Former captain Roy Keane was critical of six Manchester United players in the build-up to Saturday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
United travelled to the capital with the ambition of making it two wins from as many games after making a winning start to the new season with a 1-0 triumph over Wolves at Old Trafford last Monday night. Raphael Varane scored the only goal of the game to seal a fortuitous win for the Reds.
Erik ten Hag’s side were second best against the Black Country outfit, who created a plethora of chances. It was an encouraging showing from them in their first outing under Gary O’Neil, with only a goal missing from their performance.
United were overrun in midfield and failed to carve out many clear-cut opportunities across the course of the 90 minutes, despite doing just enough to seal all three points. And for Keane, United need to see improvements from their midfielders and attackers.
Keane told Sky Sports pre-match: “It wasn’t just the midfield-three (Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount) that were poor on the night with no communication, but the attacking three (Antony, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho) did not work hard enough out of possession and they were easy to play against. They got away with it, but they won’t tonight [vs Tottenham].”
New recruit Mason Mount made his competitive debut against Wolves. He joined forces with Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in midfield.
Though it was a poor team performance from United overall, some supporters vented their frustration at Mount. Keane, quite rightly, pointed out that he will require time to adjust.
“It’s only his first game, you have to give him a little bit of a chance,” he added. “If you are going to play for Manchester United, it is what you do out of possession.
“We know they are talented players, but it’s the other side of the game – give the kid a chance.”
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