Robbie Keane has seen reasons to be optimistic during what has been a ‘crazy’ first few days back at Elland Road. Twenty one years after leaving Leeds United as a player, Keane has returned to West Yorkshire as a coach, helping Sam Allardyce in his bid to lead the Whites to Premier League safety throughout the month of May.
That job always looked tricky given the predicament Leeds find themselves at the foot of the table and the amount of time that has been afforded. However, it looks even harder following Monday night’s results for Everton and Nottingham Forest, which leave United sitting 19th, two points adrift of safety with three games remaining.
It’s far from an ideal situation to walk into for Keane, Allardyce and assistant coach Karl Robinson, but that hasn’t stopped the Irishman from approaching the job with positivity and he has been encouraged by the progress he has seen so far.
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“Pleased with the spirit,” Keane told LUTV after the 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Saturday afternoon. “We have watched games and when they concede goals they concede again not long afterwards, I think that was the pleasing factor.
“At this stage you’re just trying to win as many games as possible. This probably wasn’t going to be the game, the games that will decide that will be the next three.
“Towards the end of the game you could see the positives, the fans were outstanding for the whole game, the way they were celebrating with the players, they’ve seen the effort they were putting in and now we need to continue that this week.
“It’s been a crazy few days. In the build-up just getting to know the personalities but it’s been a really good, positive few days. Of course we wish the outcome today was a bit more but were focused now for next week and that will start on Monday morning.”
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