Roy Keane slammed three Manchester United players for ‘throwing the towel in’ during the embarrassing derby day defeat to Manchester City.
Manchester United slumped to their third defeat of the season as Manchester City swept past Ruben Amorim’s side with a commanding 3-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Amorim handed Benjamin Šeško his first start in a United shirt for the high-stakes derby clash with Pep Guardiola’s City on Sunday afternoon.
The game began at a frantic pace, with both Šeško and Erling Haaland testing the opposition goalkeepers early on, though neither side found much rhythm in the opening exchanges. It was Phil Foden who broke the deadlock just before the 20-minute mark, putting the hosts ahead.
United pushed forward in search of an equaliser before the interval but couldn’t make the breakthrough. After the restart, Amorim’s men came out with intent, only to be punished as Haaland doubled City’s advantage.
The Norwegian striker then struck again shortly after, sealing his brace and leaving United with a mountain to climb and 25 minutes still to play.
Bryan Mbeumo and Casemiro both had opportunities to reduce the deficit, but neither could take them. Under heavy Manchester rain, City comfortably saw out the contest to secure a 3-0 derby triumph.
Keane slams three United players vs City
Once again, United conceded goals where they made major mistakes. All three were littered with errors from the visiting side.
City’s opening goal saw Jérémy Doku receive the ball in space behind United’s midfield duo, Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte, before he easily skipped past Luke Shaw.
All three of those players were slammed by club legend Roy Keane during his half-time assessment, with the ex-midfielder accusing Shaw in particular of ‘throwing in the towel’.
“All of the defending [was poor]. Listen, it was very good from City, Doku and Foden’s timing was perfect,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
“But United’s defending… the two midfielders are too square and Shaw just gives up. It’s a nice bit of skill but Shaw’s an England international player, he’s got hundreds of games under his belt and doesn’t even get his body position right.
“It’s far too easy, it’s like he’s thrown the towel in, and [players] running off the back of Bruno, that’s been going on for years. My goodness, even before that, you have two midfielders and they’re too square. One pass through and it takes them out. It was far too easy.”
United midfield was poor
United were outdone by City but this time felt different than many others. Pep Guardiola’s side are simply not as good as they have been in recent years but United could rarely make an impact.
Amorim has to change something soon, with the team struggling in the midfield in so many games. That was evident throughout the entire game on Sunday.
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Kobbie Mainoo came on later in the game and made an impact. Somehow Ugarte started the clash after being embarrassing in all of his appearances in the opening games and in pre-season.
In a Manchester derby, winning the battle in midfield is crucial and United feel like they were at a disadvantage as soon as they stepped on the pitch.
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