Shane Long

Deserves it ahead of Keane, Doyle has been our best player for the last 18 months, he is playing well in a struggling wolves team, he operates as a lone target man to bring a pressing midfield into play, if you watch a wolves game, there will be occasions where he will not get 1 chance for 90mins, that’s because he operates unselfishly in the system of the team. He does the exact same for Ireland. When can you honestly say Doyle missed a sitter in this campaign?

It’s called being a target man, do people still not understand the dynamics of this and only equate a front players success to goals scored? Seriously…it baffles me about how some fans no so little about football…For me Robbie’s general play was awful in the last campaign, he scored goals though so that was excused, but he has been simply sub-standard in this campaign so far. Should have had a hat trick in Yerevan and was a disgrace against slovakia, his sense of entitlement to a starting berth has expired..Long has come into the fold and been a breath of fresh air, he runs the channels and like Doyle and even when he is not scoring he adds significantly to the team effort, which Keane rarely does and at times plays with the naivety of a 17 year old. Keane has a great record, but its time to demote him and give long, one of our few form players a chance.