were battered by the Bulgarians in the second with no respite coming when we did manage a clearance because our strikers get on the ball.

Keane was virtually anonymous against Bulgaria but it would be unfair to judge him in such a difficult defensive game at the end of a very long season for him and one which I'm sure for the most part, he will be glad to see the back of.

His posturing upon being substituted or when sitting on the bench is not the kind of thing that will endear him to his managers and I doubt it would be tolerated if he wasn't such an important player as Rafa so ruthlessly proved when getting rid of the headache it was causing him by simply selling Keane back to Spurs. That is part of the deal with Robbie though. He likes to be the big fish regardless of the size of the pond. That is probably why he is such a hit for Spurs and with Ireland but despite his class couldn't quite hack it at Inter or Liverpool. Robbie likes to do things like keeping Coventry in the Premiership or rescuing Ireland from defeat singlehandedly.

Overall he is still having an excellent qualifying campaign. He has scored incredibly important goals when we needed them the most in particular the two against Georgia and the equaliser in Bari. They might not have been the most spectacular goals he'll ever score but Robbie is the only player in the current Irish squad with the nous and the quality to have scored them. Being in the right place at the right time is an ability in itself.

The problem is that Robbie doesn't seem to get involved in general play as he once did. I'm thinking about his performance against Argentina in his Ireland debut as a 17 year old. Everyone came to watch Ariel Ortega (whoever he is) and came away talking about Robbie Keane. Robbie had only played a few games for Wolves in the First Division at the time but he looked by far the best player on the pitch. He was full of tricks and energy, constantly looking to get on the ball and never afraid to take players on.

They'll say he is more mature now and he doesn't give the ball away as much as he used to. Apparently that's a key component to surviving in the Premier League. Not being too clever in possession, holding on the ball and waiting for a chance to present itself. It could be said that Robbie is a much more disciplined player now too. He holds his position rather than taking chances. Unfortunately it all has the effect of looking like he's either not getting involved or he's not that interested. He certainly doesn't play for Ireland with the same freedom that he so often displayed for Spurs under Martin Jol.

His performances for Ireland have been criticised but only because we all know he is capable of so much more in a green shirt. We saw it in the 2002 World Cup and we've seen him do it for Spurs. I think Robbie needs to take a chance and risk making mistakes or incurring Trappatoni's wrath than playing the percentages and hoping the chances will come to him because that's just not what Robbie Keane is about. Or at least, it wasn't always that way.