Keane wants Irish players to do talking on the pitch

By Liam Mackey

Saturday, November 07, 2009

A LITTLE less conversation, a little more action please.

That was the message from Roy Keane yesterday as he came over all Elvis-like in targeting some unnamed Irish players ahead of the World Cup play-off against France.

"I think there are three or four of the senior players who do a lot of talking," said the Ipswich Town manager. "When they report for next week’s games, my advice is ‘don’t speak to the media, just do the business in the games’.

"Robbie (Keane) will have to speak to the media being the captain, but every international match I hear another three players talking. The talking needs to stop, they need to do the business next week. Don’t do any media next week, the three of them.

"Robbie can do the talking because he’s captain, but the three other lads — one in particular likes to speak to the media — he should just keep his head down and do the business."

Keane thinks that Ireland can triumph against France in a tie in which he believes that collective strength can overcome individual superiority.

"It’s an intriguing game," he said. "France are a very dangerous team, they’ve got some good players, but good players don’t necessarily make a good team, and Ireland have a good team.

"Individually, France have better players, but Ireland have shown themselves to be a very good team over the years, and that’s what you need, a team. Ireland are more than capable of getting through, no doubt about that, but the players need to focus on the game, not the bloody media."

Keane does not think that Trapattoni needs to look much beyond his currently preferred selection, despite what the manager’s critics might say.

"I’ve looked at the last few Irish matches and they’ve done very well," said Keane. "The manager’s done brilliant, so why change it?’’

Bohemians goalkeeper Brian Murphy — who is due to join Ipswich in January — has been called into the Irish squad as a replacement for the injured Keiren Westwood of Coventry City. The recognition comes as a perfect postscript to a season which saw the 26-year-old collect back-to-back League of Ireland titles with Bohemians in Bray last night. Murphy will provide cover for the French games for Shay Given and Joe Murphy.

And following the player’s own declaration of fitness, Roy Hodgson has also sounded an optimistic note about Damien Duff ahead of Fulham’s game against Wigan tomorrow. "We might be able to add Damien Duff back from his injury to the squad," said the manager yesterday.

Meanwhile, the veteran Patrick Vieira has reacted with disgust to Raymond Domenech’s decision to leave the Inter Milan man out of his squad for the games against Ireland.

"I know that my situation is delicate because I’m not a guaranteed first pick for my club," Vieira said. "I can’t argue with that. But I also know that in my role there isn’t anyone better than me. That may seem a bit pretentious but I’m convinced about it. I’m still firmly focused on my aim of playing in the next World Cup. The one thing that is certain is that I’ll give everything I’ve got to be there and after that it’s down to the manager to make his choice."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, November 07, 2009