Roy Keane laid into one Manchester United for their defending against Newcastle, with some choice words for debutant goalkeeper Altay Bayindir too.
Manchester United were hammered 4-1 by Newcastle on Sunday in their 14th defeat of the Premier League season.
The visitors at St James’ Park may have had one eye on Thursday’s quarter-final second leg against Lyon but Newcastle overpowered them to rise into the Champions League places.
By contrast, Manchester United are only three points above 17th in what is certain to be their worst Premier League campaign ever.
Keane was typically withering on Sky Sports punditry duty, with one player in particular in his sights.
“It wasn’t good enough in the second half from Man Utd,” he said. “That’s 14 league defeats now and we keep making excuses for the team.
“There aren’t enough players that can run in the team and that want to run. They are not enough of a goal threat either.
“You’ve got to dig deep, even when you are up against it, and they didn’t do that in the second half.
“We said at half-time that the big test was still to come for United. Newcastle are an outstanding side and they have got into a good habit in big games. Man Utd are the opposite.
“Man Utd are physically and mentally a weak team. Newcastle were too fast, too powerful and more determined. United couldn’t deal with the pace up front from the attacking players and they got what they deserved.
“There was talk before the game on there being good signs for Man Utd and that they are getting better, but I can’t see it. I just saw another poor performance, especially in the second half.
“It’s not good enough and I worry for this group of players. They don’t look like a strong group mentally.”
Keane found the second Barnes goal to be particularly egregious.
“Take nothing away from Barnes,” he said. “But someone’s got to lunge at him, someone’s got to tackle him. They gave a goal away again at Forest two weeks ago with someone just running through the middle of… tackle him!
“Is my voice getting higher here? Tackle him. Lunge at him. Try and do something.
“How can a player run through the middle and not get touched? Brilliant from Barnes but again, Manchester United have been sloppy in possession. A player can slip, I get it, but you’re part of a team. If you do make a mistake you hope your teammates can cover for you. No-one’s covering each other on this United team.”
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Keane also struggled to fathom the build-up to the first Barnes goal.
“You’ve got an experienced right-back and he just runs by him,” he said of Diogo Dalot, who failed to contain Tino Livramento.
“He doesn’t even grab him, he doesn’t try and tackle him, he just gives up on it.
“If anything, he helps him! He shows him goal-side. Look at this! I can’t believe it! I can’t believe that defending.
“We praise Dalot for going forward but part of being a defender is, obviously, being hard to beat.”
And Altay Bayindir, thrown in for his Premier League debut after Andre Onana’s midweek struggles, did not avoid Keane’s wrath after his poor pass was intercepted for Bruno Guimaraes’ goal.
“You go back to the decision making. It’s too risky, it’s absolutely too risky,” Keane said.
“There are players around you! At the highest level, the real top players, it’s about your decision making.
“I’m quick to defend goalkeepers when they first come into the team because it does take five, six, seven games to get up to speed with the shots, whatever.
“But that basic mistake there is just… honestly, I can’t understand it because this is top level, this is big-boy stuff.
“If you’re going to go long or you’re going to chip it, make sure you go too far so then at least it’s up the pitch.
“If you lose it there, you know what’s going to happen. If you lose it there, someone’s in on goal, on top of you. That’s just common sense.”
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