Roy Keane has said that people should not read too much into the fact that Robbie Keane was dropped to the bench for Ireland’s 1-0 Euro 2016 qualifier loss to Scotland and insisted the Ireland captain is still a key player for Martin O’Neill’s squad.
Robbie Keane was a second-half substitute for the game last Friday, and after the game Ireland’s all-time highest goal-scorer spoke honestly about how he struggles to fill a lone striker role, saying his game was more suited to two up front.
He said: “If the manager wants to play with one up front, I'm not Niall Quinn or I'm not Shane Long - they are better at that than I am. If you play two up front and you want to score goals, that's my game.”
Speaking on Sunday, Roy Keane dismissed any notion that the selection signalled the beginning of the end of Robbie Keane’s international career.
"We go into Malahide, we have a coffee, it’s fine. We went out last night for dinner last night, it was fine. We’re not One Direction"
He offered a blunt comparison between Robbie Keane and Quinn, saying “he’s a lot better than Niall” and insisted the LA Galaxy striker still had a major role to play for Ireland.
“Robbie Keane is massive for this team, absolutely massive,” the Irish assistant manager said.
“This idea that... Everyone keeps saying he was disappointed. Of course he was. Tell me any player who’s going to be left out of the big game who is not going to be disappointed.
“But that’s what you expect from Robbie ... Robbie is brilliant for the group and brilliant for the team. [He is a] top, top player: he’s been doing it for years and hopefully will score goals for the next number of years.”
Keane refused to answer questions on an incident with a fan he was involved in last week, and said he had not affected the squad’s routine in their base in north Co Dublin.
“No. We go into Malahide, we’ve a coffee, it’s fine. We went out for dinner last night, it was fine.
"We’re not One Direction.”
