Keane lashes out at critics after Arsenal equaliser
Keane wants to be judged on his form at the end of the season, not in December
Also In The News
|
Liverpool have blown the chance to go four points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 1-1 draw with ten-man Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. |  |
Monday, 22, Dec 2008 10:59
Robbie Keane has hit back at the critics who said he was likely to find himself out of the Anfield exit door in the January transfer window.
The Republic of Ireland international scored a superb equaliser in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates to register his fifth goal since his £20.3 million move from Tottenham in the summer.
The striker claims that despite media reports to the contrary, he is not unhappy with his patchy form since joining Liverpool.
"I'm not frustrated at all," he told the official Liverpool website.
"I suppose the only thing that I sometimes get frustrated by is when people outside the football club are talking about things to do with me because they are trying to create something that's not there.
"I've already said that I know I will score goals for this club and I would prefer to be judged at the end of this season, not in December."
The striker also revealed that, being a former Spurs player, his goal against their north London rivals Arsenal was particularly sweet.
"For me, it's always nice to score against Arsenal especially as I'd been getting a little bit of stick before the goal," he said.
"I suppose that was always going to happen with me being a former Tottenham player so it was sweet for me to score against them.
"But it's always nice to score a goal, particularly when it means you get back into the game.
"It was important for us to equalise when we did because it can become more difficult to get back on level terms the longer the game goes on.
"But we responded in exactly the right way to going a goal down and from that point we could have gone on and won."
The draw saw Liverpool move two points clear of Chelsea with one game more played, but despite playing against 10-men for nearly a third of the contest, Keane feels that it was one point gained, rather than two points lost.
"It was one of those tough games and all in all we have to be pleased with the point we took because Arsenal away is never going to be an easy game for anyone.
"We dominated the game at times but the thing with football is that at times it can be even more difficult to play against ten men than it is to play against eleven.
"That was certainly the case because Arsenal just sat behind the ball and allowed us to have most of the possession but we weren't able to create too many chances.
"I don't think either team had any really big chances apart from the goals."