Former Man Utd captain Roy Keane thinks the Red Devils are “playing like a small club” following their 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday.
The Red Devils were thankful for wonderful strikes from Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo as Man Utd allowed Liverpool 28 shots on their goal.
Roy Keane: I don’t get Erik ten Hag’s positivity about Man Utd
Man Utd are now 11 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham with seven matches to play but Ten Hag claimed his side played “very good” against their arch-rivals.
Ten Hag said after the match: “Its clear when you play Chelsea, when you play Liverpool, it will be a transition game.
“Because they are top at it, both teams, and both teams also want to play and they leave space for counters and I thought there were absolutely moments where we could have done better reactions in the transitions, the defence transitions.
“But in general we did very good. We conceded only goals from two set plays.
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“In our transition we could have done even better. For instance, Garnacho with Bruno, I don’t know if the pass had to come earlier or the timing from the run was too quick.
“And then already after a couple of minutes we should have taken the lead.”
After listening to Ten Hag’s interview on Sky Sports, Keane was baffled: “Listen, I don’t know whether he’s obviously had a couple of glasses of wine after the game, I don’t know how strong that is.
“But he seemed really upbeat and I admire him for it, because he’s obviously seeing something that I’m not seeing at this moment in time.
“I’m not saying there’s not potential at the football club, or with these young players, but in terms of competing with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City they are way off it.
“They’re competing at this moment in time with Aston Villa and Spurs for that fourth or fifth position, and at this stage they’re well behind them. So I don’t get his positivity, but maybe that’s just me being a bit old and grumpy. He’s upbeat, but I certainly didn’t see that upbeat performance.
“I thought two very good goals from Man United, and a team that hung in and stuck at it and I’ll give them credit for that. But if you’re looking at the bigger picture I’m not sitting here going, ‘Listen, Man United are on their way back’. Far from it.”
Roy Keane: Man Utd are playing like a mid-table team
And Keane added that Man Utd are currently playing “like a mid-table team, a small club” and are still lacking leaders and characters to take them to the next level.
The Man Utd legend added: “There’s so many bits of their game they have to tidy up, they play in moments, I’m not sure it’s a real team out there.
“I can’t sit here and say that Man United will be challenging for league titles, I just can’t see it.
“There’s big expectations with recruitment in the summer and new people [behind the scenes] coming in, but there’s a long way back for Man United.
“You need characters, you need leaders, I keep repeating myself every week on here. That’s what you need from a group of players.
“The way Man United are playing is like a mid-table team, a small club. You don’t know what you’re going to get, there’s a bit of excitement.
“But if you want to win the big prizes – or even compete to win the big prizes – you’ve got to turn up week in and week out and these players don’t. The stats tell you that. They’ve lost 12 games, the goal difference – is it minus one? – nowhere near good enough.”
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