Former midfielder Roy Keane has, once again, lambasted Manchester United for their ‘average’ display during their 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the Premier League. He suggested that Ruben Amorim should have signed a longer contract to give him more time to alleviate the ongoing issues.
A duo of second half goals from Bruno Fernandes and Moises Caicedo saw both sides enjoy a share of the spoils on Old Trafford turf – with the Red Devils enduring their worst start (12 points from ten games) to a league season since 1986/87.
Long gone are the days of the once-dominant side challenging for Premier League titles, with them languishing in 13th place sandwiched in between Fulham and West Ham United – and Keane has now made his feelings known about their sorry state of affairs.
Quizzed on what the incoming manager Amorim will be thinking after watching a Ruud van Nistelrooy-led side struggle against the Blues, midfielder-turned-pundit Keane, one of the best central midfielders in Manchester United’s storied history, said:
“He [Amorim] should have signed a longer contract. There’s a long way back for this team. I know a manager coming in will hope to get more out of this group, but this is an average United team.
“All the stats back it up – we’re repeating ourselves and we come and watch Man Utd today and you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Keane stated. “It’s hit and miss. I hate using the word, but this this United team is a bit boring. It sounds a bit strong but they’re lacking conviction in their chances. It kind of suited them a bit better towards the end when it was open – they were getting more chances when the game was open but [it was] really disappointing.”
“It was so flat. Even the fans must have been disappointed. From the manager’s point of view, this team are way off it. Way off it in terms of getting back into that top four and competing.”
Highlighting the current team’s lack of togetherness among the players, he said: “You’re not playing an individual sport. So when the going gets tough, you roll your sleeves up and become a team player. I’m not saying for one second that it’s about playing well every week but you should dig in, you grind out results, you win an ugly game – but this United team doesn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with them players.”
Seven-time Premier League winner Keane also insisted that some of the current crop are not as capable as they have come to believe: “Some of these Man United players think they’re better than they are.”
Looking ahead, Manchester United welcome PAOK to Old Trafford in the Europa League on Thursday evening before Van Nistelrooy’s last game in charge – a Premier League outing against Leicester City – follows next weekend. Amorim’s first game at the helm will be against Ipswich Town on 24 November.