Did Robbie Keane get a fair crack of the whip?

[shanks59]

Indubitably, he gets a medal if we win the league, that says it all .. :whistle:

[The 5th Benitel]

No far worse players have been given more chance to prove themselves than he was. Plus, the players used instead of him are definately of a lower standard.

[Guest ian garro]

well, this is the reasoning behind my 'yes' response.

 

He played a good number of games. People seem to have said different things at different times about him not being used in his best position, and this seemed to change dependant upon where he was playing at the time. He has played as a second stiker and looked very poor, he has played as a lone striker and looked very poor. He has scored a fraction of the goals he should have scored (easy, open goals missed) and has proven time and again to be of no actual use to us on the field.

 

To run around into the wrong spaces continually for 65-70 minutes, and entirely miss the ball in front of goal, and then to shake his head and mutter to himself as if he is on a hat trick when he is pulled, showed enough for me.

 

He has been a flop, honeymoon period or not, and mistreatment lately or not, but there is no doubt he should be bombed out, and if he was someone from la liga that we hadnt heard of before (or a Serie A left back) this would be applauded.

 

I wish him well, but i'll be pleased to see the back of him, personally.

 

I think that exactly my position on it. The derby 'performance' from him the other week was the last straw for me. He was beyond shambolic.

 

Then had the cheek to go nuts when he got subbed.

[Royal Family]

I voted yes on the grounds that (i) I didn't want him anyway and (ii) As far as I'm concerned, a player who instructed his agent to sound out Redknapp within days of his appointment can get out of my club at the first opportunity. That's back in early NOVEMBER. It's all too similar to his Inter Milan days - he just couldn't cope with the pressure of being at a top club where he was a small fish. Keane is a quitter, I'm afraid, and clearly needs to be secure in a comfort zone.

 

I'm far from an apologist for Rafa, but I feel that Keane has been treated as his behaviour and his performances deserve. I'm sorry if that offends many of the "Oirish fanclub" in here, but I can think of players who have been treated with far more contempt than keane - notably Cisse in the summer of 2005, and Crouch last year. At least those two gave a damn about the club.

[stringvest]

Deal done now.

[2pak]

funny thing is you could probably change the vote subject to

" do u trust Rafa to make the right transfer decision if given full authority"

and you would get near same results. what it comes down to IMO.

[2pak]

I (ii) As far as I'm concerned, a player who instructed his agent to sound out Redknapp within days of his appointment can get out of my club at the first opportunity. That's back in early NOVEMBER.

 

is this fact?

[Royal Family]

is this fact?

 

Yep. You can check out my posts on the forum back in November, and the subsequent debate with Dave U over whether Tony Stephens was still working for him!

[FortressAnfield]

I think this is nothing short of disgraceful to be honest, and totally against the Liverpool way, but God knows we've lost that in recent times.

 

Le Tallec, Sinama Pongolle, Biscan, Morientes, Mauricio fucking Pellegrino, Dudek, Kirkland, Josemi, Nunez, Pennant, Bellamy... To think that all this tosh got more of a chance to prove their worth than Keane is appalling. I really feel sorry for the lad, he must've been in dreamland back in July.

 

Really can't understand some of Rafa's decisions lately. I think he's been going through some kind of mid-life crisis lately.

 

That's what I've been thinking over the last day or so - the Liverpool Way is NOT to behave in this contemptible way. This leaves a really nasty taste in the mouth.

 

I Rafa is having a mid-life crisis, then I don't want him having it at our club.

[Drewas]

funny thing is you could probably change the vote subject to

" do u trust Rafa to make the right transfer decision if given full authority"

and you would get near same results. what it comes down to IMO.

 

So do we think Rafa or Parry authorised this sale?

[Chinandeler Bong]

Old news now. Move on.

 

We beat fuckin Chelsea yesterday Im still high on that .

 

Roll on Everton

[Seamus]

Just to explain my YES vote: Unfortunately for Keane his age, previous goal scoring record, substantial transfer fee and general pressure for us to challenge for the title meant he had to provide a hefty contribution pretty much from day one. Its not an ideal situation in fact its harsh as fuck but thats the way it is these days, instant results are the name of the game. To be brutally honest, as bizarre as it sounds, I think he's lucky Rafa treated him how he did in recent weeks because he aint going to go down as a over priced flop now -more a political pawn used and abused.

 

The reality is in 20(ish) league appearances he scored in three of em (albeit a couple of braces in there) which aint good enough. Sad and embarassing state of affairs for all concerned but at least we've got most of the money back, keane survives with his reputation intact and its an end to the constant speculation. True we could rue the day we let him go if torres gets a knock but would we have got anywhere near 15 mill if he'd sat on the bench till summer? Doubt it.

 

Whether that 15 mill gets spent on players is another matter entirely.......

[Unrighteous]

I don't really think that he did but he obviously wasn't working for us and I think we recouped most of, if not all of our monies back from Spurs.

 

So I can't really argue with it... No one was going to give us near the 'whatever' price tag paid for him in the summer.

[Little Sammy]

No but Morientes' goal record is much better.

 

Keane has had two moves to big clubs now and has flopped both times.

 

Morientes was established at both Real Madrid and Valencia as well as Lyon.

 

Lyon?

[gkmacca]

I suppose 'Arry's London mates will be crowing about his cockney genius when Keane scores his first goal for them. I hope Spurs go down and end that crook's career.

[MortimerJazz]

I think in answer to the original question, no he didn't get a fair crack of the whip.

 

Yes, he was slightly slow coming out of the blocks but when you've spent over £20m on a player you expect to stand by him as he beds in. Not drop him from the team the game after he scores two goals against Bolton and never really allow him back in.

 

What worries me more though is the effect that this might have on Rafa's contract. It doesn't look particularly great for his negotiations for more control over transfer policy, if his latest big money signing is heading back from whence he came after barely half a season for £5m less than we paid for him.

[Juniper]

I voted no

 

But that doesn't mean I thought he was good enough for us. Missed plenty of chances but at the same time it's not like we're selling a striker after a whole season with us.

[Unrighteous]

I suppose 'Arry's London mates will be crowing about his cockney genius when Keane scores his first goal for them. I hope Spurs go down and end that crook's career.

 

Agreed 100%

[NIred1]

I think he showed that he was never going to be good enough. I don't like the way he was treated but I'm glad we got a decent fee for him. He really wasn't working in the team, simple as that.

[Paul]

Have Dossena, Ngog etc been given a fair crack of the whip by us?

 

They're not even comparable though mate - they haven't been sold (and that's before even considering the pre-Liverpool records of them all or even getting into the financial value the club placed upon them all when signing them). If we'd sold either of those two players you'd have a point - and my answer would be the same, even if my expectations of them are considerably less than those I had of Keane. Six months of 60 and 70 minutes here and there, often being asked to play a role for which he was unsuited is not a fair crack of whip in my view.

[Royal Family]

If you want to think about a player who was teated unfairly, think of Djibril Cisse. Arrived in 2004 to find the manager who signed him had gone; breaks a leg; makes a fantastic and quick recovery to the extent that he converts one of the most important and legendary penalties in the history of Liverpool Football Club. Rafa then spends the summer trying to manouevre him out of the club, and all to try and bring back the traitorous Michael "Me" Owen. He then produces a magnificent display in the 2005 Super Cup final, all the while with benitez saying he wants to move him on but it will be 'difficult'. He stays, plays an important role in the 2005-6 season including a wonderful cup final strike in 2006. He then breaks his leg before a permanent move to Marseille can be signed off, and all Rafa can do is berate the team's bad luck and bemoan the missed money.

 

Not ONCE since, to my knowledge, has Djibril criticised Rafa in public, or done anything other than express his love and gratitude for the club and the fans.

 

This isn't to say he was good enough - he wasn't, and his lack of tactical nous (and application) was infuriating, but in comparison, Mr keane has been treated rather well, and allowed to leave to the club of his dreams, on his terms. So, can we stop pretending it's a sign that Rafa's had a "midlife crisis", or hoping that Keane scores a hattrick to deny us our title hopes on the last day of the season. Seriously, how twisted must you be to post that on an LFC forum? Players have been treated poorly before, and will be again, but nothing in keane's treatment compares to Djibril's.

[Kop4Ever2008]

Obviously not - but it's quite clear he doesn't fit into the first team and is not a first choice starter

 

 

 

So the Rafa has to hold his hands up and admit he made a massive cock up! how can you spend £20 million on a player you're not sure fits your team's style??

 

Only rafa could take a player with Keane's creativity and attacking style and make him a shadow of the player he was!

 

He was way to much of an attacking player to fit rafa's negative style!

 

Goodbye Keane and good luck, you deserve it!!

 

Lets hope we keep Torres fit or we are fucked!

[Hermes]

I can't believe the club is even considering giving this clown full control of transfers. It's like giving Dracula full control of the NHS blood supply. How many forwards has he now bought and subsequently sold?

 

Where is the replacement for Keane?

 

I suppose we can't expect somebody who only thinks about defending and "controlling the game" to know anything about attacking play.

 

Pack your bags and get on the next flight to Madrid Rafa.

[Moo]

I voted yes, but it's not as black and white as that.

While I don't think 6 months could ever be considered a fair crack, I don't think Keane deserved any more of a crack than he got.

He missed sitters, passed up responsibility time and again, moaned a lot, and regularly displayed his usual ego-centric nature which goes completely against the manager's beliefs.

In short he did little, or nothing, right in his time here.

 

Ideally I think Rafa would have preferred to give him longer but there's every chance that had it waited til the summer, his value would have plummeted.

A decision had to be made.

[bossy]

He didn't stand a chance from when some fans told other fans what they could call him; the same fans tell Keane doing his celebration is not cool enough for us. Then he played shit 9 times out of 10, I could have put up with some of the easiest goal chances ever missed if he had added anything else to our team, then there was his his pointing, complainimg and all that.

I was ambivalent about him joining us and i think his transfer was Rafa's last straw as far as parry was concerned.