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Keane Delighted With Tottenham Pair
Keane Delighted With Tottenham Pair
Monday, 4th Oct 2010 09:25

Town boss Roy Keane was delighted with Tottenham pair Jake Livermore and Andros Townsend after the Blues’ 2-1 victory over Leeds at Portman Road on Saturday. Livermore made his first start for his loan club and Townsend completed the first full 90 minutes of his spell at Portman Road.

Keane was pleased with Livermore, who created Jason Scotland’s opener: “He was excellent. You can see why he’s a Tottenham boy.

“That final ball today was very, very good and that will make or break what level you’re eventually going to play at. That was a good one and Jason finished it very well.”

The Blues boss had similar praise for Townsend: “Andros I thought was outstanding, getting at Alex Bruce a lot. He’s one of those old fashioned wingers, there aren’t many around at the moment.

“It was the first time I’ve kept him on for 90 minutes, we’ve been worrying about his fitness. I would probably have liked to have given Jake 60 or 70 minutes because he hasn’t played a full game for a while, aside from one or two behind closed doors matches with Tottenham.”

Keane says he gave Townsend no specific instruction to run at former Blue Bruce, who was red-carded for two fouls on the 19-year-old: “Andros doesn’t need any encouragement from me to go at full-backs. But if you’re on a yellow card and Andros is running at you there’s a good chance you’re going to get in a bit of trouble. I think it was a second yellow, I don’t think there was any doubt about it.

“I would never say to a player to attack a certain player to hope that he got in a bit of trouble. We’d hope he’d attack him to get by him to put a ball in the box. If you’re a defender, you wouldn’t like to play against Andros.

“We’re very grateful to have these two boys, especially with us missing Luke and Chuck. I’m grateful to Tottenham, just like I was grateful to clubs last year, like Sunderland when they were lending us players.”

Keane says he and his staff felt they could risk playing Darren O’Dea: “He’s had this knee problem since he went away with the last international squad.

“We thought we’d take a chance even though he’s not trained this week, but as soon as he went into the warm-up he said he was struggling and we had to make the change. That’s why it’s important that your players are ready. And it’s no surprise that Tommy scored.”

The Town boss was delighted to see Smith net the winner and feels he ought to be on the scoresheet more regularly: “I think Tommy’s the best defender at the club in terms of attacking balls and he probably should score more goals.”

Keane wants goals from all his midfielders and defenders: “You can’t be reliant on your main striker scoring all the time when you’re playing one up front. We want Jason to score double figures and he scored another goal today. It certainly wasn’t an easy finish, it was a great ball by Jake, but he had a lot of work to do.

“The way we play, I don’t think we’re a team capable of scoring three or four goals, so when we get these one or two chances we’ve got to take them. I’ll take 1-0 or 2-1 all day, I’m not interested in 5-4s or 5-2s, leave that for the other teams.”

The Town manager expected a close scoreline against Leeds: “I think it was always going to be a tight game. When we were 1-0 up Jason had a good chance, but we scored two good goals and it was a decent performance.

“It’s nice to get back into that top six. If you fall out of it you can drift and when we come back we’ve got some tough matches.”

Keane made no comment on the incident after the red card where Grant Leadbitter appeared to be struck by an object thrown from the Leeds fans: “I’ll leave the police to sort that one out.”


Photo: Action Images



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suffolksam added 09:45 - Oct 4
if it comes down to goal difference we might be sorry about the lack of big scores still its good to some players having a go this year
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corshamblue added 10:37 - Oct 4
Missing the point really, if all matches are 2-1 or 1-0 it's not going to come down to goal difference. I've an idea on the other hand though GD will have a say in the TOP 6 this year, like most years.

Confidence will increase the goals we score and it seems we have OOOODLES more confidence than last year at this point, we almost looked scared to pass the ball 12 months ago. Keep winning, get to XMAS in top 4 and push from there? Happy Days.

COYB.
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Bergholtblue added 11:19 - Oct 4
Clearly Keane has set about to make us a more defensive unit this year and to stop shipping those late goals that cost us so dear last year, and it is working. However, this depends on the strikers taking the few chances they get and I am still unsure whether we have such a striker at the club. Yes Scotland took his chance well but also missed two sitters.

It is clear than that goals need to be contributed by others. Norris started the season sensationally but has been poor the last two games and ended up missing this one. Goals need to come from the other midfielders as well.

Townsend was unlucky not to get one and it was good to see that MacAuley was close on a couple of occsssions as well as Smiffy getting in on the act.

I also hope that we are not too grateful to Spurs that we allow Connor to join them in the next transfer window.
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Mark added 11:19 - Oct 4
I wonder if there is a chance we could get one or both on permanent deals? That would be great, but for now let's just enjoy watching them play and hopefully helping us to promotion!
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ozzy_itfc added 11:28 - Oct 4
Bergholtblue -

I would have to disagree with you, keane has brought in attacking players to score goals when we get oppotunitys and that is what we weren't doing last season and that is working. We have had some late goals scored against us like Leeds goal burnleys goal and readings winner. I think we are a lot lot better this year and can really see a promotion push this year COYB
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gazza3967 added 12:54 - Oct 4
At the end of the day its about results and getting enough points on the table.
I think every player should chip in with goals throughout the season. We are in a much better place than last season and i hope it may continue. Townsend was superb saturday and apart from a sloppy goal to give away , the whole team played there part in a very good match.
Support saturday was fantastic lets see if this can continue for every home game.
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Back_The_Boss added 13:39 - Oct 4
Livermore looks a very good signing, a bundle of energy. COYB!
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BlueJewells added 13:50 - Oct 4
Its a shame that our two best players are on loan,
but they will help us,
COYB!
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Acen added 15:45 - Oct 4
Niceley
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ipswichfrancis added 17:35 - Oct 4
good result nevertheless, getting a win over promotion chasing teams like leeds will definitely help in the push for promotion this year..... these are the kind of games which we either lost or drew last year......
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lunatic38 added 21:36 - Oct 4
We are not the finished article and we are certainly not the best team in this VERY strong division this year, first time for a while that the best team in this division is not a relegated side! Our Strikers are still settling down, Scotland has only been here for just over a month and Tamas has returned from a loan. Wickham is a youngster (and we must not rely on him to much or burn him out) but i can definately see an improvement from last year and mark my words the goals will come, Keanes additions this year have been attack minded and i think the stability has come from shredding the dead wood with the addition of a good goalkeeper and Kennedy must be mentioned aswell because i think he is a very good aquisition. I must now touch the floor with my feet after such a great start to the season and reflect in the most sensible manner possible, the playoffs are a very realistic expectation this season! the only gripe i have is that we need to stick to a scoring formula up front and barring injuries and suspensions not chop and change too much, i still think the balance in the middle is not perfect but Livermoore could be the answer and Townsend is the b.....ks if i may say so myself. It is looking healthy and very promising and if this can be maintained until January i really think we could see some Evans power in the transfer markets but until then COYB!!
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choprawontcome added 06:48 - Oct 5
These lads are superb and i was delighted with both their performances on saturday,up the town :-)
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