MIRROR
Roy Keane says Manchester United no longer strike fear into opponents and has accused his former club of going soft.
United legend Keane claimed Old Trafford has lost its fear factor for visiting teams after one of the club’s worst starts to a Premier League campaign. Erik ten Hag’s crisis-hit side have lost 14 games in all competitions this season – including nine in the league – and crashed out of the Champions League and EFL Cup.
Former United skipper Keane won seven league titles as part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering side, but the Red Devils have not been champions since 2013. Keane slammed the current side and said: “They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
.“You’re Manchester United, the onus is on you, even when you’re at home – flex your muscles and, more importantly, put fear in their opponents’ mindsets. But teams are playing United now and there’s no fear anymore. I think teams are going to Old Trafford now and enjoying it.
“They don’t really play as a team and I don’t know if the players are taking on the manager’s ideas. When you look at United, you don’t know what you’re going to get. I watched their game last week against Wigan and you’re thinking ‘they’ll certainly dominate and score four or five goals’.
“Even then, they had to get a penalty to get over the line. They weren’t great in possession. The other night, against Spurs, you look at the second goal, just one or two passes and it was a goal.
“It’s as if they’re not athletic enough. I think there’s obviously an element of fear from the team – they go ‘we’re better sitting in’. There’s nothing wrong with sitting in if you’re doing brilliant going forward, but they’re not scoring the goals to back that up.”
Keane is also not convinced Ten Hag remains the right man for the job and suggested he is struggling to take the team forward. “Sometimes the team can reflect the attitude of the manager,” Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“You see Jurgen Klopp up and at them with Liverpool, but you listen to the United manager and you think ‘I just want to see a bit more personality from him’ – and the team sometimes reflects that.”
