Manchester United drew with Chelsea on Sunday, giving pundit and United icon Roy Keane the opportunity to get stuck into the players and their level of culpability for the sacking of former manager Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag’s replacement Ruben Amorim takes up the reins on Monday November 11, tasked with improving the fortunes of a faltering but expensively assembled squad believed by Keane to have let themselves down as well as their previous manager.
After hearing the post-match platitudes of United captain Bruno Fernandes, Keane gave Sky Sports viewers a piece of his mind.
Roy Keane had words for the current Manchester United captain
“Too little, too late,” said Keane when asked about players holding their hands up after the sacking of a manager. “Listen, these are always awkward interviews for players but I wouldn’t have much patience for a player to say, ‘Listen, sorry, we’ve let you down.’ Too little too late.
“You judge what they do on the football pitch and I don’t think Bruno has done enough in a lot of the games. He didn’t show that leadership so it’d be interesting to hear obviously what Ten Hag has to say about it. But you also have to move on.”
“A lot of players don’t care that much when a manager goes. They’ll just focus on the next manager coming in, they’ll get ready and they’ll look after themselves. Players can be selfish, we know that. But I don’t think Bruno done enough as the captain of Man United over the last year or two to help the manager out. Far from it.
“The proof’s there with all the results. It’s not just on Bruno, of course, but I don’t think he showed enough leadership skills when the going’s got tough with some of the performances and I don’t think Bruno should be too proud of himself with what’s happened to the Man United manager over the last week.
“The players let [Ten Hag] down by their efforts not being good enough. There’s a few players in the United team in big positions who can’t run, right, which is a big problem. But they also have players in the team who don’t want to run, or when they do run they don’t run hard enough, fast enough or long enough.
“People look at the manager but I don’t care if you’re playing in front of 80,000 or 80 people, you run. You’ve got to run in this game and this team doesn’t run and that’s a big problem. Lack of talent as well.
Why Man United HAD To Sack Erik Ten Hag
Keane’s frustrations were especially evident when he spoke about the United players being unable to dig deep for Ten Hag when the pressure was really on.
“Your manager’s under huge pressure. Players are missing great chances and they’re walking back and they’re… you’ve got to get a hold of these lads. ‘Hit the target!’ These are big chances. These are top quality players missing open goals.
“And they’re all walking back and they’re kind of apologising. Stop saying sorry. Put the ball in the back of the net. Keep everyone happy.
“As a team you look at them, you look at certain individuals, and maybe we think they’re better than what they are, some of them. They’ve got established international players. You hang your hat on a team sometimes but you go ‘well technically they’re very good’ or ‘they’re big and strong and physical.’ United are just kind of average at everything.
“This is about rebuilding Man United and getting back to competing. That’s why you have to get the team together. I don’t see a team out there. I’m not for a second saying some of them aren’t trying. But you’ve got to get that structure of a team, and personalities and characters and quality, and go ‘this is where we think Man United can get back competing towards the top of the table.’”
After Thursday’s Europa League tie with PAOK, Manchester United go again in Premier League action when they host Leicester City on Sunday.
